Canon 5D MARK II

[sammy]

Canons new DSLR offering (hopefully soon)
The most exciting feature has got to be the full HD video capture...on a DSLR !

Heres a demo reel

http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=2326

[theoddball]

Beautiful.

[X.]

The Nikon D90 has the edge in dynamic range (or, latitude, if you will) but the Canon seems to work a bit better in low light situations.

That said, the D90 is one-third of the price, so Canon can go stuff itself! In other news, Panasonic just released a competitor, the GH-1, which is also a 12 megapixel camera with HD video capability.

Check this super-comprehensive comparison report: DSLR sensor ratings

[sammy]

isnt the gh-1 a micro four thrids ? awesome! i'm waiting for that to hit dubai!
the age of compact DSLRs is soon dawning

[X.]

Yes, the GH1 is 4/3 sensor size. Unlike the Nikon D90, it offers 1080p and the AVCHD codec (MPEG-4/H.264).

But the problem is the sensor -- it has a x2 crop factor compared to FF35 (Canon 5D) which is the ideal imager size of a camera, the size used for motion picture cameras. Also, you would need an adaptor to use any Nikon lenses, which kinda reduces the advantage of utilizing your existing Nikon lens library straight away. The GH1 kit comes with a 14-140mm zoom lens, but at f/4.0 it is much too slow for low-light shooting and depth-of-field will be greater. Right now 4/3 lenses are rare and expensive...but the GH1 does have manual control to set aperture, shutter and ISO when shooting video.

Although I am a photography hobbyist, my main concern is cinematography, and right now -- for my money -- the Nikon D90 wins, despite the post-production problems and the lack of manual controls to set aperture, shutter and ISO in video mode. AND that fucking jello when panning -- man, do I hate CMOS!