Nikon D3, Canon 40D, EOS 1Ds Mark III, Oh My!

Today must officially be “Camera Rumor Day” because they are all over the place, regarding both Canon and Nikon. First up is a rumor that an Australian site is reporting on, regarding the Nikon D3. This to-be professional camera has been in rumor-ville for quite a while, but apparently invitations to a “very special launch” have been passed out to the press. If rumors prove true, this is an amazing camera. It will best Canon’s Mark III by offering 51 auto focus points, but is a tad slower at 9 frames per second shooting. It bests everything else on the market (that I know of) with it’s 3.0″ LCD capable of displaying 920,000 pixels.

Thanks to Amazon, Canon’s upcoming 40D mid-range DSLR camera has had it’s specs leaked. According to the specs (which have now been pulled), the camera will feature a 10.1MP sensor, 3.0″ LCD display with Live View (a la Mark III), 6.5 FPS shooting for bursts up to 65 JPEG/Fine or 17 RAW, 1.6x crop factor and also integrated 802.11b/g WiFi transmitter. For whatever reason, the amount of auto-focus points seems to have been left out, but this camera looks to be a true winner with it’s $1,299 body-only price.

Lastly, Engadget spotted yet another Amazon leak, this time for a Mark III on steroids, the EOS 1Ds Mark III. Included is a staggering 21.1MP sensor (almost hitting Hasselblad territory here), a slower 5FPS continuous shooting, 45-point auto-focus, 3.0″ LCD with Live View, CF and SD/SDHC options, sRAW support and also a hefty $8,000 price.

Update: Canon’s cameras are no longer a rumor. DPReview has a preview of the 1Ds Mark III and 40D.

Source: Livingroom AU (Nikon D3), CrunchGear (Canon 40D), Engadget (Canon 1Ds Mark III)