Ten Tools That Reshaped Photography In 2012

Professional sports shooters, photojournalists, wildlife photographers, studio portraitists, videographers: Is there a DSLR-shooting pro that Canon isn’t gunning for with its top-of-the-line EOS-1D X? And this camera offers something for all of them: astonishingly fast bursts of up to 14 frames per second, an all-weather body and a 400,000-cycle shutter that are built to last, autofocus tracking that locks onto even the most unpredictably moving subjects, easy-on-the-hands ergonomics, outstanding high-definition video footage.

Like its rival the Nikon D4, it has an Ethernet port for tethering in a studio. Plus, as results from the test lab of our sister publication, Popular Photography, prove, the quality of its imaging is truly excellent: It matches, almost exactly, the performance of the D4 on just about every point—resolution, color accuracy, noise. The Canon’s RAW images are a little cleaner at ISO 204,800; the Nikon’s autofocus is a little faster in low light. Professional photographers who use either system have never had it so good—at least as far as gear is concerned. $6,800 (body only), usa.canon.com