I know many people are curious when the success to the Canon EOS 20D will emerge. Now that the Canon Digital Rebel XT (aka 350D) has come out, the 20D has lost some of its luster. If prior timing is anything, Canon has been releasing prosumer DSLRs every 14-18 months:
| Canon D30: 2000.10 | |
| Canon D60: 2002.02 (14 months) | |
| Canon 10D: 2003.03 (13 months) | |
| Canon 300D: 2003.09 | |
| Canon 20D: 2004.09 (18 months) | |
| Canon 350D: 2005.03 (18 months) | |
| Canon xxD: ??????? (14-18 months?) | |
That would put the timing of the 30D? at between 2005.11 to 2006.03 (this November or March of next year). For my thoughts on their product tiering strategy see my Canon 10D/20D page.
The emergence of the Nikon D50/D70s does put some pressure on Canon. But at 6.1 megapixels, these two models are not as competitive as some Nikon fans would have hoped. In Japan, the Konica-Minolta alpha-7D digital is a serious threat, but its market acceptance has been slower in the United States.
Photo.net has picked this up as a thread:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1019&message=13186920