There have been a few rumours about this recently, it was about time for Canon to update their entry level model with the new Digic III processor and the Live View technology they have put into their other cameras like the 1D MKIII and the EOS 40D.

There will be two kits, body only for $800 and one with a starter 18-55mm lens for $900

• 12.2 megapixel CMOS sensor
• SD/SDHC cards
• Larger viewfinder
• Live view mode, including contrast-detect AF
• Improved 9-point AF system
• Spot metering
• 3.0″ LCD monitor
• Continuous shooting at 3.5fps for up to 53 JPEG (6 RAW)

Finally Canon’s entry level cameras has spot metering! Something that has been missing (and rather important) for quite some time.

It’s also Canon’s first camera to use only SD cards (Supports SDHC).

Read the full release here:

Canon EOS 450D / Rebel XSi brief hands-on

Ah finally, the details for the new higher level Alpha are out. It looks like quite a formidable creature.

What a lot of announcements lately with the Canon and Nikon offerings, Sony comes up soon after.

• 12.2 Megapixel CMOS
• New AF Sensor
• Faster Focusing
• High Speed Shutter
• Anti-blur
• Pentaprism Viewfinder
• Weather sealed
• 3″ LCD
• HD 1080 Output
• Wireless Remote Included
• New Kit Lens DT 16-105mm F3.5-5.6 with Internal Focus

Like the A100, the new camera still wears its Konica Minolta heritage very much on its sleeve, and when you start to look a little more closely at the specification it’s obvious that there’s still an awful lot of Konica Minolta DNA in the A700. This is hardly surprising given that the circumstances behind its development.

And, just as the A100 was obviously based on – and designed to be a successor to – the KM 5D, the A700 follows on from the 7D, and – despite lots of Sony touches and an attractive new design – 7D users are likely to find using the new model reassuringly familiar.

Albert has a good post about it here too:

The New Sony Alpha 700!

Ah finally some Reviews of the Fujifilm S5 Pro!

It seems it’s much as expected, fantastic Dynamic Range, but slow, slow AF and slow shooting speed. Definitely not for sports or wildlife shooters.

A good camera for skin tones though, excellent white balance (with the new firmware) and very good rendition of highlight details.

No bunching up on the histogram like normal digital camera, apparently it has wide ‘shoulders’ and gives more leeway like film.

It also has pretty interesting film simulation modes.

If you shoot in the studio, or you do a lot of portraits and wedding, and don’t like post-processing much, this could be the camera for you.

Although many might say the Canon 5D might be a better choice.

You can find some sample pictures here and here.

Fuji S5 Pro vs D200 Dynamic Range Test.

Fuji Finepix S5 Pro Experience Report

Overall we find the Fuji S5 a very exciting camera. The highlight extension paired with excellent noise characteristics raise the bar for image quality and shows that not only Megapixels matter.

Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro CNET Editor’s Review

The bottom line: While a wide dynamic range lets it serve up tons of highlight detail and impressive overall image quality, the S5 Pro isn’t for high-speed sports photography, and it could use more resolution.

Popular Photography – Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro

But this is not really a sports shooter’s camera. The S5 will no doubt please its intended audience — wedding and portrait shooters. The bigger question is whether it will appeal to the broader market of serious amateur photographers. Actually, we think it will. A lot.

Fuji FinePix S5 Pro Digital Camera Body Only

The Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro’s image quality makes it a viable choice for pros and other quality-conscious photographers. Dynamic range, noise and color are all excellent. The S5′s mechanicals – a Nikon D200 body, with Nikon autofocus, metering and flash – are also big assets. The drawbacks of the S2 and S3 bodies are gone.

Some guy recently tested the current crop of SLR cameras with ‘dust removal’ systems to see how effective they actually are.

Sensor cleaning is becoming a standard feature on modern digital SLR cameras. While the manufacturers may use different techniques to get rid of the dust from the image sensor, they all promise clean, dust free images. Do they all work equally well? Can we throw our air blower away? We have tested the four different types of sensor cleaning technologies to see which one will most likely to fulfill the expectations.

I was quite surprised with the results, and how badly they all performed. It turns out they are all pretty much useless when it comes to cleaning/dust removal. Only the Olympus fared reasonably.

Here is our ranking according to effectiveness:

1. Olympus: good
2. Canon: poor (we are disappointed)
3. Pentax and Sony: useless (we are very disappointed)

If you are looking for a camera, have the dust removal as an expectation only at the end of your list. If sensor cleaning / dust removal is a must, the choices are limited to Olympus and Panasonic cameras.

Read the full test here:

Review: Dust removal systems / sensor cleaning

A quick step up from the previous 6 Megapixel original D40 version! A strong competitor for the Canon 400D now with the added resolution.

It shows consumers really do still want more Megapixels and the 6 Megapixel D40 kept a lot of people on the fence with it’s competition already at 10 Megapixels.

The new D40x shares the same 10.2 Megapixel sensor as the D80 and D200, has a faster burst mode (up to 3fps) and has an extended ISO range of 100 to 3200.

The Nikon D40X measures 126.0 x 94.0 x 64.0mm and weighs 481 grams.

The Nikon D40X will have a retail price of $729.95 USD when it ships in April. Alternatively you can bundle it with a 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor lens for $799.95 USD.

That should make it around RM2500 with the kit lens!

Full details here:

Nikon D40x