Verdict

This is a superb camera, with only minor niggles, mainly ones that can be levelled at any Canon c’s face it: they’re unlikely to dissuade people from investing. In terms of performance and image quality, there’s not much this camera can’t do and it should win many fans.

Images are good and, more important, big, allowing large prints to made, plenty of detail to be captured and will satisfy publishers, stock libraries and many other potential clients. On the professional side, I can see this being popular with wedding, landscape, fine art photographers and others who may not always have £6000 to invenst in a 1DS.

For semi pros and enthusiasts, however, that investment is still substantial at £2500 and this isn’t a mainstream camera. But it does show us where cameras are going to be in the not-too-distant future. Canon leads the way in consumer DSLRs, first with the EOS D30 and latterly the 8MP 350D. Others have followed since but Canon continues to advance faster and often better. If Canon can, why can?t anyone else?