Canon SLR marketing manager Chris McLeod recently stated at a product launch that DSLR cameras have huge potential because they only currently take up 5 percent of the market.
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| Nikon D700 |
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| Canon 450D |
With 2 million compact cameras sold last year versus 100,000 DSLR’s sold, he’s optimisitc about the potential growth. This optimism was borne out when Canon recently surveyed 8,000 people, 43 percent of whom said they were keen to buy a DSLR.
His counterpart at Nikon, Stuart Mitchell, agrees to a point. He believes that one of the reasons the market for SLRs will increase is due to high-end compacts and DSLR prices almost coming together, so people are probably willing to pay a couple of hundred dollars more for a DSLR over a compact. Mitchell believes that the DSLR market makes up about 10 percent compared to compared to compact.
While they may disagree slightly on the size of the market, what is clear is that both companies are making a concentrated effort to upsell the DSLR market with the same message – even the most Luddite-prone technophobe can take semi-professional snaps with ease.
So with the two big players in the DSLR sector going head to head, what will that mean for consumers and other companies trying to make inroads into what can be seen as a lucrative market.
With that in mind we do some feature comparisons to give consumers an insight into what bang they get with their buck!
Nikon D700 | Nikon D3 | Nikon D300 | Canon EOS 5D | |
Image Sensor | 36.0×23.9mm | 36.0×23.9mm | 23.6×15.8mm | 35.8×23.9mm |
Effective Pixels | 12.1 million | 12.1 million | 12.3 million | 12.8 million |
ISO Sensitivity | 200-6400 (up to ISO 25600 equivalent) | 200-6400 (up to ISO 25600 equivalent) | 200-3200 (up to ISO 6400 equivalent) | 100-1600 |
Focus Point | 51 points (15 cross-type sensors) | 51 points (15 cross-type sensors) | 51 points (15 cross-type sensors) | 9 points and 6 assist points |
Continuous Shooting Speed (CH) | 5 fps (EN-EL3e), 8 fps (MB-D10 with batteries other than EN-EL3e) | 9 fps (FX, 5:4), 11 fps (DX) | 6 fps (EN-EL3e), 8 fps (MB-D10 with batteries other than EN-EL3e) | 3 fps |
No. of Shots(based on CIPA standards) | 1000 | 4300 | 1000 | 800 |
Startup Time | 0.12 sec | 0.12 sec | 0.13 sec | 0.2 sec |
Release time lag | 0.040 sec. (based on CIPA standard) | 0.040 sec. (based on CIPA standard) | 0.049 sec. (based on CIPA standard) | 0.075 sec. (based on CIPA standard) |
In-camera image editing | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
HDMI Connectivity | Type C connection (mini size) | Type A connector | Type A connector | No |
Dimensions | 147x123x77 mm | 159.5x157x87.5 mm | 147x114x74 mm | 152x113x75 mm |
Weight | 995 g | 1240 g | 825 g | 810 g |
