Very good question. I've been asking myself that since the 1D was released (I guess I was just trying to find a justification to buy a 1V :-). My guess is that the EOS 1V will be one of the last pro film cameras made by Canon, but not the last. I came to this conclusion for several reasons:
- There is still much room for improvement. I'm not going to list them all since Jonathan Kwok has already done that. I believe that Canon is trying to improve, as we speak, the Eye Control Focus system. They obviously didn't think it was good enough to be used by pro photographers. I believe we'll still see a pro film camera with an extremely efficient ECF and a joypad at the back. - Then there is the Nikon factor. Will the F5 be the last pro film camera made by Nikon? It is already 7 years old. The day Nikon releases the F6 (or whatever its name will be), Canon will surelly respond with a new pro camera. This is not an issue of if it will be worth it economically, it is just a matter of marketing and prestige. Canon (or Nikon for the matter) will not want to leave the pro film camera stage as the underdog. - Not all 1V owners are necesseraly pros. Some are just amateurs that can afford a 1V and that will likely buy a new pro film camera if it's released, especially if they believe that it will be the last one (myself included if I can ever afford it...). So, there will still be some market for it. - I believe that in a decade or so, 35mm film will just be a small fraction of the market, like medium format or large format are today. With what cameras will 35mm photographers shoot a decade from now? Not the EOS 3000 for sure. All I said is, of course, based on pure speculation. Maybe things will turn out completely different. I hope not. I'd still like to own a pro EOS camera, one day. Hugo * **** ******* *********************************************************** * For list instructions, including unsubscribe, see: * http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/eos_list.htm ***********************************************************
