When the first Canon 5D was released more than three years ago, photographers flocked to the camera en masse. The digital SLR had one thing going for it: it was the first digital model to bring a film-like quality to images. No one was able to explain why or how. Not the photographers, and not even Canon. And for the past three years, photographers have been asking for a Mark II model that would increase the 5D burst rate, its weather sealing and include a sensor cleaning device, while keeping the same sensor and pixel count (12.7 million).

Canon has finally announced its 5D Mark II. While the camera keeps the same body, the rest is very different. Now sporting a 21.1 million pixel resolution sensor, photographers are asking: will the Mark II model offer the same film-like quality? BJP asked the question to Mike Owen, Canon's team leader in the DSLR product planning division. His answer: 'We hope so. We haven't done detailed testing yet,' he said. 'The benchmark is the 1Ds Mark III and we feel that the 5D Mark II brings a similar level of image quality.'

I guess photographers will have to judge for themselves once the camera is released in November. In the meantime, you can read BJP's article about the release.