New Cameras
Life has been busy for me lately — lots of stuff to do, things to plan for, people to meet up with, etc. It’s times like this that I go into my thinking phase where I muse about any random thing that pops up in my noodle.
As a result, I’ve got a whole bunch of half-baked blog posts that I’m still in the middle of writing. I’ll finish them off when I have a bit more time…
Anyway, for all you serious photographers out there, a bunch of new toys have recently been introduced for you to drool over:
- Canon have upgraded their 30D and 1D-series cameras to the 40D, 1D Mark III and 1Ds Mark III respectively.
- Nikon have announced their D300 and D3 bodies to compete with Canon’s current dominance in the dSLR market.
- Olympus have decided to join in on the party with their recent announcement of the E-3.
This is all good news for anybody who is planning on entering the dSLR camp.
Up until August, it would be fairly safe to say that the high-end dSLR market was dominated by Canon. Their 1D-series cameras were the tool of choice for a lot of pros — whether it be for studio work, sports photography, photojournalism, etc. Nikon gave Canon some competition with their D ’single digit’ series of dSLRs, but the numbers still seemed to indicate a preference for the Canon bodies.
All that may soon change after Nikon announced their D3 in late August. Boasting incredible high-ISO performance and a massively upgraded auto-focus system on a (finally) full-frame camera, this is definitely something that Canon will have to respond to if they wish to trump their competitors.
With Olympus now throwing in the E-3 into the market, there’s now a whole bunch of new dSLRs coming soon to a camera store near you (if they haven’t already).
What does this mean for those who are looking to buy a new dSLR soon?
I’d say hold off on buying one until next year if you can. Wait until there have been a good number of people who have had hands-on experience with these cameras write up reviews/comparisons. I generally try to avoid rushing into relatively new technology — let any problems/issues get worked out first.
As for me, I’m excited. The competition that Canon now has to worry about means that it has to seriously consider how to price their cameras in order to remain competitive. They’re already facing serious threat from Nikon in the low to mid-range dSLR market and now Olympus too.
For those of us who have already kitted ourselves to the extent that jumping brands is not an option, fear not. We’ll soon be seeing cameras with more bang-for-buck sporting higher specs and/or improved functionality.
Isn’t competition great?