Canon Crop Sensor and EF-S lenses future

[alfonso_valdes]

<p>Anyone want to gaze into a crystal ball and guess if Canon will remain committed to the crop sensor bodies for the foreseeable future? This obviously affects anyone considering EF-S lenses. I am still reluctant to buy EF-S for my 7D, although I am interested in the 10-22. My guess (hope?) is that with all the advances in the 7D, Canon will continue to make crop sensor bodies and remain committed to the customer base for EF-S lenses. Opinions?</p>

[franklin_white]

<p>Rebel users are not going anywhere. That's the vast majority of cameras sold right there. I suspect that EF-S is here for a long time.</p>

[arie_vandervelden1]

<p>Here's another way of looking at it. Suppose Canon said it was going to phase out EF-S lenses in 3 years. Then I'd buy mine now before it's too late.</p>

[alan_bryant1]

<p>And another way of looking at it: The cheapest full frame camera from Canon is the 5D2, at $2,500. The cheapest crop-frame camera is the XS, at $520 with lens. How long will it take for the 5D2 price to drop so much that it no longer makes sense to sell the XS? Personally I'm betting on "never going to happen".</p>

<p>I'm confident APS-C sensors and EF-S lenses will be around at least another 10 years, and probably well past that. Why would they ever stop selling them, until they stop selling altogether? And if you look at the market these last few years, with the growing popularity of four-thirds, it looks like much of the action in the photo world right now is in sensors even smaller than crop frame.</p>

[garymoncur]

<p>"Your reluctant to buy EF-s lenses for your 7D" ? The 7d is a crop sensor camera. Canons last 5 new cameras were all crop sensor including your 7D. Alans post sums it up.<br>

However I was thinking of buying a new car next week but I read somewhere that oil will eventually run out. Maybe I will wait. :-)</p>

[jack_nordine]

<p>Yikes, what a huge loss of revenue if Canon discontinues crop cameras! Remember, there are a whole lot more amatuers out there than professionals. A person upgrading from a point & shoot doesn't want a large body that costs $2500 with tons of features they have no interest in. I believe the crops are here to stay.</p>

[faysal]

<p>For the most part though, the only real ef-s lens that you may find yourself needing is the 10-22mm (which is overkill for most), everything else is pretty much covered by the EF range, so its not like it really matters either way. (Note: this isnt to say the ef-s line is bad, its just that the focal ranges are already covered by the ef line, save the 10-22)</p>

[mike_hitchen]

<blockquote>

<p> everything else is pretty much covered by the EF range</p>

</blockquote>

<p>The focal lengths are covered but not the zoom ranges. The 17-55 (which doesn't exist in EF) is a very useful range indeed and is about equivalent to the 24-70 (on 35mm).</p>

[nail33]

<p>"Guess" is the key word here. There is no way of knowing. Ask anyone with FD lenses (esp. those who just bought them before Canon abandoned the format). A more meaningful question would be how long will my equipment (discontinued or current) continue to take pictures. Probably beyond one's lifetime. My Canon A1 that I bought new will continue to take pictures until they stop making film for it, or it breaks. My current Canon 400D will probably work until my computer can't recognize it, or it breaks. All things must come to an end. I only upgrade or change when it seems practical for me for whatever reason.</p>

[marc_felber1]

<p>They could come out with a 1.4 crop senor in the future that does not take away from their 1d market.</p>

[richard_crowe4]

<p>I seriously doubt that Canon will discontinue the 1.6x line, especially after offering the 7D.<br>

Over the years, as technology advanced, acceptable formats keep getting smaller and smaller.<br>

When I first started wedding photography; the standard tools were 4x5 press type and view cameras. Then medium format began to take hold and supplanted the 4x5 format. At the end of my wedding days (which was all with film cameras); I used medium format for the wedding itself and other formal shots and used 35mm for the reception coverage. I never picked up a 4x5 film camera during my last ten or fifteen years shooting weddings. However, I did still use 4x5 film for some high ticket portrait work because of the relative ease of retouching the big negatives.<br>

IMO, full frame digital is where medium formal film cameras used to be and medium format is where 4x5 film used to be. As there were very few (if any) photographers using 4x5 film for wedding photography at the sunset of film photography; there are relatively few photographers using medium format digital equipment for wedding work now.<br>

While weddings are certainly not the only venue in photography, you could probably consider weddings as a guide to equipment progression in photography.</p>

<p> </p>