Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips
I’ve seen this date in the rumor mill a couple of times now, and it now appears to be in full swing with a press conference scheduled by Canon for March 25. No details on which one it might be, but popular opinions suggest either a Rebel series update (EOS 500D) or a 1D Mark III update.
Fire away with your thoughts or derogatory remarks (just keep it clean) in the comments below.
We are pretty sure that there is no 1D Mark III replacement due at PMA 2009; however, the anticipation is building for such a replacement as the 1D Mark III ages and lags behind Nikon in many people’s minds.
Another rumor from a so-called Canon exec surfaced recently on the DPR forums:
A colleague is the editor of a large media outlet who has just recently been ‘lunching’ with Canon Sales exec’s in relation to the purchase of the new to be released 1DMk4.
Considering the MkIII was released in Feb 07 this is probably no surprise based on Canon’s 18-24 month update cycle.
The Mk4 will bring in to line recent upgrades seen in the 5DMk2, such as 920k LCD, Movie mode & revised AF and higher ISO capabilities.
No release date was offered.
There are a couple of problems with this info. First, Canon’s update cycle for pro-level bodies is 3 years, not 18-24 months. Second, the 5D Mark II has no revised AF – it’s the same as the 5D, only one cross-type sensor. If the 1D Mark IV had the “revised AF” of the 5D Mark II, it would be worthless as a sports photographer’s tool.
A little further down in the forum thread, a couple of forum posters speculate about the use of a 16 megapixel full frame sensor in the 1D Mark IV, while still maintaining 10 fps. I think this would be a solid setup; however, I’m curious to hear how sports shooters feel about the loss of the 1.3x crop on their long lenses?
More Canon 1D Mark IV Rumors.
Contrary to prior rumors of a Canon 1Ds Mark IV and 1D Mark IV coming out soon, I received a tip from a reliable source today that there will be no Canon 1-series DSLRs released at PMA 2009. This person explained where the information originated and I believe it to be accurate.
Unfortunately, that is all the info that I can reveal while keeping the source anonymous, which I agreed to do. I can say, however, that I still expect a Canon Rebel XSi replacement to be revealed very soon.