Canon announces the EOS 30D immediately before the PMA. DC Watch interviewed the previous head of DSLR division at Canon to talk about the new 30D and the future of DSLR development. Here’s the summary of the interview:

Question: Canon announces the new EOS 30D product, but the sensor technology is the same as the EOS 20D. This is a disappointment to some of the users that’s expecting the arrival of this new product. Can you tell us what’s Canon’s plan and purpose of the launch of this 30D camera?

Canon: “The 30D line of product is something that started from the EOS D30 in year 2000. It was a step-by-step upgrade process from there, for example, the model upgrade to 10D from D60 also didn’t change the sensor technology. This is similar to the latest model, we added various functional additions on the 20D to new model such as the picture style feature. Sometimes due to timing reasons, we didn’t add a new sensor to the new model of camera. However, our attitude didn’t change towards the goal of developing a better camera.”

Question: At present, Canon is using your self-developed CMOS with the 2nd generation noise reduction technology. Can you confirm that this generation of technology with 8 Megapixels resolution is optimal considering the relationship such as sensitivity, quality and resolution size?

Answer: “If your question is about the present time, then the 8 Megapixel resolution is about right for the APS-C resolution. The fundamental concept of the EOS is about high speed, comfort, and high picture quality. When thinking about the high picture quality, we believed the best balance can be achieved at 8 Megapixel resolution.”

Question: Although the sensor of the new 30D is the same generation, but 1.5 years have passed since the sales of 20D, is it really true that there’s no change in technology?

Answer: “It is basically the same. Of course, the production of sensors have been gradually improving over time during the manufacturing process. However, these are not the kind of changes that is reflected on the specifications”

Question: Also the image processing engine continues to be DiGIC II in 30D, but is it going to be the same picture quality as 20D under the same settings?

Answer: “Speaking strictly, we have made some improvements in the new model. But these improvements are probably not noticed by the users. These improvements and changes cannot be distinguished from observations. In comparison, things like the picture style improvement can give the user a bigger impact.”

Question: The pricing of the new model this time is even cheaper than the market price of 20D at the end of its selling cycle. Considerably, it is the impression that it is getting close to the Kiss Digital N line (Digital Rebel), is this probably a signal to the change of product lineup?

Answer: “This is not true. The market pricing have been dropping, including the price of Kiss Digital N (Digital Rebel). We will keep providing the respectively best product to the three price classes. Among those are the 20D line that is above the Kiss Digital line (Digital Rebel), 5d in the same middle class, and 1d for the professional line. There is no change in our plan.”