Canon’s new shooter, the 7D, is official now. In a rare event for Canon, this model doesn’t upgrade anything, but slots in as a new option in their line-up. The 7D sits above the 50D but below their 1D series. It retains the 1.6x crop APS-C sensor of their Rebel and xxD series, but pumps in other pro features. It’s crop sensor pro lite, really. It was announced today with a new wireless file transmitter just for the 7D and three new lenses (including a 100mm f2.8 macro which is Canon’s first lens to use their Hybrid IS system, w00t!).

We’ll have more the lenses soon, but for now here are some key specs on this new Canon beast:

• 18 MP CMOS Sensor
• Dual DIGIC IV Processors
• Supports EF and EF-S lenses
• Magnesium, weather-sealed body
• Shutter rated to 150,000 actuations
• An LCD is overlaid on top of the viewfinder to show AF points, composition grids, spot metering, electronic level, and the usual shooting info
• 3″ 920,000 Dot LCD
• New 19 Point all Cross-Type AF Sensor
• New iFCL 63-zone dual layer metering system
• ISO 100 – 12,800
• 30 – 1/8000 second shutter speeds, plus bulb
• 3 RAW sizes
• Dual-Axis Virtual Level
• 8 Frames Per Second Continuous Drive
• Full HD Recording (with manula controls this time)
• Mic Jack

Should be up on our site very shortly, these new fly-by-night cloak-and-dagger product announcements and embargos make it rough on us poor vendors, since we’re increasingly often finding out these things are official from the same sources you are, leaving us scrambling to get them up

But, while we scramble, hit us up at 1-800-726-5544 if you want on our wait list for the 7D or any of the new lenses.