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Canon has announced that firmware version 1.0.9 will be released soon for the Canon EOS-1D Mark III. Among other things, it sounds like this will address the 1D Mark III autofocus problems that a lot of people have been complaining about.

The full list of fixes, from Canon’s press release:

• Improves the look of images when enlarged on the LCD monitor. Applies a slightly stronger sharpness setting to the LCD monitor when images are enlarged.
• Improves the consistency of AI Servo AF under certain conditions. Reduces the tendency of the camera to autofocus on high-contrast backgrounds when shooting in conditions where AF detection is difficult, such as when the main subject is not completely covered by the AF frames or if the main subject’s contrast is low.
• Provides countermeasures for Main Dial response errors (Main, Quick Control, Vertical-grip Main). Fixes a rare response error in the Main Dials in which they either did not respond when rotated or would change several clicks’ worth even if only clicked once.
• Corrects errors in the Italian and Simplified Chinese menu screens.

Interestingly, Canon has put out a press release saying that this firmware will be available for download soon (“at the end of July”) but it’s not available just yet. I guess they were hearing enough complaints about the autofocus problem that they decided they need to let everyone know that they were taking care of it.

Anyone want to take bets on whether or not this update will fix the autofocus problem for good, or if it’ll take a few more firmware updates before they really take care of it? Wagering lines start to my left.

DPExpert has posted a brief review of the Canon EOS 1D Mark III digital SLR camera. And I mean brief, it’s all of four paragraphs long, so there’s not much point to summarizing it here. But I’ll try my best, because I know you all have high expectations of me and my super summarizing skills.

The only complaint they have is the weight of the camera, although they consider that justified given the magnesium alloy construction, large battery, and water seals.

For high-end amateur work, they recommend going with the Canon 5D instead of the 1D Mark III, with the 1DmkIII’s advantages being battery life and faster shooting speed.

The PhotographyBLOG website has posted a review of the Fujifilm S5 Pro digital SLR.

They say the image quality is very good, especially in the noise response at high ISO levels:

Overall the Fujifilm S5 Pro displayed an amazing lack of noise with regard to its images –– delivering a performance at ISO 1600 that would be comparable to that from lesser cameras at ISO 400, with ISO 3200 equivalent to the kind of results normally seen at ISO 800. Which means, if you’re indeed shooting in low light without flash, as most social photographers worth their salt prefer working these days, the Fujifilm S5 Pro is capable of delivering results that are bang ‘on the money’.

At the same time, they point out that the S5 Pro’s claim of 12 megapixels isn’t entirely accurate, although they figure that the target audience for the camera — which is apparently mostly wedding photographers — don’t mind, since they don’t need gigantic enlargements from the camera.

The review doesn’t really mention any negative points whatsoever, and concludes by saying that this is as close as the reviewer has ever come to giving a camera a perfect 5-star review:

Something stopped me from giving the Fujifilm S5 Pro the full five stars –– always leave ‘em wanting more I say — but it comes as close as any DSLR I’ve tested. I found it a pleasure to shoot with, even if it is a little unwieldy compared with the Olympus E-410s and Nikon D40xs of this world, which would still be a better bet for the keen amateur trading up from a compact. Still, the Fujifilm S5 Pro is a very capable performer, Fujifilm has obviously listened well to the wants and needs of its chosen market and, being one of a kind, if that chosen market is yours, look no further.

As always, be sure to check out their full review for all of the details and sample photos.

DCResource.com posted an E-510 review today. They have a few complaints about the camera, namely:

• Proprietary battery that’s slow to charge (5 hours), although you get an impressive 650 shots (CIPA standard) of battery life, which is better than the competitors. I guess you just have to trade off charging time for shooting time.
• No AC adapter available.
• No extra battery grip available.
• Poor RAW conversion (soft images) using the included applications, Olympus Master and Olympus Studio.
• Live view isn’t very smooth because the frame rate is low. It sounds like this is a common issue with these early live view sensors in DSLRs. I’m assuming this will be improved over the years, since this was an issue with the early point and shoot digital cameras also.
• One second shutter lag when using live view, which again sounds like a common issue with live view.
• Like with the E-410, there’s no way to erase a picture right after you take it, as with pretty much every other camera on the market. You have to switch to playback mode to do that. Like I mentioned in my summary of another Olympus E-510 review, deleting pictures right after I take them is something that I do all the time, and I think it would seriously mess with my picture-taking flow to not be able to do that.
• Tendency to underexpose shots by about 2/3 EV.
• Flimsy battery cover.
• On the slow side when trying to autofocus in low light if you don’t use the flash assist.

But on the whole, they liked the camera:

I like the Olympus EVOLT E-510 — much more so than the E-410. That’s not just because I like the larger grip, either. I like the optical image stabilization (on every lens), improved battery life, and the extra features (mostly custom settings) that were not found on the E-410. I do think Olympus should’ve shipped the camera with different image quality defaults and offered an AC adapter, but you can’t have everything. The E-510 is a great entry-level D-SLR, and one I can recommend highly — just be sure to fool around with the settings a bit. Unless you must have the small size of the E-410, I’d spend the extra $100 and get the E-510 — the image stabilization and more powerful battery are well worth the price.

It does sound like Olympus has put out some interesting digital SLRs with the E-410 and E-510. Be sure to check out the whole review for all of the details and sample pictures.