„The Truth of the digital EOS lineup“ for Canons diary, I hope someone in charge for the Canon-EOS-digital-product-line will read here what’s a little bit wrong with the EOS-DSLR-lineup.
I did start to use Canon EOS back in 1996 with an EOS 50E (ELAN IIE). Through the pre-digital years my Canon gear grew by EOS 5, 3, 1V, quite a lot of fixed- and zoom-lenses, Speedlites and accessories. Canon was innovative (think about IS, AF-eye-control, DEP-program, 45-AF-sensors in EOS 3, anti-shake-timing in EOS 10, etc.), more stylish but cheaper than Nikon. So, there are Canon-users like me out there who did spent a lot of money on EOS-gear in the past. For those folks it’s not so easy to switch to Nikon or other vendors than for the guys with one EOS-DSLR and one or two lenses in their bag, I think you know that, but I also think you owe us attention as you did grow with our help.
In 2004 I did start to look out for Canon DSLRs. I can understand that APS-C sensors were the right choice from an economic point of view in the early days as sensors where much more expensive, but that sensor-format did also puzzle all focal-lengths of EF-lenses and zoom-reflectors of older EX-speedlites, a nightmare from the photographic point of view if you had a lot of EF-lenses. So APS-C could only be a temporary workaround for guys like me. To spend again in APS-C gear is close to completely switch the vendor, also there where only little EF-S prime-lenses in the near past.
Eight years later, I think, there still is no attractive EOS-FF-camera. I don’t earn any money with photos, it’s just an intensive hobby. So it’s not that easy to spend a lot of money for that expensive gear. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that much a matter of price, it’s a value-for-money thing! And you did mess up value for money quite a lot since the digital era, i.e. upper level and high-end DSLRs are nowadays about 2 times higher in price than these segments have been in film-era, but entry- and consumer-level cameras came down to about the same price as analog SLRs have been. So what happend here? Of course we have to pay your firmware- and sensor-development additionally, on the other hand side we save money on not having to buy and develop films any more. That would be an argument for higher DSLR prices compared to film-SLRs. But what about the price-shift in the upper segments? I think you take quite a lot more money for the upper segment DSLRs to fund the highly competitive entry- and consumer-market!
Bad luck for me, as in FF there still is only the overpriced upper- and high-end level left, less value for more money. Let me compare EOS 50D and EOS 5D Mk2 as they where introduced nearly at the same time: list-prices about factor 2 difference (street-price-difference even worse!), 5d Mk2 with 1Ds-style-sensor and video-capability in a quite 500D camera-housing (less quality AF, no flash, no AF-light, no (A-)DEP-program, worse X-Sync, less metering range, less fps even relative to MPx-difference) – that’s not what I understand as „value for money“.
So don’t screw us up with that EOS 6D (?) once again, pamper us with features and value for money. Don’t let us be jealous on Nikon-guys (I’m really very sorry to say, I am since the D700) any more, but let us be proud again to have chosen a Canon in early days! I don’t want to wait over and over again for a FF-camera as you produce scrap over scrap!
At the end, some tipps as you desperately seem to need them:
don’t spend on MPx, raise high ISO, don’t invest in too much AF-sensors (useless without eye-control), but widespread, accurate cross- or x-type sensors for f/5.6, 100% should be state of the art since digital, DON’T forget the flash all the time (also for remote-control; sometimes it’s better to have a bad picture compared to having no photo at all, and charging batteries is not needed), as you raise ISO DON’T forget the AF-light (your AF without light isn’t that good!), swing-screen would be really nice, I never will understand why you discontinued the DEP-program (it’s a feature not often used, but nearly irreplaceable; nobody can tell me he/she can see how to stop down via the viewfinder, and DOF-scales are missing nowadays), no need for high framerates, no need for video, definitely NO NEED for touch-screen, IS would demand an improved anti-shake-program from EOS 10, AF-Microadjust is eagerly needed, forget all that sports/portrait/night/etc. programs, no need for all that built-in picture-effects, I do hope the sad odyssey of the power-switch is over since 7D (couldn’t be that hard to find the right place), also mode-dial and DOF-preview-button will be the same in the future as they are on 5D Mk3, weathersealing is must for that price
