Which Camera?
It seems like this is the year of thinking outside the box for the big camera companies (Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Sony, Panasonic). We've got a host of "EVIL" cameras of various kinds from different manufacturers, various approaches to the compromises and tradeoffs of putting high-end video and still photography in a single box, and even some improved ergonomics (well, some people like it) from Canon.
To summarize:
Canon has replaced the 50D with two cameras, the 7D "above" it and the 60D "below" it. The 60D sports a new control layout and a flip-out LCD but a less professional build. (Canon has also released a very attractive replacement for its S90, what was probably the most compelling high-end compact on the market.
Nikon has replaced the D3000 with the D3100. The new camera has continuous autofocus while shooting video (another first for Nikon) but it remains to be seen if this will prove as half-arsed as its foray into video (having been first to market with HD video in a DSLR, it took Nikon two years to allow 1080p).
Sony has introduced two new kinds of "EVIL" camera, the NEX-series compacts (and not-so-compacts) and the new pellicle faux-DSLRs. And they've added video support to their consumer DSLRs.
Olympus is rumored to be about to release a new pro body to replace the E-3, and a new pellicle camera which uses an LCD mirror (or something), allowing 100% of incoming light to reach the sensor when shooting (at the cost of losing autofocus). If true, this sounds like pellicle done right. (Of course, Olympus remains hamstrung by the 4/3 sensor. Wouldn't it be interesting if Olympus returned to the 35mm market with an FX camera?)
And Panasonic? Who knows?
It seems to me that next year may well be the year we see some really nice cameras. All these new features are going to be very much 1.0, and it will be interesting to see how the ideas mature and cross-fertilize. Of course, you can't take pictures with a camera that hasn't come out yet. What we haven't seen in all this is any substantial improvements in image quality over the current "second generation" DSLR-class cameras. Maybe this kind of thrashing around at the margins is what we should expect when, fundamentally, nothing much is happening with image quality.