Wither the High-end Digital SLR?
The Canon 1Ds Mark III is now over 3 years old. The Nikon D3x is over 2 years old. What is going on? Why are there no new pro-grade DSLRs?
What I think is going on is that as a group, pro photographers cannot afford to buy $8K DSLRs anymore, at least not still photographers. On the other hand, videographers are snapping up Canon 5D Mark II bodies like hot cakes, with the vast majority of Zeiss lens sales now for video use, NOT still photographs.
So what’s coming? Perhaps an inflection point in which high-end DSLRs shoot 4K video, and happen to be pretty good still cameras. As compared with the past, where top-end still photo cameras also had some video features.
Richard J writes:
You hit the nail on the head with your blog post today. I get so frustrated when manufacturers make cameras more complex and more expensive, but they fail to do the basics correctly for quality still photography.
I invested in the Canon 5DMk2 because it seemed to be a quality full-frame SLR camera for a relatively reasonable price. I could not care less about video capabilities. (If I cared about that, I would have purchased a dedicated video camera.) So you can imagine my disappointment in Canon when firmware upgrade after firmware upgrade features various video function upgrades. But the autofocus is still sub-par. And the camera still can't auto-bracket more than three shots at a time. As someone who likes to experiment with HDR photography, I had to buy a separate remote control in order to auto-bracket five or more exposures (seems like that would be a pretty simple firmware upgrade to provide still photographers).
I hope we get more emphasis on the needs of still photographers in future upgrades of the higher end DSLRs, but if not I suppose I will seriously consider moving to medium format. Especially given Pentax's latest offering in that arena.
As always, I enjoy reading your blog and your publications. I am making my way through DAP right now, and looking forward to MSI next.
DIGLLOYD: I’m guessing that we will never again see a high-end DSLR that does not emphasize video. I expect the next high-end DSLR to offer 4K video, because that’s the next move in the video world, and where the big money is.
