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But a panoply of new models arrived to satisfy the needs of experts and professionals in 2007. First was Canon's $5,000 EOS-1D Mark III, a rugged 10.1-megapixel photojournalist model unveiled in March that can shoot 10.5 frames per second. Alas for Canon, the camera's record was blighted with concerns about its autofocus performance.

But the floodgates opened in the second half of the year with Canon's top-end, $8,000 21.1-megapixel 1Ds Mark III. Canon hopes this full-frame model not only wlll keep professional SLR shooters loyal but also to woo studio photographers using even more expensive medium-format cameras. Announced at the same time in August and aimed at the serious enthusiast was the 40D, a $1,300 10.1-megapixel model.

A week later, Canon's biggest rival, Nikon, shot back with the $1,800 D300, and, more significant by far, the $5,000 D3, the first digital SLR to follow Canon's lead with sensors as large as a full frame of 35mm film. Large sensors are expensive, but the extra real estate means that individual pixels can be made larger for a given resolution, and larger pixels can work better in low light. The ISO sensitivity rating of Nikon's D3 goes up to a whopping 25,600.

Olympus, too, released a new top-end model, the $1,700 E-3, and two SLR newcomers expanded their ambitions with their second models: Panasonic's $1,300 (including a lens) 10.1-megapixel DMC-L10 and Sony's $1,400, 12-megapixel Alpha A700.