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Canon's latest mid-tier D-SLR stands out as the most well-rounded model in this increasingly competitive category. Other cameras in its class offer unique assets, but the 40D shoots the fastest, focuses most ably in low light, and produces the best image quality at high ISO settings. Backed by the most extensive professional lens system of all the mid-tier models featured here, it's also, surprisingly, the least expensive.

Co-Advanced D-SLR of the Year: Canon EOS 40D

Canon's latest mid-tier D-SLR has fewer megapixels than some of its peers, but it's our top choice for both fast-action and available-light shooting. Indeed, in our recent field test pitting the 10.1-megapixel Canon EOS 40D against the considerably more costly 12.3-megapixel Nikon D300, the 40D excelled on several important counts. These include shooting speed (at 6.5fps, it's slightly faster than the 6fps Nikon minus battery grip); image quality at high ISO settings up to ISO 3200 (the 40D is slightly noisier than the D300 but superior to every other APS-C-format D-SLR); and autofocus (its nine cross-type focus points track moving subjects just as fast as the D300's more advanced 51-point array).

While similar in size and form to its predecessor, the 8.2-megapixel EOS 30D, the EOS 40D borrows many of its abilities from the EOS-1D Mark III, our 2007 Professional D-SLR of the Year. These include 14-bit RAW capture, which delivers a fuller tonal range; DIGIC III image processing, which further smooths those tones; a three-inch, 230,000-pixel LCD screen with a wide viewing angle; a Self Cleaning Sensor Unit backed up by software-based dust erasure; Highlight Tone Priority mode, which improves highlight detail by about a stop; high-ISO noise reduction; and interchangeable focusing screens.

The EOS 40D is also Canon's first mid-tier model with Live View, which allows you to view and compose your subject right on the LCD. (The screen even displays a real-time histogram.) And unlike its higher-end siblings, the 40D can be focused in Live View mode simply by pressing the AF-On button.The camera's sturdy magnesium-alloy body has excellent ergonomics as well as weather-protected battery and CF card compartments. Plus, its large, bright viewfinder (which covers 95 percent of the subject) is well-suited to low-light viewing and focusing.

At a Glance: Canon EOS 40D

Co-Advanced D-SLR of the Year: Olympus E-3

Though we had four long years to think about what we'd like in a successor to the Olympus E-1, the generation-skipping Olympus E-3 still defied our expectations. It is a much more sophisticated camera than it really had to be, offering many pro-level features not found on other models in its class. In fact, the E-3 has a degree of complexity that gives it a steeper learning curve than its competitors. The menu system, because it has to pack in so much, is partly to blame. Once we set things up to our liking, though, the E-3 proved highly responsive. Its image quality is excellent where it counts, the Four Thirds format notwithstanding -- just a bit grainier than par at ISO 1600 and above. More significant, we made fewer adjustments to the E-3's output than we typically do with other D-SLRs.

A magnesium-alloy chassis protects its inner works; ample gasketing makes it the most dust- and weather-resistant model here. Its viewfinder is bright and has enough magnification to make you forget that this is a Four Thirds-format D-SLR. And while the E-3's LCD is a bit small, that's because it accommodates the hardware needed for full articulation -- which lets you angle it for viewing from a wide range of positions for Live View shooting. Photographers who've never tried composing onscreen should give it a chance, because it lets you make pictures you couldn't have taken through the optical viewfinder.

The best new thing about the new model is its autofocus performance, the chief beef against the E-1. We were floored by the speed of the E-3's 11-point AF system, which snapped to it in single-shot mode -- with none of the vexing searching that slowed down the E-1 -- and challenged Canon's EOS 40D in continuous-AF focus tracking when light was good. The 11 focus points are all cross-type, making them better able to lock onto both horizontal and vertical detail. The EOS 40D's nine focus points, and 15 of the 51 focus points in the Nikon D300, are also cross-type, but they're sort of bunched together in the middle of the viewfinder. The E-3's points are spread more widely and evenly, allowing it to focus off-center subjects consistently. Speaking of focus, the phenomenal pro-quality lenses Olympus is making for the E-3 are half the reason we've chosen it as Co-Advanced D-SLR of the Year. Who can argue with the range of an ultrawide rectilinear 7-14mm f/4 zoom, the equivalent, in 35mm, of 14-28mm? Or with the speed of a 14-35mm f/2, a stop faster than its popular full-frame equivalent, the 28-70mm f/2.8?

At a Glance: Olympus E-3

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