With imaging as its bread and butter, Canon has made a number of strange camera experiments in the past. One of its more unique concepts is the PowerShot Zoom: a mini-telescope that packs a 1/2.3-inch 12-megapixel sensor inside it, along with two switchable focal lengths: one at a 100mm equivalent at f/5.6 and another at a 400mm equivalent at f/6.3. It can do up to 800mm via digital zoom, and the lens has image stabilization and autofocus.

Charging is done via USB-C, and it has a MicroSD card slot for saving images and videos (at up to Full HD 30FPS). It can shoot up to 10 frames per second, though that is with fixed focus.

While the aperture opening is not great for low light, the PowerShot’s Zoom’s main audience is for those who enjoy outdoor activities like biking, hiking, or bird-watching, and for spectators at sports events like football. It is definitely a niche camera—but it appears to be something people actually want.

The PowerShot Zoom was crowdfunded initially in Japan, and with meeting over 3000% of its goal, Canon figured that it might be great to sell the PowerShot Zoom outside of Japan. According to the Verge, the PowerShot Zoom is set to be available in the US later next month for $299.99(~Php 14.6k). While that sounds like a fair price for a camera with a niche purpose, we’re unsure if people buying it right now can maximize it, as public events are still limited due to the pandemic.