Awhile ago I speculated that Canon would drive the price of full frame cameras down below $2000 before long, thus positioning them within spending distance of their best 1.6 crop sensor cameras.

It looks like that price may have arrived sooner than I expected, though by something of a back door route. There is a report today that Dell selling the Canon 5D with a nearly $700 dollar discount. Also today marks the beginning of a Canon rebate promotion offering a $600 rebate on the 5D if a lens is purchased at the same time. Others who have done the math say that this can bring the cost of the Dell 5D to a few dollars below $2000.

While this is still $700 or so more than the crop sensor Canon 30D, this price differential is much less daunting than the nearly $2000 difference when the 5D was released a bit more than a year ago. I believe that many more serious photographers will move to full frame at that rate.

It is also possible that Canon is going to realign their full frame camera offerings, perhaps around the time of PMA in February. Some speculation (for what is is worth) predicts a reduction in the price (and size?) of Canon’s 12MP full frame body and possibly a new 16MP body at a price point considerably below that of the current 1-series cameras.

If such things actually occur, you can bet that I’ll post another message here saying, “I told you so!” On the other hand, if it does not happen you’ll hear nothing from me… ;-)

(For my part, I’m hanging on to my Canon 8MP 1.6 crop body for now. While full frame vs. crop changes the equation a bit, I’m trying to resist upgrading until I can double pixel count and move to full frame. I’ll be a very happy – though somewhat poorer – camper if Canon actually does introduce a more affordable 16MP full frame body.)
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