Canon EOS 7D Imminent?

[Suhit Gupta]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9789831-1.html' target='_blank'>http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9789831-1.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Chatter has intensified recently and the rumor mill is chugging along that Canon will soon be introducing a follow up to the EOS 5D called the EOS 7D. The unofficial keeper of UPC barcode data, upcdatabase.com, even has an entry for the Canon EOS 7D that looks very convincing. On the other hand, Canon has said that it won't release any new dSLRs for the rest of this year and stuck to its guns when I asked about this. So, do I think that we'll see an EOS 7D from Canon anytime soon? No. I don't. I wouldn't expect anything like that until the lead up to PMA next February at the earliest. Not only that, I'm not totally convinced that the successor to the EOS 5D will be the EOS 7D. Sure, Canon has a tendency to use odd instead of even numbers when naming its higher-end SLRs, so we might not get to see an EOS 6D or an EOS 4D, for that matter. But, it also tends to name better-featured cameras with lower numbers, which is why the 1D line is at the top of their SLRs."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/TopSecret_270.jpg" /><br /><br />I have been wondering about a new camera from Canon for some time now. The 40D is priced around $1100 and the 5D is (while cheaper now) priced around $3K. But it doesn't look like there is anything in the intermediate range that would compete with the Nikon 300D. So naturally, the 7D came to mind as to the one that would fill this spot (ignoring Canon's bizarre number scheme). However, this article is saying that it will likely just be the successor to the 5D. But then there are also rumours about the 5D Mark II. So it is unclear to me as to whether there would be a new camera from Canon or not. And if so, what features would it have? Thoughts anyone?

[Jason Dunn]

I just wanted to say full points for using such a great graphic. ;-)

Regarding the 7D...yeah, it's kind of in an awkward spot. Because it's full frame, it competes with the D3 on sensor - but so do other Canon cameras (and I don't know that the 5D compares well spec-wise with the D3, does it?). I don't think Canon really wants to compete with the D300 - I think they feel their 40D is doing the job well enough, although as you point out, there's a BIG price gap between them all. Granted, Nikon has the same kind of problem with the D300 coming in at $1899 or so and the D3 being $5000. That's also a BIG price gap.

[Doug Johnson]

Feature-wise the 40D competes pretty well against the D300, I don't see a serious lacking from Canon in this regard.

Just if you look at the way that Canon has done things in the past there is a new camera announcement coming around the time of PMA and not much beforehand, and that camera will be called the 5D Mark II. It will have higher resolution and will be faster and quieter, feature Live View on a larger LCD and a DIGIC III processor. It can't be as fast or high resolution as its bigger brothers, the 1D mk III or 1Ds mk III, though, putting it somewhere around 6 fps at about 16 megapixel.

But that's all pure speculation based on the way Canon has done things in the past. I have no insider information at all.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Note that Nikon and Canon don't have a direct offering against each other except at the top tier (even then you can argue against it). It's probably a marketing strategy as well as their different philosophies.