DSLRRumors.com

I’m not sure if I believe this or not. The live viewfinder I can see them adding, Canon has shown that this can be done in the 1DIII. In body image stabilization seems to contradict their message that in lens stabalization is better, and I’m not sure what would happen if you combine both. It seems like you would have to disable one or the other. As is pointed out by the author of the article, weather sealing has been offered by other companies in their lower priced bodies. So far Canon has used this as a differentiator between their pro and semi-pro bodies. Perhaps the competition has forced them to bring this to lower end models.
Everything else is as expected, higher resolution, lower noise, yada yada…

link

This was a bit of a surprise, but Nikon has announced a “sister” camera to the D40. It sounds like this is going to be sold alongside the recently released D40. The body is identical to the D40, but the D40x features a bump in resolution and is faster all around.

D40 Highlights

Full Specs at Nikon.ca

As expected Olympus announced the E-410 and E-510 today. They’ve also stated that the E-1 replacement will be available by the end of the year.

E-410 Highlights

The E-510 is the same, but in a larger more robust body. It also includes an optical image stablizer.

Olympus America

“Reports of a full frame (1.1X sensor) prototype being tested were getting stale; however, with apologies for the delay, our intelligence sources in the heart of Japan have confirmed it:”

Full text

Olympus has posted a teaser on their European website. Two announcements are coming on March 5, just prior to this years PMA. There have been rumors of an E410/E510 coming for a while, I’m assuming this is them.

source: http://www.olympus-europa.com/consumer/dslr.htm

Now that Canon has announced they’re new flagship sports/pj camera should we expect to see something from Nikon? If you look at their current replacement cycle I think something is due.

There were a lot of rumors of a new D3H a year ago, but nothing new has come up in the past few months. I think Nikon is on the right track with their high speed crop idea, I honestly thought Canon would be going the same route with a new full frame sensor. They’d really have a winner if they could do a 16 megapixel D3 with a 10 megapixel crop mode. Their production costs would certainly be down and they could compete against Canon’s 1D/1Ds with a single model.

I’m not sure how many PMA’s you can show a camera at before releasing it, but Pentax seems to be trying for a record. They are going to be showing the 645D again this year, but again with no release dates. I understand the desire to make sure all the bugs are worked out, but this seems to be dragging on forever. I think the market is ripe for a low cost medium format system, much the same way the Canon digital Rebel revolutionized the digital SLR segment.

Source: www.dcviews.com

Well, it looks like the Feb 22 date was correct. Canon announced the 1D Mark III today. I’m surprised that they didn’ go full frame with this, but I imagine they weren’t able to get the frame reate they wanted. Dual DIGIC III is an interesting addition, with all of the multi-core/multi-processor talk in the PC world it’s not surprising to see this come to a camera. It’s just something I don’t think many people have thought of, I haven’t heard mention of it in any forums. I don’t think the EOS Integrated Cleaning System is news to anyone, but the live preview sounds good. I don’t think it’s something I would use all the time but it’s certainly a great feature to have for awkward shooting positions or trying to get a shot over the top of a crowd.

Major highlights:

I’m not sure if this should be counted as anything “official” but it looks like on-line retailers are setting to prepare for the 40d. I’m not familiar with the company but take a look. http://www.geheugenkaart.be

A couple of interesting notes, it says DIGIC II not III. Other then the resolution bump it doesn’t sound like they’ve made any real changes at all. If this is real I have to say, I’m more then a little disappointed.

Sorry for the lack of postings, this week has been pretty busy. There hasn’t been a ton of new news in the Canon front, mostly re-hashing of existing rumors/wish lists. I’ve been working on some Nikon information, but haven’t had a chance to post it.

There is supposedly an announcement coming from Canon on Feb 23, although I’ve heard the 20th and also the 22nd. According to the rumors there will only be one camera in the 1 series announced on this date, along with some new lenses. Does this mean the others will be held until PMA or that there is no other news?

I think the 12-24 would be a welcome addition, as well as the 17-135 IS. The 12-24 would complement the full-frame wide angle shooters, and the 17-135 should give Canon some leverage against Nikon’s 18-200VR. The 800/5.6 seems to have been debunked as a hoax in numerous places, I’m not sure what to think here. To be honest I don’t pay too much attention to some of the fringe lenses, if the 800 5.6 does exist it’ll cost as much as a small car and only be available by special order in all but the largest of cities.

If there is only one new camera announced I think my money is on a full frame 1D. Canon still has some breathing room on the 1DsII since no one else is really pushing this model. As much as I’d like to see a replacement for the 30d it is only 12 months old, so I can see them holding off until the fall.