Even though the Canon EOS 40D is barely a year old (originally released in September of 2007) today Canon has announced the upcoming release of the new EOS 50D (release date: October 2008).
The features that the 50D shares with its predecessor are its build quality, dust control system, and compatibility with all Canon EF and EF-S lenses (in addition to hundreds of third party lenses).
What does the new 50D have to offer that's not available on the 40D? Quite a lot actually:
- 15.1 megapixels instead of 10.1 (which will give it the most megapixels of any consumer-level SLR at the time of release)
- An improved image processor (DIGIC 4) to quickly save the large 15 megapixel files to a memory card even when captured at the camera's top speed of 6.5 photos per second
- Increased ISO range from 100 to 12800 with multiple levels of applied noise reduction
- Increased buffer size, allowing the continuous capture of up to 90 JPG images or 16 RAW
- The Auto Lighting Optimizer helps to increase brightness under lighting conditions where digital SLRs often under expose
- An improved LCD with 4x the pixel count (920,000) than the one on the 40D for a clearer, more colorful display
- The addition of a new "Face Detection" setting when using the live view mode
- Two small RAW (sRAW) formats - the 40D only has one
The estimated selling price of the EOS 50D body only is $1,400 while a kit that includes the 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM is expected to retail for $1,600.
Read the Canon EOS 50D Press Release.