This has been the hottest segment of the digital market in the last few years, with bigger sensors, lower prices and increasing megapixels fueling the fire. The Holy Grail of 35mm SLRs continues to be 35mm-full-frame and that’s where more action is expected.
Canon 5D Mark II or EOS 7D: LIKELY
The fact that Canon hasn’t announced a replacement for the 5D Mark I three years after its announcement may be even bigger news than what they will actually announce. Once thought as invincible and could-do-no-wrong, Canon is quietely slipping away, taking the back seat, with Nikon winning the mindshare wars, first with the D3/D300 power duo and now with the D700 full framer.
So do they have something disruptive up their sleeves that they have been trying to perfect, or are they simply doing what’s best for the bean counters, producing the products that can get them the maximum profits with the minimum risks and investment?
Regardless, we expect to see a 5D Mark II or 7D at or by Photokina 2008, with an expected increase in megapixels, perhaps splitting the difference between the 1Ds Mark III and the 12-megapixel “affordable” APS-C and DX DSLRs. Let’s say 16 or 18 megapixels or 15 or something like that.
