Future of Digital? New Canon 111D?

[Mickw]

Had a thought the other day. What is the future for digital? By this i mean optics are pretty much as good as i can see them getting. There mst come a point when you just cant make glass any better. Its the digital sensors. Pixel counts get  higher, control of noise is a problem at high ISO and the physical size is also a problem. I feel that for manufacturers to make the next leap forward, Canon and Nikon may go the medium format route. Thats the only way i can see a leap forward. Just wondered if we looked into a crystal ball what the future brings.

Also anyone heard rumours of the next development of Canons top of the line pro camera? I only wonder as i know the price of the old one will take a hit and ill buy one. I did this with the 5D and got a brand new one for £1150.

Mick

p.s Bob, im saving for the 500f4 not the 400 f2.8. Thanks for the advice.

[Bob Atkins]

In the immediate future I think we'll see added features. Video will be on all Canon DSLRs and it will be better (i.e. under more user control). I can also see integrated wireless capability and buit in GPS recording. I don't see APS-C pixel count going up much higher, though I don't think 20MP is out of the question.

We may see new sensor designs. Right now most cameras have uniform pixel arrays, i.e. all the pixels are essentially the same except for their color sensitivity. We could see sensors more like the Fuji designs where there's more than one pixel size and more than one pixel sensitivity. This can be used to expend dynamic range and, by binning multiple pixels, lower noise (at the cost of resolution).