After months of speculation, Canon has unveiled its new flagship camera—the Canon EOS-1D X.  Most impressively, the new camera, which replaces both the EOS-1Ds Mk III and EOS-1D Mk IV, improves upon previous Canon EOS 1D-series HDSLRs in every which way.

The EOS-1D X’s imaging sensor has a full-frame, 18.1MP CMOS sensor that features pixels that are 1.25 microns larger than the pixels found in Canon’s EOS-1D Mark IV, and 0.55 microns larger than the pixels found in Canon’s EOS-5D Mk II, which combined with gapless micro lenses, should translate into greater dynamic range, less noise and smoother shadow-to-highlight transitions than both of the aforementioned cameras. As with all EOS 1D-series cameras, the 1D X features 14-bit A/D conversion for optimal color and tonal range.

Performance-wize, the new camera has three image processors including a pair of Canon’s latest DIGIC 5+ image processors and a DIGIC 4 image processor, which has the sole duty of operating the EOS-1D X’s 100,000-pixel RGB Metering System and new EOS iTR (Intelligent Tracking & Recognition) and 61-Point High Density Reticular AF system.

In addition to 12 frame-per-second continuous shooting speeds (or up to 14 fps in Super High Speed Mode), the new DIGIC 5+ imaging processors allow for lower noise levels, chromatic aberration correction for Canon EF optics (formerly a post-production chore), and a standard ISO range of 100 to 51,200, which is expandable to a lower ISO 50 and an expanded range of up to 102,400 (H1) and ISO 204,800 (H2).

Along with impressive still performance (JPEG/RAW/JPEG+RAW), Canon’s EOS-1D X offers HD video with full exposure control and a wide choice of frame rates, including

 1080/30p (29.97), 24p (23.976), 25p, 720/60p (59.94), 50p, 480/60p (59.94), and all with 4GB of automatic file partitioning for continuous recording times of 29 minutes and 59 seconds.

Other features found on Canon’s new flagship camera include fully weatherproof magnesium-alloy construction, an intelligent viewfinder that features a superimposed LCD, a 3.2″, 1,040,000-dot Clear View II LCD, a selection of customizable menu controls, dual CompactFlash (CF Type I & II) memory card slots, 36 ms shutter-lag times, in-camera RAW processing, a Gigabyte-Ethernet terminal and compatibility with Canon’s wireless transmitter and GPS receiver systems.

Check out the Specs…