The 5D was one of the most surprising cameras. It created a new segment in the market. The image quality was unparalleled. Well it is still a great camera. But it is 3 years old. In digital terms, that's 2 lifetimes. So it's replacement it the most anticipated camera since canon's first D-SLR.

Now this is not a camera I am in any position to buy. $2700 is far to much for me to consider. I would need to buy the $3500 kit with the 24-105 1.4 L Lens any way, so it's really out of the question.

But it is fantastic.

• Unlimited 3.9FPS burst rate with JPEG, or 14 RAW, using UDMA CF card
  (standard CF is 78 JPEG, 13 RAW)
• 1080p/30 Video (H.264 38Mbps)
• Lens peripheral illumination correction, (vignetting correction)
• 15-point auto-focus
• Creative auto mode, also like 50D
• Auto-lighting optimizer
• Three levels of noise reduction that kicks in above ISO800
• RAW (21MP), sRAW1 (10MP), sRAW2 (5MP)
• Three-inch, 920,00 dot-screen
• New and improved battery (incompatible with old one) that delivers 850 shots or 1.5 hours of video

I found my new camera. The Canon 50D will be available in October. It really is everything I want.

The high ISO and high resolution will allow me to use natural light in all but the darkest places. It supports the full speed of my Extreme 4 memory cards. It has a big, brighter, high resolution screen. It just does everything I want.

I was waiting to see the specs of the 5Dmk2, but It pretty well out of my price range any way, and the 50D is plenty for me.

Official Specs

• 15.1 Megapixel, 14bit, ISO 100-3200 (H1: 6400, H2: 12800).
• DIGIC 4 Image Processor, 6.3 fps, up to 90 JPEGs w/ UDMA CF cards; 60 JPEGs or 16 RAW w/ standard CF cards.
• 3.0-inch LCD (920,000 dots/VGA) with coatings for improved viewing and smudge protection.
• Enhanced Live View shooting includes Face Detection Live mode.
• Lens vignetting correction.
• EOS Integrated Cleaning System with a fluorine coating for better resistance to dust.
• Creative Auto goes a step beyond full auto with on screen setting display.
• HDMI out, for displaying full high-resolution images on a HDTV.

It's great being able to carry my camera around with me. I used to when I first got it. But my bag was just big enough to be annoying. I just got a smaller one. It doesn't look like a camera bag, that's half of it's purpose. It attracts less of the wrong kind of attention. The right kinds of bags can scream steal me. Like for laptops, cameras, and the like.

In the last two days I found my self in some interesting places. A machine shop with very cool skylights, and an apartment building in NJ with a interesting lobby. If I didn't have my camera I would have missed out on some very cool photos. It just helps give my days more purpose when things seam boring. Plus it helps teach me to
look at things photographically.

That means my not quite daily photos should be more frequent.