Confusing Canon DSLR Designations

Greetings,

OK ... I'm a tad confused about the Canon camera designation system. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason here.

My EOS D60 was a logical progression from the older D30. And the current 30D is probably an upgraded 20D ... Yes?

Since 2003 I've seen the "D" moved to the back of the number ... e.g. the current 1D MK IIs ... 1D MK II N ... 1D MK III ... 5D ... 20D ... 30D ...

Higher designation numbers no longer mean higher end cameras ... and price tags. I'm assuming Nikon and other camera giants do the same thing.

But why the seeming inconsistency I wonder? Thanks.

Mike (shamrock838)

Well, I think the D30 and the D60 were really the exceptions to Canon's numbering. Back in the days of film cameras, any modifying letters were after the number, so you'd have, for example, the EOS 1V, the EOS 10S, and so on.

My theory about that is that Canon initially wanted to avoid confusion with date-back film models, such as the 10QD, so they put the D in front to distinguish the two. As for why they changed to putting at the end, I don't know; probably because Nikon was using the same format and Canon wanted to be different.

In terms of a correlation between numbers and cost, it's not a direct relationship, it's an inverse one. The lower the number, the higher-end the camera (typically, and in the case of Canon). The EOS 3 was the second-from-the-top film camera; the EOS 1 series, culminating in the EOS 1V, was the top of the line. The mid-range cameras had two-digit numbers, like the EOS 30 or EOS 50, and the lower-end cameras were three-digit (e.g., EOS 300 was the Rebel series) or four-digit for even lower-end ones (so there was an EOS 3000).

I have no idea why they did it that way; I recently joked to a friend that in a few years, we'll have the EOS -3, since Canon can't go any lower in numbers for top-of-the-line cameras without going negative, though in practice we'll probably just have the EOS 1D Mk IX or something.

I'm not sure about Nikon's numbering; in general, Nikon seems to have the opposite system, were a higher number is a higher-end camera (so the D200 is higher-end than the D80). The exception seems to be their pro-series cameras, which follow Canon in having a single digit (e.g. the D2X).

That is somewhat correct about the numbering system. For example, the 400D is a higher number, but it is a better camera than the 300D

It basically goes like this:

single digit (1D): high end

2 digit (30D): Mid range

3 digit (400D): consumer

Ah, right. I should have said that it's not the actual number that matters, but rather its magnitude, in comparison with other lines. Within a line, higher numbers are newer (and better) cameras. Except for single digits, where the opposite is true, and the EOS 1 is the best.