Canon EOS-1D X Delays [CR2]

[Canon Rumors]

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<strong>What’s going on?


</strong>I have heard just about everything as to why the Canon EOS-1D X has been delayed for almost 3-4 months. I’ve heard blame being placed on battery approval in Japan, FCC approval in the United States, production issues with certain parts of the camera, serious firmware issues that had to be resolved to name a few. Canon has kept the issues very close to the vest and very few people know the exact reasons.</p>
<p><strong>So?…..


</strong>Recently I have been told by a couple of people that the version of the 1DX that has reached select AP and CPS photographers are not in fact production cameras, they are preproduction. Canon felt it was important to have the new camera out for Euro 2012 and the Olympics in London. It’s suggested that the cameras that are in the hands of these photographers will infact have to go back to Canon and will be replaced with the production model whenever they are ready.</p>
<p>That seems strange, no?</p>
<p>If anyone with a 1D X can confirm this, I’d love to hear it.</p>
<p><strong>CRs Take


</strong>The above may be untrue, however a 3-4 month delay in this day and age is a pretty unique thing (for anything other than big lenses). It tells me, and others, that something at the hardware level with the camera is being addressed and has required additional R&D and manufacturing considerations. If the issue was something like a battery or FCC approval, I don’t see the harm in just saying that in a press release and getting on with things.</p>
<p>Will the camera hit retailers in June? For the moment I don’t have an answer, I haven’t heard anything from major retailers about availability in a long time.</p>
<p>Food for thought….</p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">c</span>r</strong></p>

 

[Dylan777]

I wonder if the new 24-70 mrk II will get delay or not???

 

[unfocused]

Given the target market, the price and the fact that their reputation in the professional market rides on this camera, is it any wonder that Canon wants to make sure the thing is as close to perfect as possible before releasing it?

I wonder how many pros at the 1Dx level really care about when the new model arrives. They may be too busy earning a living with the IDs and ID IV to even pay attention to when the 1Dx might be hitting the streets. I suspect that Canon knows the people who do care and will be taking care of them.

Still, odd that it would be delayed this long.

 

[distant.star]

.
Isn't this really an episode of The Twilight Zone?

 

[victorwol]

Starting to wonder if will ever get out.... May be they are designing a whole new sensor and f8 focus system?

 

[briansquibb]

.
Isn't this really an episode of The Twilight Zone?

I thought "Lost"

 

[lonebear]

Expecting some big improvement (sensor side specifically?) in the final production model.

With the recent DR hypes, it looks to me that's Canon's best choice in this upgrade cycle if it doesn't want to introduce 1DXN in 6 months.

 

[briansquibb]

Perhaps it takes 8 months to make it 36mps (just joking)

 

[AG]

If they fix the no HDMI mirroring/clean HDMI out issue and maybe bump the camera up to 60fps @ 1080p.

I would consider one of these over a 5DMk3 w/Grip combo for video.

Not likely though.

 

[cycomachead]

I do think that seems like a rather strange thing to have that long of a loaner for the camera - however, if the 1D X is seeing seriously delays, then even having a pre-production model would be great for something like the Olympics. I've seen high ISO from the 1D X, and played with it for 30 minutes, and I can see why Canon wants to get it out as fast as possible, but definitely wants to prevent any possible problems since I think there's still lingering stress after the 1D3 problem...

On the other hand, while the 1D X felt ready, would you really want to trust a pre-pro camera with an event as important as the Olympics? (I guess it'd still be a great secondary camera, but I'd be weary of it for my main work.)

 

[EchoLocation]

This is really shining a negative light on Canon. Why was it announced soooo early when it obviously wasn't ready?
I'm a huge Canon fan and own thousands of dollars of their gear but with the recent pricing being significantly higher than the alternative brands on the market and exceedingly long delays in their flagship product, I am really starting to lose confidence in this company.
It's pretty disappointing that we took the Olympics as a "given" date when the 1D series replacements would be available(even a few years ago,) and now, with the Olympics just over a month away there is no guaranteed announce coming.
I'm starting to think there is either some major hardware issues, or the that camera would just get trounced upon by the D800 and could not be released in its announced form.
This is way more drama than a flagship product should have pre release. If this thing isn't out fast and working excellent, I think Canon will have seriously tarnished the image of this product

 

[helpful]

It appears clear to me that they are redesigning several things in a significant way to make sure that this camera kills the Nikon D4, not only in the majority of features as it already does, but in the unimportant details like the mathematical formulas for representing the analog signal, i.,e. digital conversion. This controls the dynamic range which everyone is attacking Canon for. I would not be surprised if they do something about it.

There are obvious reasons to buy the 1D X regardless of any possible new features. Its service lifetime cycle is way longer. The 400,000 actuation time line between repairs means that it costs less / is more efficient than the 5D3 with only 150,000 actuations between repairs. $6,800 is less than twice the price of the 5D3, and the 1D X will last many times longer with much less than half as much needed service/repairs.

The 1D X is a much cheaper option for anyone willing to look at it the way an accountant would, plus with every photograph it provides a very significant increase in quality and ability to capture difficult photos.

 

[Martin]

to be honest i think that they just realized that the 1dx sensor is poor in comparison to d4...and trying maybe to improve it a bit. Have no idea if such a fast RD is possible but it would be nice for Canon to win in other category than fps only.

 

[expatinasia]

Well that explains why the guy on that other forum that said he had received his and uploaded pictures, but then later deleted his post and the pictures.

If you were to read anything into that then it would possibly suggest that he did not even realise it was a pre-production model.

Still a massive shock considering all the big events that are taking place this year, and not just in the sporting world. Though in reality it does not really matter as everyone covering those events will likely have a 1D Mark IV anyway. Just disapointing.

Maybe they are trying to sort out the AF issue.

 

[kozakm]

I wouldn't call it 8 motnhs delay. At the announcement they told that the camera will be available by the march of 2012. So they are just 2 months late

Btw, I have checked exifs of the photos from the last Formula 1 Grand Prix in Monaco and there are a lot of 1D X's there...

 

[John Thomas]

Yes - the most possible scenario is that their "hardware failure" is called Nikon.

However, they must take care at some things:

1.) By improving 1DX to not leave the impression that 5D3 is abandoned.
Abandoned customers will abandon the brand.

Also, it will create a pretty nasty chain reaction which will tarnish even more the Canon's reputation which, truth to be said, isn't at its heights nowadays. Nothing worse than the word of mouth from a burned customer.

2.) Improving 1DX in such small amount of time is a sensible matter. But this has two planes: hardware and software (ok, firmware).

Doable but they must be very careful at a big dark trap which any Canon engineer should know: if they do a mistake in firmware and this is found after the product is in the field, this is easily fixable (the cost is low) but if they do a mistake in hardware and this is found in the field then this can be the final tombstone.

Generally speaking, in this situation, significant improvements in firmware has by far the biggest return of investment and they should give much more importance to this now.

However, I think that they are forced to mess up with the hardware and that's why 1DX is delayed.

0.02c++

JohnTh

 

[kozakm]

Well that explains why the guy on that other forum that said he had received his and uploaded pictures, but then later deleted his post and the pictures.

That doesn't explain anything Because I was allowed to publish photos from preproduction version almost without any restrictions. I probably could even post raw files (at least the document I received didn't make any difference between raw and jpg.)

Few real life samples (converted from RAW in Camera RAW 6.7 RC with default settings):
http://www.martinkozak.com/?p=12170

 

[Marsu42]

Given the target market, the price and the fact that their reputation in the professional market rides on this camera, is it any wonder that Canon wants to make sure the thing is as close to perfect as possible before releasing it?

If they think this, they must be really desperate - engineering is always a compromise between dev time and product lifecycle, thus making "near perfection" an idea for geeks, not for a commercial company. It's much more likely that they found flaws (f8 af?) they couldn't get away with given the competition, so rather than "near perfection" its more like "good enough".

1.) By improving 1DX to not leave the impression that 5D3 is abandoned.
Abandoned customers will abandon the brand.

Are you suggesting that Canon would be well-advised not to put any significant last-minute improvement in the 1dx, because it may make the 5d3 look bad? Geez, this is the way of technology - and Canon will hardly stop development because some 5d3 users are a bit touchy when they hear "Nikon" and could not stand internal Canon competition, too. Didn't tons of 5d3 threads establish that the 5d3 is a great body at any price and nothing else matters, esp. not other alternatives :-o ?

 

[briansquibb]

Perhaps Canon have learnt from Nikon's mistake of early release of the D800 and D4. They have just issued their first firmware upgrade to cure lockups and other issues.

Can you imagine the noise if Canon released the 1DX with those problems. The only hitch with the 5DIII was the non problem of the light leak which was blown out of all proportion.

The D800 issues are real nasty things - I would be sending the D800 back if this happened to me

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-11677-12641

 

[pwp]

There are obvious reasons to buy the 1D X regardless of any possible new features. Its service lifetime cycle is way longer. The 400,000 actuation time line between repairs means that it costs less / is more efficient than the 5D3 with only 150,000 actuations between repairs. $6,800 is less than twice the price of the 5D3, and the 1D X will last many times longer with much less than half as much needed service/repairs.

The 1D X is a much cheaper option for anyone willing to look at it the way an accountant would, plus with every photograph it provides a very significant increase in quality and ability to capture difficult photos.

I love your logic. In hindsight it's probably true. I work my bodies hard and I've never worn out a 1-Series going right back to film EOS 1n. I can't say the same for xxD or 5D bodies. What a perfect justification for not cancelling my 1DX pre-order. Thanks! +1

Though I did do a job today with 1D4 & 5D3 and the black focus points on the 5D3 lost shots for me again...I plain lost sight of the selected focus point against a dark subject and missed peak moments. Hopefully the fix for this is part of the 1DX delay.

PW