Featuring radically different styling to all of the past DSC-Sx models, the Xacti S6 is slightly wider than those cameras, but shorter, thinner and lighter at the same time. This comes at the expense of the optical viewfinder, with the S6 instead offering a slightly larger (and just a touch higher resolution) LCD display instead. Optical resolution has been boosted to 6.0 effective megapixels, and the zoom lens is now slightly brighter and has been extended at the wide end a little, to a 3x optical zoom. Macro focusing is not as good as it was on the earlier S-series cameras though, with a focusing distance of 5 centimeters being the closest possible. Higher ISO sensitivity is now available, with an ISO range of 50 - 400, although the available shutter speed range is reduced somewhat. A range of scene modes has been added, and the USB connectivity boosted to a USB 2.0 high-speed connection. The camera's built-in memory drops by one megabyte, to 15MB.

Sanyo is touting two features of the camera particularly strongly in its Japanese release. One is the a fourth-generation LSI said to offer better image quality, and the other is a rather unusual shutter button. Where most cameras focus the scene with a half-press of the shutter button, and capture the image with a full-press, the Sanyo's button offers only a full-press position to capture the picture. Instead of a half-press, the button itself is touch-sensitive, and the camera focuses immediately that the tip of your finger touches the shutter button. The press release also mentions camera speed, with a 2.4 second startup time, prefocused shutter lag of 0.05 seconds, 2.25 frames per second burst mode, and 0.8 seconds to switch to playback mode.

The Sanyo Xacti DSC-S6 will ship in Japan from late October, with pricing set at ¥37,000 (roughly equivalent to US$335 / CAD$401 / €275 / £187, ignoring exchange rate fluctuations, taxes and duties). This is some ¥2000 higher than the price of the Xacti DSC-S5 which was announced last February.

Sanyo Xacti DSC-S6
General
Camera Type	Compact
Manufacturer	Sanyo
Model Number	DSC-S6
Dimensions	3.7 x 2.4 x 1.1" 93.1 x 60.5 x 27.1mm
Weight	173.0 g 6.0 oz
Image Capture
Sensor Type	1/2.5" CCD 6.37 megapixels (total) 6.00 megapixels (effective)
Filter Type	RGBG
Aspect Ratio	4:3
Image Dimensions	3680 x 2760 (10.2 megapixels) 2816 x 2112 (5.9 megapixels) 2288 x 1712 (3.9 megapixels) 1600 x 1200 (1.9 megapixels) 640 x 480 (0.3 megapixels)
Image Preview / Review
Viewfinder	No
LCD	2.0", 86,000 pixels 100% field of view
Playback Zoom	57.5x max
Lens
Lens Type	3x optical zoom
Image Stabilization	No
Focal Length	5.8 - 17.4mm (actual) 35 - 105mm (35mm equivalent)
Aperture Range	f/2.8 (wide) / f/4.9 (tele) - f/???
Focusing System	9-point Manual Focus possible (14) steps
Focusing Range	Normal: 4" - infinity (10 cm - infinity) Macro: 2.0" - 29" (5 cm - 70 cm)
Exposure
Shutter Speed	2 - 1/1500 second
Metering Modes	Average, Center-weighted, Spot
Exposure Compensation	+/- 1.8EV in 0.3EV increments
White Balance	Image Sensor - Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Custom, Manual
Internal Flash	Modes: Auto, On, Off, Red-eye Reduction, Slow-sync in Night scene mode
Creative
Scene Modes	Auto, Sport, Portrait, Night scene, Landscape, Fireworks
Digital Zoom	4x
Self Timer	Yes, 2 or 10 seconds
Time Lapse	No
Movie Format	QuickTime PhotoJPEG without audio 320x240 and 160x120 Max. frame-rate: 15 frames per second
Storage
Recording Medium	SD/MMC, Built-in
File System	Complies with Design Rule for Camera File System (DCF)
File Format	JPEG (EXIF 2.2)
Connectivity
Video	No
Computer	USB 2.0 High Speed
Power
Battery Type	Alkaline disposable, NiMH rechargeable
Battery Form Factor	2 x AA
Product Bundle
Software	Motion Director SE 1.1, Ulead Photo Explorer 8.5 SE Basic, QuickTime 6.5
Battery / Charger	2 x AA alkaline disposable battery
Flash Memory	15.0MB built-in memory
Other
Digital Print Order Format (DPOF) compliant	Yes
Internal Microphone	No