Canon announced the latest member of its burgeoning DSLR range today – the Canon EOS 7D.

The camera slots in nicely to the company's mid-range, and is looking likely to be a competitor to Nikon's D300 and D300S series.

Specs-wise, the EOS 7D sports an 18MP APS-C CMOS sensor, Dual DIGIC 4 processors that allow for superb low-light shooting, and an ISO range up to 12,800. As for continuous shooting, the 7D packs allows for 8 frames per second.

19-point focus

Canon is boasting that its camera will bring with it "a new photographic experience". To go along with its claim, the camera company has added a new metering system.

Called the Focus Colour Luminance metering system (iFCL), the feature unsurprisingly measures focus, colour and luminance, across 63 zones. To complement this, a 19-point autofocus system has been added to the camera.

The camera's screen is a 3-inch Clear View II LCD, which has an angle of 160 degrees, and will brighten or darken depending on what light you use it in.

When it comes to lighting, this is the first EOS to support an external Speedlite (Canon's own branded flash unit) with no additional accessories. There's also an in-built flash inside.

And, as with most DSLRs hitting the market, the EOS 7D also comes with the ability to shoot Full HD movies – with the option for 24fps to give your movies that "cinematic feel".

The Canon EOS 7D has an early October release date and is priced at October 2009 priced at £1699.99.