I don't know what to make of this. Canon usually refuses to play "the game" because they've never had to, but now they're trying harder to react to Nikon's moves, as Nikon has taken a LOT of the lower-end market. I guess if Canon's name was still safely on top in the DSLR world, they'd be happy just having the 450D --> 40D --> 5D --> 1d-MkIII -->1ds-MkIII line-up. Personally, I thought that was a good line-up that didn't require tinkering.
Now they look like they're just playing the game a little bit better. They released the 1000D to compete more with the Nikon D60, and this new 50D just seems like a response that Canon has been preparing for in anticipation of the eventual D90 release. Canon were probably expecting a D90 closer to the 40D's release last year, but when they realized nothing was coming 10 months ago, they thought they should be prepared with an improved 40D and succumb to using a shorter update cycle this time. It's just my conspiracy theory, anyway. Canon probably realized that their 40D, which isn't very old, would look really bad sitting beside the eventual Nikon D90 if the specs were what they ASSUMED they would be: D300's sensor, live view, sensor cleaning, same ISO performance as D300, 3D tracking, HDMI like D300, and the same high-res LCD screen. Problem is that nobody would have guessed that the D90 would have 1080i video capabilities. Soccer moms don't care about gapless microlenses.
When a friend and I would get bored we use to rent Hasselblad equipment and play with shooting landscapes and architecture. Heard of them?
In my spare time, I've tinkered with building rockets for NASA. Hasn't everyone?
