Ah Nikon maintaing the lead in Digital SLR sales..

But is that a good thing? Too many entry level models in the Nikon range recently, where are the serious cameras for professionals and advanced amateurs? The D200s with better noise control, the D3x that can top the 1D MKIII.

If you look at it from an optimists point of view its all good though, as more sales = more money = better R&D for better products.

So it could all turn out well in the end.

Nikon has led Canon in its share of the DSLR market in Japan for the past six months, according to latest sales figures.

‘Nikon nudged Canon from its pedestal in December with the introduction of the D80 in October,’ reports Japanese trade publication PEN News Weekly.

‘Since then it also launched the D40 and D40x and has been maintaining the lead for six months, with a 48% market share in May, while Canon ended up second with a 35% market share,’ adds the report which was based on figures released by market research firm BCN.

The statistics reveal a turnaround on a year ago when Canon held a 53% market share in Japan, leaving Nikon behind with 33% in June 2006.

The figures show that Sony’s market share dropped to 2.6% in May this year, from the near 20% share it held in July 2006.

Pentax’s share also fell compared to last summer, from 13% in July 2006 to 7% in May this year – putting Pentax in third place behind Nikon and Canon.

Olympus share has picked up since March - rising to 6.1% in May, a growth attributed to the launch of the Olympus E-410 digital SLR.

The figures were compiled from sales data received from 2,200 stores across Japan, including ‘large electronic home appliance merchandisers’, says PEN.

Source: Amateur Photographer

CHAKKA CHAKKA

This is a real machine gun! 10fps - Dual Digic processors enable this insane frame rate.

You can see a quite demo of the liveview feature too.

Not that I think anyone would need 10fps for any kind of sport unless they are a really bad photographer.

Finally a new king in the 1-D series from Canon and what a monster it is with 10fps and dual Digic processors.

What a beast!

It makes me really wonder what Nikon is going to come out with this year…D3x, D300? D3h?

Specifications

• World’s fastest AF DSLR with approximately 10 fps continuous shooting in One-Shot AF or AI Servo AF
• Maximum burst (JPEG Large, compression level approximately 110 shots; RAW, approximately 30 shots (based on Canon’s testing standards)
• Dual DIGIC III Image Processors for fine detail, natural color reproduction and high-speed performance
• ISO 100-3200 with ISO speed extension, L= 50, H = 6400
• Live View in camera and remote, wired and wireless
• New 45-point Area AF sensor with 19 high-precision, cross-type points (f/2.8 compatible), 26 standard-precision AssistAF points
• New AF point selection methods
• AF micro-adjustment (fine adjustment of AF point of focus)
• New methods of AF point expansion during manual AF point selection

• New 10.1-megapixel CMOSsensor, APS-H size
• Professional EOS Integrated Cleaning System with Self-Cleaning Sensor Unit, Dust Delete Data acquisition
• RAW, sRAW (new SmallRAW), RAW+JPEG, sRAW+JPEG, JPEG+JPEG simultaneous recording
• Increased shutter durability of approximately 300,000 cycles
• Large and bright 3.0-inch LCD monitor with 230,000 pixels and wide viewing angle
• Selectable noise reduction for high ISO images, 50% less shadow noise for all images
• Ships this spring for $3999 (body only)

So price here should be around RM14,000.

Related Reading

1. Canon Press Release
2. Full res sample images from Canon
3. High iso sample images from Canon
4. More info from Canon USA

Not surprisingly Canon is coming up with a competitor for the recently released Sony Alpha A-100 and the Nikon D80.

The all new Canon EOS 400D (Or Rebel XTi).

The specifications will be as follows:

• A 10.1 MP CMOS sensor (3888 x 2592 pixels)
• APS-C (1.6x) format, EF-S lens compatibility
• 2.5″ LCD screen
• 9 point AF system
• ISO 100-1600
• RGB histogram
• 30-1/4000s shutter
• 1/200s sync speed
• 3fps continuous shooting
• buffer for 10 RAW images
• ultrasonic dust removal for sensor
• high precision focusing with lenses f2.8 and faster
• picture style modes
• 0.2s startup time
• Digic II processor
• compatible with BG-E3 grip
• LCD turns off when eye is at viewfinder
• small, lightweight (plastic) body
• USB 2.0 interface
• $799 for the body only, $899 with the 18-55 kit lens.

Leaked from the Canon China site.

It’s good to see another manufacturer taking up the anti-dust sensor treatment, I hope Nikon invests some research in it soon too!

To assure fine photo results, Canon employs dust-resistant materials and structures to dramatically reduce dust generation within the EOS 400D DIGITAL. Measures also are taken to prevent dust from adhering to the sensor due to static electricity. A remarkable new function is the Self Cleaning Sensor Unit that actually vibrates the low-pass filter to remove dust particles from it. Additionally, by targeting image data for leftover dust after cleaning, the Dust Delete Function within the bundled software can be used after shooting to remove dust spots that may remain on the captured image. For photos that are consistently distinct and clear, this dust reduction system is essential.

There’s isn’t all that much difference from the previous Canon 350D, 2 megapixels more, the buffer size has been increased, the LCD size is larger, there are more AF points, an RGB histogram mode has been added as have picture styles.