I don't think I understand where you are coming from on some of this.

I couldn't agree more on the current crop of small sensor 8MP non-SLR cameras. It is clear to me that they offer nothing useful over the 5/6MP versions of the same cameras. In some cases they are clearly worse than their lower MP count brothers and sisters.

Either non-SLR prosumer sensors need to get bigger, they need to stop cramming in more pixels or they need a quantum leap in the reduction of sensor noise.


The Digital Rebel isn't all it's cracked up to be...

...SLR is the magic word right now. Put together any pile of crap, slap SLR on it, mark it at $999 and you have a sure-fire winner. With the level of image quality coming from current sensors, you have to do major reductions on your images to have them be acceptable when inspected on a computer.

But this I don't get. The Digital Rebel has equal picture quality to the 10D, which I find to produce excellent results. Definitely far better than any 35mm filmcamera/scanner combination that I have used at a similar price (even before counting film processing costs).

When you say "inspected on a computer", don't forget that by taking a 6MP image and zooming in on it on screen you are scrutinising the image far more closely than people ever did with their prosumer 35mm film images. You are never going to view those images at that level (unless you are cropping small sections from them) except to inspect them for image quality

Sorry for the rant. I just think the latest batch of equipment is a scam.

I don't see how you can say this with regard to the DSLRs. The Digital Rebel and the D70 clearly provide image quality and performance that 12 months ago cost twice the price. They are a bargin for the performance they give you.

Most reviewers are too soft in their reviews. They're definitely not critical enough or have lost their eye. I have seen all kinds of positive reviews for the 8MP prosumer cameras using Sony's sensor.

Well Phil over at dpreview hasn't. If you compare his review of the Sony DSC-F828 with the DSC-F717 you will see that he quite clearly points out the problems with the new sensor and is lukewarm about the new camera.