It must be Fall because all the new models are here. Nikon, Canon have introduced their new guns. In a serious case of one upmanship, Canon just last week introduced it's new line and this week Nikon was quick to respond. There are some notable changes for both line we will try to sort out the hype from the hard facts.
First off is Canon, introducing a whopper of a camera in it's new EOS-1Ds Mark III. Canon has broken the 21 megapixel barrier with this offering, a 21.1 megapixel, full frame edition of the Mark III. Weighing in at a massive 3.1 lbs this heavy weight also packs a 3 inch view screen, up to 5 frames per second and a dual Digic III processor that allows the camera to process an impressive 185 MB/sec. Wow! As if this wasn't enough, Canon has packed in 14 bit color depth and a live view ability. Canon has also beefed up it's attack on dust and dust removal on all of it's camera models. This
link from You Tube explains it all in a very slick little video. As of the publishing of this article, the camera is only in pre-order status. The street price is about $8K well out of the range of most pro-am shooters.
Canon also announced it's new 40D. This mid range camera is a clear answer to Nikon's D200.
With a 10.1 megapixel sensor and 14 bit color depth the camera is a true contender espcially considering it's $1500 street price that includes a kit lens. The 40D is the logical step forward from Canon from it's very popular 30D and a welcomed addition to it's line.
The newest announcements came in the last week of August from Nikon. With the introduction of the new D3, a big brother to the D2x and the D300, the upgrade for the D200. At the first gloss, these cameras seem to be a logical step forward for the more conservative Nikon. When you dig a little deepter though you find a really notable shift. The most notable change for these cameras is the shift in chip technology and size. Both the D3 and the D300 sport a Full Frame CMOS sensor with up to 14 bit depth recording at 6 frames per second and up to 8 with an optional added battery pack/grip. Both are offering a 12 megapixel chip and a 3 inch view screen. But this is where the simularities end.
The D3, offers an impressive 11 frames per second of shooting speed and a killer 25,400 ISO setting if necessary. ( standard ISO settings of 200 to 6400 with the expanded ISO coming from the boost up settings.) This camera is truly designed for Speed not for size. Most will criticize nikon for the 12 megapixel rating but with the tried and true Nikon user speed is what the shooting is all about. Our guess is that it won't be long before Nikon offers a slower version of the D3 with a massive megapixel rating like what is seen in the Canon line. With Color track action, 51 point focusing, this camera is likely to be the fastest reacting camera on at any event. To help with all this speed, Nikon has included dual CF card slots and Raw overflow buffering.
Not to be outdone the D300 has some cool features too. Like an added HDMI output,
live view and D-lighting correction. It also boasts scene recognition autofocus, and auto focus fine tuning as well as a top ISO of 6400.
This step forward to the CMOS sensor for Nikon represents a departure from the CCD chips of the past. The new size of the FX or full frame on these sensors indicates that the larger sizes of these chips will allow for more megapixels in the months to come and as with the CMOS sensors in the Canon cameras, Nikon has moved toward a higher maximum ISO setting and cleaner more noiseless image at those higher settings. At the writing of this article, neither a pre-order or MSR price could be found for either of these new offerings from Nikon.
The long and short of this article is that some very exciting things are happening in the digital SLR market. In the next few years you will see some large leaps forward in quality, funtionality and options that are available with these camera lines. Stay tuned, you haven't heard the last of this story. - Aloha
