Just when you thought there was nothing else to ask Santa for, theres a new 15 megapixel DSLR, and an accompanying lens that's pretty much the twin of Nikon's workhorse 18-200 VR II

50D

18-200mm 3.5-5.6 IS

For me? awwwww.....you shouldn't have, but I am glad you did.

Thanks Santa :o)

bit of an oddity this time around in the who blinks first contest as canon and nikon seem to have blinked at the same time. the 50D and D90 both look nice although the usual Nikon PR spin is in full swing to try and lure people away from looking at the MP discrepancies by highlighting the high resolution LCD and full movie mode advantage.

All very nice but I find myself asking the question - who really gives a rats ass about features like that on a DSLR anyways? still, as ever, the choices are so close now it will be down to brand preference again.

I just feel sorry for Pentax who managed to hold the high ground for at least a few weeks with their lovely new K20D :-(

I read one viewers note about a D90 press release; "great and DSLR that takes crappy video" I thought it was funny. But seriously, a pro photographer who needs that cam won't probly ever use a silly feature like that. If you want to do lots of video, buy a camcorder!
I am pretty excited about the 50D though. I won't have one i'm sure, not for a while, but its nice to see the progression of the tech.

** Update ** Seems Canon are eager to stress that the 50D is not a replacement for the 40D as you would have thought but rather it is a sister 'companion' camera. take that as PR spin and the rough translation would be that they were caught napping by Nikon this year after two successive evolutionary rather than revolutionary updates. Also, because the 40D is still 8 moths away from retirement as per Canon's usual strategy, there are still lots of boxes to shift. expect 'little sister' to suffer a terminal illness shortly after the Christmas sales.

They have also hinted that there may be as many two more new DSLRs from them this year - hopefully one will be the 5D's replacement and the other will most likely be an 'N' upgrade to the troubled and unloved 1D MkIII.

I can see it now... Phil getting on a transcontinental flight to be first on line to buy the 7D, or whatever it'll be called ;-)

i would, in fact, sell my soul to do just that :-)

You have a soul? (JOKe)

unsurprisingly - you're not the first person to ask me that :-)

Yeah, but that other guy with horns was looking to make a trade. That particular intangible item for superior image retouching skil..

Heyyyy ... wait a sec ...

;o)

According to a snippet that I read yesterday (dpreview) the 5D replacement has gone out for non-disclosure reviews. I guess that means that they get the reviews ready but can’t publish them until Canon gives the go ahead.

My hip pocket is getting nervous.

I checked that out - It would seem that the arrival of the new 5D will also be accompanied by the new Sony Alpha - two cameras with FF sensors over 20MP - sounds great - hopefully not too wallet busting either.

Just had a peek at dpreview's sample images from the "pre-production" 50D.

Wow!

yeah they look great and almost total lack of any grain or noise - shame they sent someone out to take the shots who wasn't too clued up on metering :-) the Nikon sample shots look good too but still have the ever present sensor noise/film grain simulation depending on what side of the PR fence you sit on.

Man all this so fast, I'm still thrilled with my "upgrade" from an XTi to the 30D! Who am I kidding, they ARE two very different machines. Someday maybe I can have the leader of the pack though eh?

man - they are such a tease....

And if Phil's monitor had a g-string, he'd be stuffing it with 5 pound notes ;-)

no - id be saving them to get the camera :-)

Sony have fired the opening salvo with their new flagship Alpha model:24.6 MP 35mm format full-frame CMOS sensor (highest res in class), SteadyShot INSIDE full frame image sensor shift stabilization (world first), High Speed Dual Bionz processors, Eye-level glass Penta-prism OVF, 100% coverage, 5 frames per second burst, newly developed mirror box. Nice.

lets hope the minolta glassware can cope with the extra juice.

Again, inexplicably, Dpreview sent someone out to take a lot of pointless snapshots that fail comprehensively to demonstrate its abilities over that of a camera phone. Shame.

Hmmm... and there are always used Minolta lenses on Ebay that would fit the Sony.

man - Canon are playing this shiz close to their chest - by now at least one of their corporate sites has let the cat out of the bag by 'mistake' - that's usually the Austrlain or Kiwi one too.....

Hang in there Phil. I’m sure all will be revealed on Sept 23. Just 7 more sleeps.

no more sleeps :-) its here at last and makes the new Sony seem a bit pricy too for a change...

The EOS 5D Mark II boasts a new 21MP CMOS sensor, an expanded ISO range of 50-25,600 and a wealth of improvements and new features including full 1080p HD movie recording, live view, 3.0" 920k dot LCD, DIGIC IV processor, increased battery capacity and sensor dust reduction. UPDATE: Body-only prices: US: $ 2,699, EU: € 2,499, UK: £ 2,299.

Now you will suffer sleep deprivation through dreaming about all that Canon goodness :-)

Bow down before the new master - the scary thing is that apparently this was ready for market 8 months ago but was shelved due to strong sales of the current model and the liability to screw up the rest of the range/market. sample images are stunning. video mode is clever but still falls into the never the twain shall meet category for me. 20,000+ ISO? confidence in the new sensor is clearly high. I'm laughing my ass off just thinking about the beads of sweat flowing in the Nikon PR office when all they have to compete with it is the more expensive D3X.

and it shoots full hi def video

taking aim at the D700, D90, and D3 in one fell swoop

nice. who wants to take bets on the D700's price dropping like a brick in the ocean?

thats a sure bet. i don't know if the Nikons can do that but the 5D2 will shoot 1080 hidef video and still allow you to take full res stills whilst its doing it. again - a nice feature - but pointless for me. an slr is an slr and a video camera is a video camera etc etc.

their main usp is that no one aside from Sony has an answer for them. Sony's answer will no doubt be not so popular unfortunately as all things considered, they are pretty good sparring partners. Nikon whilst not throwing in the towel will be smarting a little - their range is already too convoluted to dilute any more until the D3X arrives whereas the Canon range - aside from the 40D - is pretty much evenly spaced now.

same here.. but definitely a plus with the travel/leisure set

I'm not sure why you all seem to be throwing the d700 under the bus. Just because it isn't as high resolution doesn't necessarily mean image quality isn't as good. It is going to be interesting to see some sample images that show how it does in low light at high iso. The thing that surprises me the most is its lack of speed. 3.9 fps is hardly faster than my ancient d70. What is the deal with that? Nikon is also still ahead when it comes to metering and focus points. I have really got useto my 51 focus points on my d300. It is so nice to be able to spot meter by moving spot around the frame to different parts of the frame, while not needing to move my camera. Same goes for focus when using continuous focus. It is great to be able to put the focus point right on my subjects eye. I don't know that nikon is really reeling like you guys are suggesting.

I'm also surprised is that they included a video feature in a pro level camera. I think live view is a bit of a gimic, but i can see how it can have some use, but a video feature? If you are spending nearly 3 grand on a camera body you better not be looking for video function. Not that it is really a negative to have it in there, im just suprised they bothered.

I hope i don't sound too much like a Nikon fan boy:P. I definitely do think canon has caught back up to Nikon, i just don't think they have blown them out of the water like it seems you guys are suggesting.

Milo – the 5D has never been a speed merchant and was originally marketed as a studio or portrait camera. Its main failing was the lack of weather sealing which limited its use a bit.

There would also be the marketing problem that if they made it faster it would encroach on 1 series sales alarmingly.

As for the image quality – I used the original 5D on wedding shoots a lot and even up to ISO1800 you got no noise or grain at all even indoors. That was where the camera did and still does excel – to be honest it has pretty much stood peerless as Nikon have never had anything to match it for image quality – even monsieur Rockwell (ultimate Nikon fan boy) was won over by it.

Its true to say that Canon fell behind in the consumer models but really, even when the D700 came out – it was just pulling up to the image level of the original 5D – hence the mirth of the new arrival.

Basically for me its strongest feature is the image capture – not the speed. This is from a purely commercial reasoning. Typically on a wedding shoot I would take 3-400 shots over the day. With a 5D, 95% percent of them didn’t need any postwork at all and were well metered and pin sharp. That saves a lot of time and money – all of the wedding photographers I knew who were using Nikon D2X’s switched to the 5D for that save reason – the Nikons are fast but the sensors are grainy and simply cant resolve fine detail at a distance like the Canon could.

This, no doubt will change when they finally adopt the Sony sensor they were given the license for almost a year ago.

Milo - you wanted to see it perform in low light well here you go :-)

Quote:

"The 5D MKII camera produces the best stills in low light that I’ve ever seen - what you can see with you eye in the worst light (such as sodium-vapor street lights at 3 a.m. in Brooklyn) - this camera can capture it with ease......It has the potential to change our industry."

Anyone notice Leica's new S2? 56% bigger sensor than 35mm & a whopping 37+ MP!?!? Its a whole new DSLR system. they will launch with 9 lenses specific for the class. Got this from the Photokina website. I was wondering when someone would go bigger than "full-frame". But really, does film as a standard really matter any more? I know the main-stream cam companies still have a film food chain to supply but shouldn't digital be more concerned with making photo quality go up and up? One last thing, how many MP can our eyes really see anyway?

its more of a matter of creating large images for commercial work that can be blown up to great sizes but still retain good clarity - hence the medium format cameras from people like Hasselblad and PhaseOne that have MP counts in the 50's and 60's now.

the 'commercial use' tag also translates to the price tag - with a good lens - dont expect much change from $35,000 for this puppy.