I have a good friend who is an engineer for Canon USA, and he heard that Canon and Nikon collaborated in designing the sensor for the new Full Frame Nikon... Canon is the "silent partner" on the new sensor.

I could hardly believe it at first, but it makes sense if you think about it... If you are the only one to ever adopt a technology, then there is always a lingering thought that maybe it isn't the best way to go (think Sigma and Fovian). Canon needed another company to go FF to legitimize their leadership and show how forward thinking they have been.

The benefits to Nikon are obvious (great new camera, a jump-start into new technology with FF and cmos) but the benefits to Canon are real too... I mean, this shows that *they* have been ahead of the game for *years*, and they get in on the details of the latest and greatest Nikon...

Without competition, a market languishes... That is part of why Canon *needs* Nikon to be in the game, just like Microsoft *needs* Apple to be competitive in an interesting way. (not *to* competative, mind you)

It is a gamble for both companies, but I bet it pays off for both of them too!