Pro Digital--Not Yet

Hey All--

I'm sure everyone here knows but I wanted to pass on some information I got today. I called Canon to try and get some information on the pro digital. My call was bounced all around Canon and I finally ended up in the digital camera department. The techs there said they haven't gotten any word, memo, etc. about the pro version SLR. He said they usually get the prototype at least a month and a half to two months ahead of the release date to study it and get to know it before the public.

Like I said, this might be old news for some... just wanted to pass it along.

Thanks all--
dave

It's not good to lust - you'll just frustrate yourself.

iwantone iwantone iwantone iwantone

I forgot...

The tech said it will be at least a 6 megapixel CMOS... if not larger. Whoa...

We all can dream-
dave

Actually - when I was in Italy a little over a week ago I was at a camera store in Rome (Roma) and they seemed real clear on the specs and told them their canon rep had told them.

6mp - based on the pro body and features - anouncement before september - shipping before 1st of the year. I told them that I understood nobody knew any of this. They just said no ones keeping it a secret that they know of and seemed surprised at my skeptisim.

Go figure.

Actually there are some production difficulties with the high resolution chip. Until they are resolved the company will not announce the D1.

However the D3 will be announced soon. Body shape will be similar to D30 with battery grip, including capacity for two batteries.

It will have the same chip as the D30 ie same resolution, same 1.6X effect, but with slightly improved noise reduction at high ISO settings.

It will have a large frame buffer (128mb +).

Improved body design (cooling) will allow higher clock speed on the processor, enabling slightly improved frame rate of 2FPS.

Auto focus will be similar to high end Canon film cameras.

Body will be improved with weather seals etc.

No decision made yet as to whether voice annotation will be included.

Price will be as D30 + $1750

The Mole said:

Actually there are some production difficulties with the high
resolution chip. Until they are resolved the company will not
announce the D1.

However the D3 will be announced soon. Body shape will be similar
to D30 with battery grip, including capacity for two batteries.

It will have the same chip as the D30 ie same resolution, same 1.6X
effect, but with slightly improved noise reduction at high ISO
settings.

It will have a large frame buffer (128mb +).

Improved body design (cooling) will allow higher clock speed on the
processor, enabling slightly improved frame rate of 2FPS.

Auto focus will be similar to high end Canon film cameras.

Body will be improved with weather seals etc.

No decision made yet as to whether voice annotation will be included.

Price will be as D30 + $1750

Click to expand...

hey....look at that....it's a flying pig!

John Mason said:

Actually - when I was in Italy a little over a week ago I was at a
camera store in Rome (Roma) and they seemed real clear on the specs
and told them their canon rep had told them.

Click to expand...

LOL -- camera store owners are absolutely the worst when it comes to knowing the facts about almost anything, especially concerning upcoming models.

They talk with a factory rep and get a few distorted facts here and there, distort them more, and soon you're got information so fabulous and incredible even the Inquirer would be lothe to print.

I'm equally skeptical of "the mole" here on this thread -- let's face it, guys, the real bottom line is it will be at least six months between announcement and when you can actually hold the camera in your hot little hands. Since we've seen no official announcement yet, the availability of any upgraded Canon SLR digital this year becomes extremely unlikely.

Next spring is my guess (and that may be optimistic).

Mike Kelley said:

...the real bottom line is it will be at least six
months between announcement and when you can actually hold the
camera in your hot little hands.

Click to expand...

As long as Canon doesn't pull a Contax or Pentax and announce a new, fabulous camera and fail to produce it nine months (Pentax) to a year (Contax) later with no signs of it on the horizon. Some people are already filing these two under the "vaporware" file, and I'd hate to see Canon in that file too. Canon are doing the right thing by keeping quiet until they're ready.

JCDoss

Sounds like the Mole has the inside scoop!!

These rumors are really getting out of hand.............

David Birkin said:

The Mole said:

Actually there are some production difficulties with the high
resolution chip. Until they are resolved the company will not
announce the D1.

However the D3 will be announced soon. Body shape will be similar
to D30 with battery grip, including capacity for two batteries.

It will have the same chip as the D30 ie same resolution, same 1.6X
effect, but with slightly improved noise reduction at high ISO
settings.

It will have a large frame buffer (128mb +).

Improved body design (cooling) will allow higher clock speed on the
processor, enabling slightly improved frame rate of 2FPS.

Auto focus will be similar to high end Canon film cameras.

Body will be improved with weather seals etc.

No decision made yet as to whether voice annotation will be included.

Price will be as D30 + $1750

Click to expand...

hey....look at that....it's a flying pig!

Click to expand...

The Mole said:

Actually there are some production difficulties with the high
resolution chip. Until they are resolved the company will not
announce the D1.

Click to expand...

I can pretty much live with the resolution - its just enough to do a full-page A4 magazine page or cover.

The Mole said:

However the D3 will be announced soon. Body shape will be similar
to D30 with battery grip, including capacity for two batteries.

It will have the same chip as the D30 ie same resolution, same 1.6X
effect, but with slightly improved noise reduction at high ISO
settings.

Click to expand...

Good since I'll be shooting at 800 or 1600 all the time for hockey.

The Mole said:

It will have a large frame buffer (128mb +).

Click to expand...

Good stuff.

The Mole said:

Improved body design (cooling) will allow higher clock speed on the
processor, enabling slightly improved frame rate of 2FPS.

Click to expand...

Er, pardon? Do you mean 5fps I hope?!

The Mole said:

Auto focus will be similar to high end Canon film cameras.

Click to expand...

That we could all live with!! I currently shoot with an EOS1n and that is superb.

The Mole said:

Body will be improved with weather seals etc.

No decision made yet as to whether voice annotation will be included.

Click to expand...

Don't care. Never used it on previous digital cameras.

The Mole said:

Price will be as D30 + $1750

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Ah, getting a bit steep. The D30 is currently 1800 UKP so that will make it close to 3000 UKP - ouch!

Chris.
--
http://www.hockeyphotos.com/

JCDoss said:

As long as Canon doesn't pull a Contax or Pentax and announce a
new, fabulous camera and fail to produce it nine months (Pentax) to
a year (Contax) later with no signs of it on the horizon. Some
people are already filing these two under the "vaporware" file, and
I'd hate to see Canon in that file too. Canon are doing the right
thing by keeping quiet until they're ready.

Click to expand...

Jason,

I think there's a different dynamic operating here -- in the case of Contax or Pentax they don't have any market to lose by preannouncing. Indeed, they can (and probably did) capture some market just by delaying people's choice of already available cameras. (Whether this is "ethical" or "right" depends upon how you view business).

Canon has to be much more careful. Even if "the mole" had the inside scoop (he doesn't) announcing that camera will surely impact D30 sales. If Canon isn't ready to go into production with such a camera they could slump their own market while people sit on the fence waiting.

We can critizise marketing and the big companies all we want, but the facts are these guys usually get it right; they know what they're doing. I'm fairly sure Canon has the next two or three models on the design table, and they probably have produced some prototypes as well, but until they're positioned right we won't hear a word about them.

But all that doesn't alter my basic theory -- with an announcement expect about six months before the cameras are delivered to the hands of consumers. People waiting for a better Canon digital SLR had better get used to waiting (me, I'll just enjoy using my D30 -- when it comes back ).

Maybe it's just because I'm not a pro and don't rely on this gear to earn me a living, but I must say that all of this obsessing about the next version of the D30 strikes me as being a pretty pointless debate.

Maybe when the new gear is available and people can play with it and speak with experience, the discussion might be valuable but until then it is all pointless speculation.

Let's just go out there and take great photos and stop worrying about the next technological innovation. After all, some of the most beautiful photos I have ever seen were taken many decades ago.

Dave said:

Hey All--

I'm sure everyone here knows but I wanted to pass on some
information I got today. I called Canon to try and get some
information on the pro digital. My call was bounced all around
Canon and I finally ended up in the digital camera department. The
techs there said they haven't gotten any word, memo, etc. about the
pro version SLR. He said they usually get the prototype at least a
month and a half to two months ahead of the release date to study
it and get to know it before the public.

Like I said, this might be old news for some... just wanted to pass
it along.

Thanks all--
dave

Click to expand...

He didn't even get the D30 framerate correct. The mole is full of it.

RichW said:

These rumors are really getting out of hand.............

David Birkin said:

The Mole said:

Actually there are some production difficulties with the high
resolution chip. Until they are resolved the company will not
announce the D1.

However the D3 will be announced soon. Body shape will be similar
to D30 with battery grip, including capacity for two batteries.

It will have the same chip as the D30 ie same resolution, same 1.6X
effect, but with slightly improved noise reduction at high ISO
settings.

It will have a large frame buffer (128mb +).

Improved body design (cooling) will allow higher clock speed on the
processor, enabling slightly improved frame rate of 2FPS.

Auto focus will be similar to high end Canon film cameras.

Body will be improved with weather seals etc.

No decision made yet as to whether voice annotation will be included.

Price will be as D30 + $1750

Click to expand...

hey....look at that....it's a flying pig!

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Agreed!

I was just about to buy my D30, when I read rumous of 2 new Canons. The pro one would be way out of my budget, but the possibility of a slightly improved D30 tempted me to wait.

Then I gave my head a shake, realized that even if a new one was nearing announcement, it would be at least 3-6 months minimum before it was available, and if I waited, I'd miss the summer with my D30.
I'm glad I tuned out the rumours and bought my D30.
It's a great camera.
Now if it would just stop raining....

Steve

md said:

Maybe when the new gear is available and people can play with it
and speak with experience, the discussion might be valuable but
until then it is all pointless speculation.

Let's just go out there and take great photos and stop worrying
about the next technological innovation. After all, some of the
most beautiful photos I have ever seen were taken many decades ago.

Dave said:

Hey All--

I'm sure everyone here knows but I wanted to pass on some
information I got today. I called Canon to try and get some
information on the pro digital. My call was bounced all around
Canon and I finally ended up in the digital camera department. The
techs there said they haven't gotten any word, memo, etc. about the
pro version SLR. He said they usually get the prototype at least a
month and a half to two months ahead of the release date to study
it and get to know it before the public.

Like I said, this might be old news for some... just wanted to pass
it along.

Thanks all--
dave

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I hope so! I've had my D30 since 12/00 and I love it, I'm glad I didn't wait, (already waited 9 months by then),

BUT, I want a second body, and this so called D3 would be the right one for me. "Auto focus will be similar to high end Canon film cameras" for me would be enough to warrent a price increase, but if the pro version is way off and if it costs $7000+ this list that the mole made up about a D30 upgrade would be heaven for me.

besides, some of us like to dream and anticipate and fret about it and do take pictures with what we have. I rolled-over the image counter (9900) 500 pics ago. (that's another teeny inprovement they could make, letting the counter go to 99999 instead of 9900)

When I started at my current job (doesn't matter where), I had to sign a non-disclosure statement. This was a contract stating that I wouldn't discuss anything that was not currently public information with someone outside of the company. This is to protect shareholders, the company, and myself from litigation and prosecution. Lots of companies have their employees sign these. I will bet you that Canon, being in such an insanely competitive market, makes their employees sign these.

Essentially, someone may know something, but they are not going to tell YOU.

I like the 100K+ shot counter. I don't consider it a good day unless I've shot some 200+ pictures.

Dave said:

Hey All--

I'm sure everyone here knows but I wanted to pass on some
information I got today. I called Canon to try and get some
information on the pro digital. My call was bounced all around
Canon and I finally ended up in the digital camera department. The
techs there said they haven't gotten any word, memo, etc. about the
pro version SLR. He said they usually get the prototype at least a
month and a half to two months ahead of the release date to study
it and get to know it before the public.

Like I said, this might be old news for some... just wanted to pass
it along.

Thanks all--
dave

Click to expand...