It makes sense to me to have a nice middle of the road crop factor that is still pretty good at wide angle but can give zooms a little more reach. I don't know, maybe they are going to make the 1Ds some 40mp monster with selectable crop factors to replace the 1D.
If they are making the 1D FF then they must we doing something strange with the 1Ds. Maybe crop mode or maybe square sensor, who knows.
I'll just say I don't think the 7D2 will have an APS-H sensor. But if it did I'd understand it.
Out of curiosity: What is the largest image circle, which could be projected using an EF mount lens?
Given that the EF mount has the largest diameter (54mm) of any small format SLR system, is it technically possible to project an image circle larger than that required for a 24x36mm sensor with a lens that has an
EF mount?
If it is possible, Canon could introduce a camera with a larger than full frame sensor? The challenge then
is whether you could use existing EF lenses to produce a cropped image? Using a larger sensor would
of course require totally new lenses if it were possible to project a larger image circle while still using an
EF mount.
If this is technically possible - someone who has a better understanding than me of optics may be able to comment - then Canon could possibly entertain a 1Ds with a < 1 crop factor, while still allowing the use of
existing EF lenses with a 1x crop factor.
What I would however envisage could also be a problem with this kind of scheme is that a standard EF
lens would have shorter back-focus distance than one projecting a larger image circle, thus one might have
the same problem which requires that EF-S lenses be incompatible with a standard EF mount in order to
prevent damage to the reflex mirror in a full frame camera.
Anyone who has a better understanding of optics care to comment?