SPOTTING THE 30D/D30 AND THOUGHTS ON A NEW CANON

The above image is no joke. It was spotted at a local, large-chain electronics shop (BB). As you can see in the above photo, the camera being advertised was the current 8.2 mp EOS 30D, but the camera actually on display is the original 3 megapixel EOS D30!!

I knew something like this was bound to happen with the 30D/D30 naming schema, but not this way! And how did BB end up with a five year old, discontinued camera on their display? My guess is that some clever thief bought the 30D, and returned it, putting a D30 in the box. Either the store never caught on, or they did, and decided to display the D30, figuring no one would know the difference. And to be quite frank, most folks who shop there probably wouldn't! I hate to think anyone got swindled, but that dash of humor made my day. I think it's time for a new Canon!

Speaking of new Canons, the rumors on the forums indicate that there will be a new Rebel XTi, 10.1 megapixel digital slr. I can actually confirm that my sources also mentioned an XTi, so the name coincides with what the forum folks are talking about. As for the specifics, I don't know. My guys couldn't tell me anything about megapixels or features, just that the Canon rep mentioned an "XTi."

A few months back I wrote about why Canon may have released an 8 megapixel 30D, much to the disappointment of the Canonites who were expecting a 10mp camera to compete with the D200. The gist of it is that the 8mp's of the 30D were optimal for the sensor, and anything greater than 8mp's would disrupt the sales of the Canon 5D.

Well, I believe that was indeed true then, but the digital market moves so rapidly that now, just five months after I wrote that, Canon has so much heat from the competition, that I believe they will have to make a move soon. At that time, there was only the D200 to worry about. Now, not only do you have the still very hot D200, you have Nikon coming out with the 10.2mp D80 soon. Sony also released their 10.2mp A100. Canon no doubt has something in the wings on the digital slr front, and hopefully, we will see this during Photokina.

I feel the 8 megapixels of the 30D/20D/XT are optimal for many reasons, and that Canon does not need to produce higher resolution on the APS-C chip solely for image quality. But they will increase the megapixels for one reason: business. This is a game my friends, a very serious game, and it involves big money. People want higher megapixels even if most folks never exploit its full potential. Heck, I still enjoy files from my 4 and 5 megapixel cameras. But yes, this is a game of high stakes, and Canon will produce. This should be a fun digital season...