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Canon made the unusual decision of [URL="http://dpnow.com/forum2/blog.php?b=254"]announcing its forthcoming EOS-1Dx last Octobe[/URL]r. The specifications were incomplete and we were only told that it would be released some time in the spring of 2012. Nikon had planned to announced their[URL="http://dpnow.com/8417.html"] new D4 (officially announced today)[/URL] at roughly the same time, but with the double-whammy of its Thailand factory flooded and still coming to terms with problems caused by the Japanese tsunami disaster, the launch was postponed. One wonders if Canon was provoked into revealing the 1Dx extremely early.

And yet it looks like Nikon will beat Canon to bringing its new pro DSLR to market. It's a huge year for Nikon with its new Nikon 1 compact system camera out to prove itself, and of course Nikon is the official pro imaging sponsor for the 2012 London Olympics. In the UK during 2011 Nikon has kept Canon on its toes with the D3100 regularly topping the DSLR sales charts despite shortages because of the factory woes, and sales of compact cameras have been exceptionally good in a category that Nikon has traditionally tended to struggle in.