therock wrote:
I Canon's focus adjust works they just saved a ton of in-house costs generated at the service centers.


I sincerely wonder about that.

Just look at the number of threads (here and on other fora) starting with "my new lens is bad, brand X is crap, I want to switch to brand Y, please tell me I am right, looking at this picture of my dog", that end up in "the only problem is there is a focus calibration problem with your camera and your new lens, and by the way your old lens you liked so much was not focusing so well either". Focus issues are not so well understood by users, and it often takes time to achieve the diagnosis. Fixing the issue requires not only knowing it but also rigorous testing of various settings and choice of the right one. A wrong adjustment will just cause more problems (how many people will buy a used 50D that was adjusted by the previous user and go mad until they realize they should also adjust it, or at least clear the previous settings ?).

So, it is not clear to me how many users the focus adjustment feature will save, and how many of them it will doom.

Marcel VanEerd wrote:
...We aim at the semi-professional or the advanced amateur or can be a back-up camera for a professional, especially nature photography, sports photography because of the speed, 15MP at 6.3fps do we expect that in those segments this camera will be embraced with open arms. Because of this, this is a good day for us. This segment is becoming very important. If you look at the total DSLR, there is the entry segment, where earlier this year we introduced the 1000D and the 450D and the middle segment at the moment is about 22% of the total (DSLR market, ed.) and we notice lots of growth, and the expectation is that within two years, that middle segment will increase to 30% market share.
Q: What does this mean for sales of the 50D? Is that a camera of which you have a sales prognosis?
A: Of course. It is not easy to predict the success, b/c competition has increased dramatically, there are far more special offers, far more models. Because of that, this is a strategic model for us so we are armed to face the competition. Now, this looks like a weapon, with which we look to increase our market share. We are still the leader with 41%, but it is obvious that Sony and Nikon are very active. Which is good for us; it enables us to set our targets higher and keep coming up with new products.

So the 50D must face the D300 and its Sony counterpart (don't know which one)... In order to be succesful at it I reckon they have to lower the price of the 50D significantly. The big question is: will the middle segment be a sucker for pro-like features (D300) or ultimate IQ (50D)? These are going to be interesting months...

therock wrote:
I Canon's focus adjust works they just saved a ton of in-house costs generated at the service centers.
As for the lucky ones who never had a bad lens. I envy you. I have confirmation from canon on my bad luck.

I have a feeling this (MA on a 50D) is going to be a double edged sword for Canon. Sure for the more advanced user it may well take a small number of calibrations out of the service centre and into the users hands but it will be replaced by a higher volume of call centre cases of 'i tried MA and it didn't work' etc., etc., etc.,

So what about the new D90 at Nikon ESP* $999 and movie mode?

Just throwing it out there to mix some fuel into the fire

Of coure true tests have to be done in real life situations but the D90 has already been used extensively in the field by some photogs prior to release with good writeups.

Thought? No Thoughts? Who Cares?

Harry,

I have said it before: features or image quality that's the question? What's giving you more EOSfun?

eosfun wrote:
Harry,

I have said it before: features or image quality that's the question? What's giving you more EOSfun?

Well, I doubt a Nikon D90 would give you EOSfun now would it!!

No, but they make coolpix

Daan B wrote:
The big question is: will the middle segment be a sucker for pro-like features (D300) or ultimate IQ (50D)? These are going to be interesting months...


Just posted this on another thread:
Ultimate image quality on a crop camera is an oxymoron for those that value image quality the most.
So, they will save for the 5DII and will later say that there's a night and day difference between the 5DII and 50D.

Those that value features the most will not be happy with the 50D either, since the 50D is no D300.

The 50D thus does not seem to be priced correctly at $1399.

walter23 wrote:
You forgot the most important part:

"AF Microadjustment C.Fn III-7
+/- 20 steps
Adjust all lenses by same amount
Adjust up to 20 lenses individually"

This is the best feature ever! It should keep the measurbators happily shooting newspapers, brick walls, and AF targets for several months at least!



This is perfect for primes, but for zooms it sounds like it has the same shortcoming as the Nikon version (which they have had for some time now), in that the long end of the zoom may need adjusting one way and the short end the other way, and you only get one adjustment per lens.

Otherwise, it's a welcome feature that yet again, Canon are playing catchup with (along with better LCD and reliable AF etc). There are still quite a few other features missing. However, for all those who would in the past have bought a 20D, 30D or 40D when looking for their first DSLR, this is another step forward.

Otherwise, it's a welcome feature that yet again, Canon are playing catchup with (along with better LCD and reliable AF etc). There are still quite a few other features missing. However, for all those who would in the past have bought a 20D, 30D or 40D when looking for their first DSLR, this is another step forward.

The next version (the 60D) will also have a manual focus ring, plus a pair of eyes with an attached brain.

the only thing that makes me angry about ordering a 40d this past sunday is the higher quality lcd screen and talk about better AF.

I would like to know why people say features are still missing over the D300

like what ?

Pro AF.
(And please let's not argue about how 9-point AF is actually better than 51-point AF).

How about the AF being (according to the swedish tester) faster and more accurate than his 1d and 1ds (mark II and III)? Is that not worth anything? How the AF works must surely be more important than whining about the number of points...? Or is it most important to make insubstantial claims about a product you have never used beacause you're an asshat that never will get to preview cameras?

eosfun wrote:
Harry,

I have said it before: features or image quality that's the question? What's giving you more EOSfun?

Haha, well right now more EOSfun would be a 300 or a 400mm lens for my Mk IIn

My 30D still seems to make do as well. Features surely are gimicks to me, i need raw power and if the camera can deliver then i'm sold, if not then i work with what i already have!

I can't wait for the end of September it will be my first Photokina in the 8 years i've been living near Koln.

DaveEP wrote:
>> "AF Microadjustment C.Fn III-7
...it's a welcome feature that yet again, Canon are playing catchup with...

Perhaps I am misremembering, but I thought Canon brought this feature to market first in the 1D3.

Maybe 51 AF points are not enough why not 2000 AF points ?

The last time (40D) I had to the temerity to bring this up on FM, they jumped all over me for not being a purist or something (or maybe just for using the N word) but... does anyone know if Canon did anything with AEB for this version? Can't tell from the web site. I really like the way you can bracket lots with the Nikon bodies, great for HDR.

DaveEP wrote:
>> "AF Microadjustment C.Fn III-7
...it's a welcome feature that yet again, Canon are playing catchup with...

brainiac wrote:
Perhaps I am misremembering, but I thought Canon brought this feature to market first in the 1D3.

Brianiac, that is what I thought too.

I got my 40D just before the rebates ended. Seeing the price of the 50D, I think that Canon has done a great job with the camera, but I don't regret my purchase either.

I would love the new LCD and the higher ISO, but 15mp is more than my needs. Upgrading to 10mp, I find myself filling my CF cards way faster than before at full resolution raw. 15mp would not only fill my CF cards, but also my hard drive before I could even blink.

It's nice to know that this cam is available and that Canon is accelerating their development time to try and match Nikon's releases, but until my clients say they need more resolution, the 40D will still suit me more than adequately.

This camera is the perfect upgrade for bird photography. I have been using the 1Ds3 for small songbirds, but being full frame, I need to be at close to MFD in a blind to fill the frame @ 840mm. The large mega pixels do however, allow for great cropping lattitude.

With this camera, I will still have a ton a pixels for cropping but can back up from the subject considerably farther, allowing the birds to be less timid when taking my perches. Yeah, it's still the same 9 pt AF array, but to me I only use the center point or one of the immediate one's surrounding the center point for composition needs. I am hoping the DIGIC 4 can help the servo predictive AF perform better than that on the 40D. The high iso perfromance from the test shots I have seen blows the 40D away badly...another great thing for bird photography. That said, I put my pre-order into Canoga Camera and have thrown my hardly used 40D up on the 4-sale block for cheap.

terhorst wrote:
The last time (40D) I had to the temerity to bring this up on FM, they jumped all over me for not being a purist or something (or maybe just for using the N word) but... does anyone know if Canon did anything with AEB for this version? Can't tell from the web site. I really like the way you can bracket lots with the Nikon bodies, great for HDR.

I think it is the same as the 40D, still only +/-2EV for exposure or flash. It is like custom auto-ISO, these seem to be only softawre issue, so why not include them (instead of the new CA mode which seems useless)?

Fred Relaix wrote:
I think it is the same as the 40D, still only +/-2EV for exposure or flash. It is like custom auto-ISO, these seem to be only softawre issue, so why not include them (instead of the new CA mode which seems useless)?

Canon is always conservative. +/-2EV is definitely not enough, and lots of the new functions are just firmware based. Nikon, on the other hand, is much more innovative. Maybe Canon should fire some of their offciers, just like Nikon did before.

I honestly think one of the best features about the 50D is the 7.1MP sRAW. Being able to shoot in a still very high quality RAW format at a still high resolution, but not the space hogging files of a 15MB image will be wonderful when you are running low on card space, or if you are shooting events that don't need extreme resolution. It should also make the high ISO noise even less apparent out of camera. (Though honestly, for me, my 30D's high ISO is brilliant...I've got 10x15" prints at ISO 1600 that you can't see the noise at all, and ISO 3200 even looks fine. I've got an 8x10 at ISO3200 pushed a stop (to 6400), and still looks fine (yes, you can see the grain, but it's not even that noticeable in a print.)

rockitman wrote:
This camera is the perfect upgrade for bird photography.


That was my first thought when I saw the list of features.

I did think it so bad that I almost wonder whether I should buy one for wildlife photography, if it turns out as good as it looks (even though, I have become a die-hard 5D user for all other kinds of photography --in fact, even for wildlife, I use my 5D; it is better than my 10D for that too).

A 50D + a 300/2.8 + a 1.4x or a 2x could be a wonderful wildlife kit!