Exciting news – I just saw the announcement of the upcoming release of the Canon 1D X, which combines the 1Ds line of camera bodies and the 1D line. You can see the official press release here.

Before I can actually get my hands on it (can I borrow $6,800?) I’ll have to say that the Canon 1D X will be a useful update for photojournalists and filmmakers/videographers because of a few new things – first, it is now a full frame camera body, unlike the 1D series, which had a 1.3x crop factor. That meant that you didn’t see everything the lens gave the camera; everything was cropped/zoomed in by a factor of 1.3. Now, the 1D X matches the 5D mark II in full frame capability, so the image will be much nicer. Additionally, you can adjust the audio levels on the 1D X while recording video. Before – and with the Canon 5D mark II – you had to pick an audio level setting and leave it. On-the-go adjustments are crucial for filmmakers, especially when it comes to audio.

Another great thing is that the 1D X shoots 60p video, which means you get 60 frames per second so that you can get more out of your slow-mo shots, especially with the help of Final Cut Pro plugins like Twixtor. Again, the 5D mark II lags behind – with a max of 30p (though the 7D shoots 60p as does the 1D mark IV).

There is a whole host of other new features and crazy upgrades (14 frames per second for sports … or LOTS of pictures of your cat), but I just wanted to highlight a couple of my favorite things. We’ll see how the thing functions when it actually comes out and if there are any issues like with the last time Canon released such a heavily redesigned product. 1D mark III auto focus defection nightmares anyone?