Hot damn kiddies. Amazon just posted the specs and delivery for Canon's EOS 40D. Of course, it's not official 'til it's official but Amazon lists a September 20th availability for the true 30D successor. The specs? They're all there: new 10.1 megapixel, APS-C sized, self-cleaning CMOS sensor; 30% faster, 9 point AF; DIGIC III image processing; ISO 3200 max sensitivity; improved 3.0-inch LCD with Enhanced Live View; 6.5fps continuous shooting (bursting 75 Large/Fine JPEGs or 17 RAW images); 35-zone metering system; and CF card storage, natch. All in a body just slightly larger than the EOS 30D while tipping the scale with 1.4-ounces (40-grams) more beef. It also supports an "sRAW' mode which trims the number of pixels to one-fourth that of a standard RAW image (cutting file size in half) while retaining all of the flexibility of full-sized RAW images. A definite 30D upgrade for those of you who've been holding out. Sorry, no new pictures, the shot above was from that earlier leak. Now best get outta here and start shaking down the kids for the $1,299.99 required to take the body-only home.

Update: Amazon pulled the price and delivery date. No worries, original screengrab after the break.

Update 2: Oh my, now the whole page is gone! Tsk, tsk Amazon, jump the gun did we? We anticipated this: peep the gallery for a walk down memory lane.



[Via dpreview forums, thanks Manhog and Robby B.]

Continuing on with the minor camera updates today, it looks like BenQ is readying the replacement to the C1000, the C1050. They've bumped the screen on the 10.1 megapixel shooter to 2.5-inches (a whopping .1-inch up from the C1000) and the optical zoom to 5x (up from 3x), and dropped the internal memory down to 9MB from 24MB for some reason, but other than that, this is basically the C1000 all over again, all five ounces of it. No official product shot yet, so here's a photo of the C1000 -- unless BenQ's decided to get crazy on us, we'll bet the C1050 looks just like it. Jeez, people, haven't you heard of silent upgrades?

While it's not like Minox has exactly cracked the upper echelon of camera brands, the German company has been pumping out solid shooters for a while now (and some, well, not-so-solid). The DC1022, announced today, is based on the well-received DC8122, and retains most of the same basic specs while updating the CCD to 10.1 megapixels and reducing the thickness to an even 1-inch. Other than that, you're basically looking at the 8122: 2.8-inch LCD, 6x optical zoom, 0.8-inch macro ability, digital image stabilization, VGA video, and 32MB of built-in memory, along with the obligatory SD slot. No info on pricing or expected availability, but we've ended every other Minox post with a prediction of "cheap" and we haven't been wrong yet.

The actual show is still nearly a month away, but a few trigger-happy camera manufacturers are unveiling their wares a bit early. Canon's EOS 400D / Rebel XTi DSLR -- a followup to their uber-successful Rebel XT -- was already pretty well outed by their Chinese arm, so there aren't really a lot of surprises here, but it's looking good all the same. The highlights are just like before: a 10.1 megapixel CMOS sensor, 2.5-inch LCD (a sizable improvement to the 1.8-incher on the XT), and speedy 9-point autofocus -- the same as that of the EOS 30D. The 22.2 x 14.8mm CMOS sticks with the 1.6x conversion ratio common to EOS cams -- not sure how we were getting that full frame vibe before -- and ISO sensitivity ranges from 100-1600. Canon is introducing a new Self Cleaning Sensor Unit that shakes off dust through ultrasonic vibration, along with a Dust Delete Data feature that embeds dust location in metadata, helping the included Digital Photo Professional software delete dust spots automatically. Of course, it wouldn't be a "Rebel" if Canon wasn't doing their darndest to undercut the competition on price, and the new $899 pricetag, which includes Canon's EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lense, does a pretty good job of said undercutting. You can also nab just the camera body for $799, and Canon has dropped the similar configurations of the XT to $799 and $699 respectively. The XTi is due for release in September, and seems destined for at least a little bit of success in its own right.

[Via LetsGoDigital]