the new Canon 500D Digital Rebel

Canon announced their latest incarnation of the Digital Rebel line, now with more bells and whistles. All the juicy specifications, and also a short preview, can be found at dpreview. I find the Canon naming fascinating: Canon EOS 500D, Rebel T1i, Kiss X3…all for the same camera. Even Zoso wrote about the Canon DSLR.

As I am seriously considering an upgrade (I have the older model 400D), I tried to think clearly about the improvements. And I have to say that some of them are really sweet: 15mpixels, 14bit RAW files, ISO 3200 – 12800, larger lcd, seemingly a better viewfinder, and of course movie mode.

However, not everything is peachy…

While I have to say that I was always the advocate of “each hobby with it’s own gadget”, having a movie option on my dslr seem very attractive. That is of course of the insanely shallow DOF possible.

Going over the specifications though, I got somewhat confused: HD recording but with mono microphone, no mic input, awkward workarounds for focus, shutter and aperture and 1080p @ 20fps. Yes, Canon managed to make a full HD camera that can record 1080p only at 20fps. Not the standard 30fps, no 25fps and no sweet Cine 24fps. They invented their own new standard. It seems a lot of people are puzzled by this decision.

As I am no filmmaker, this is not a huge concern, however my enthusiasm for trying this video feature is cut short by the seeming inability from Canon to offer a well-thought system.

However, this does not change in any way the fact that Canon 500D will probably be a sweet photo camera. However, I’m no longer eager to buy it no matter what. And I’m really starting to consider if I really need 15 megapixels…