PMA Disappointment

PMA07 is now over, and I must admit to being a little disappointed in some of the new releases, as far as D-SLR cameras are concerned.

Canon introduced nothing in the middle- or low-end, instead offering up only a new top-of-the-line camera. With the 30D being on the streets for just about a year now, conventional wisdom says it’s time for an update. That’s especially true, with the rest of the camera world touting 10MP chips in their middle- and low-end cameras. Even Canon’s consumer-level Rebel XTi is a 10.1MP camera, with several really advanced features. (Note that I’ve said elsewhere that apples-to-apples comparison of images from the 8.2MP 30D and the 10.1MP Rebel XTi are nearly indistinguishable).

Nikon’s only new SLR announcement was the camera that the D40 should have been to start with — the D40X. It’s essentially the D40 with a 10MP sensor. That said, my research has shown in certain situations, the 6.1MP sensor that Nikon had been using in the D70s actually yields a better image than the 10MP sensor used in the D200 and D80, so, maybe the D40X is simply a bow to the consumer market screaming for more pixels without truly understanding the trade-offs involved.

The only camera company with anything truly interesting in the D-SLR category was Olympus, who are now selling their E-410 and E-510 stateside. These cameras have been available overseas for some time now. The E-410 follows the odd little E-330 (still available) with a live-view mode, a very cool feature in a D-SLR. The E-510 also has live view, as well as two different image stabilizing modes. One of the real advantages to the Olympus line is that it’s based on the 4/3 standard, which is engineered from the ground up as a digital standard. In some ways, that’s also a disadvantage, as the 4/3 chip is smaller than the near-standard APS-C format chips. Also, the 4/3 standard utilizes a special lens mount (all 4/3 cameras use the same mount, no matter the manufacturer — not that there are many manufacturers using this standard yet), so no pre-existing lenses can be used.

At any rate, I was really hoping for a “40D” from Canon to drive the price on the 30D down. It didn’t happen. Still, the price of the 30D has been slowly decreasing, and maybe by the time I’ve got the money available, the price will have dropped to under $1000 for the body. It’s really close now — B&H has it listed at $1089.95.