Eagle Eye said:
Why drop the XXD line? No room for a 70D? I think the 1D and 1Ds are merged. There's no reason to think that Canon can't do high fps with high resolution, particularly if it gets linked to the sRAW system. It drives up production costs to produce two pro bodies and especially two full frame sensors, thus driving up cost for the consumer, making the camera less appealing, particularly if Nikon is able to keep production costs lower. I would expect the 5D III or otherwise titled successor to come in around 2,699 with a full-frame entry level coming in at 1,600-1,900. The 1D and the 5D III would have the same sensor, just grossly different capabilities (expect 3 fps in the latter). The rest kind of your thoughts mirrors what we have now, so I'd expect that to continue. In my mind, the 7D is an XXD camera. I bought my 20D in 2004 for about $1,400, so it's not as if that line hasn't been close to the 7D on price in the past. That's the area I'm most unsure of, though: will they bring the price point of a 7D successor down and make it a 70D or was the XD naming a positive factor in the 7D sales? Hard to say. I am confident that there will be a 7D successor, though. The camera was very well received and Canon has shown some degree of commitment to the EF-S lens line, though it could use a few primes. Good thoughts, Bokehmon!
+1 completely agree.
The main reason I have the 3D on there is because a lot of people were talking about a 5DII successor with vastly improved specs, essentially moving it into serious pro territory (with af and all that jazz). Then people started suggesting that there would be an entry level FF camera. So I proposed that the line be split into a higher end 3D and a lower end 5D.
I also completely agree with the combining of the 1 series, but based on rumors and the competition, ie Nikon, I don't think there really will be a merging.
I do think that naming XD to a camera will improve sales as a lower number has always been associated with a better camera and a more professional product. That said, they probably won't change the XXD series to a 9D or something until they hit 100D...
So here's the revised list.
$5499 -- 1Ds: FF high res studio monster
$4499 -- 1D: FF low res speed demon
$2999 -- 3D: FF higher end (1Ds sensor)
$1999 -- 5D: FF entry level (last gen FF sensor)
$1799 -- 7D: APS-C high end
$1199 -- 9D or XXD: future of XXD series? enthusiast camera (7D sensor)
$899 -- XXXD: mid range APS-C (7D sensor)
$599 -- XXXXD: entry level APS-C (last gen APS-C sensor)
reduced the prices a bit because I don't think they can still charge the same premium for the 1Ds as they used to.
