I have been dreaming about a FF 1D mark IV camera ever since it was
in the rumors, but it turned out to be a "minor" update to the 1D III,
similar to the 50D to 40D upgrade. Nevertheless, now I begin to think if
a possible 1Dv camera will finally bring us the longtime awaited
revolution. So let's discuss if such a camera can be designed.


See, now Canon has two 1-series bodies in their Lineup. Some
people say it's redundant to do so since Canon can very possibly
combine these two cameras into one while maintain the utility of two.
To build upon that, I wonder if the following is doable from an
engineering point of view.


To make a FF camera that has a very
high resolution (say 32mp) just like the resolution that the possible
1Ds IV will obtain. Make the camera capable of shooting at full
resolution at a low frame rate (say 5fps) to maintain its utility
equivalent to an 1Ds camera - this is not something new to do. Now,
let's also use the same FF sensor without cropping, reduce the image
output to a lower resolution (say 16mp, just like to shoot lower rez
images on your camera by adjusting image size) and increase the frame
rate to 10FPS to simulate the performance of a "FF" 1D IV - I wonder how
hard this can be.


The current processors have proven to be fast
enough to handle the data at this resolution and speed above. The idea
of the movie mode of a FF DSLR (5D II) is to use the same FF sensor
(without cropping) to achieve 24FPS or more at a much lower resolution
compared to its native resolution. So can we use what we currently know
how to do to make a camera that is both a FF high rez camera at low
speed and a FF high speed camera at low rez? If so, i guess the merging
of the 1-series bodies will make sense.


Ben





PS: Daniel, help!... =)