Interesting 40D scenarios

I found yet another interesting post on FM forums, posted by Tentacle (which is known for his interesting posts and educated gueses):
40D: There are 3 scenarios...
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1. Do the usual, tweak a bit, squeeze more Mpixel from the sensor, 10.1 Mpixel from APS-C. This would only be catch-up, and a poor one at that, to the rest of the 10 Mpixel dSLRs out there. The D40x, the D80, the D200, the Alpha 100 and the K10D. I don't think Canon would do this.
2. Bump the resolution to 12 Mpixel from APS-C. Can you say "Sensor out-resolving most glass"? The only current 12 Mpixel (from 1.5x crop instead of 1.6), the Nikon DX2(s), is already hitting the limits of high quality glass at the full frame equivalent of 27 Mpixel. Putting 12 on 1.6x crop would be the equivalent of 31 Mpixel at full frame. Will Canon be that silly?
3. Take the sensor from the Mk III, halve the number of output channels, put it in the 40D and link it to a single DIGIC III instead of 2. That means 10 Mpixel, 5 fps, APS-H, with native ISO 3200 and extended ISO 6400.


Now, let the "Canon will NEVER drop EF-s!!!111" flames begin...

Canon has stated, by words of Brian Worley, dSLR productmanager for Canon Europe, that Canon will eventually go to full frame on all dSLRs, except entry level. (Source here.)

So if you ask me ... Canon might just use the 40D to ween the xxD users from EF-S. They do this by using the 50% larger APS-H size sensor (compared to APS-C) to bump high ISO performance to new levels. The 1.25x crop sits at the production sweet spot of being the biggest slab of silicon that can be processed in single lithography exposure passes. That makes them only 50 to 70% more expensive than APS-C. (Compared to 10 -20 times for full frame sensors that need yield-wrecking field-stitching in its lithography production.)

Yes yes, that would relegate EF-S to entry level ... Boohoohoo! Well, Tough luck. The future is Full Frame anyway. It's my educated guess that Canon will take this route. Okay, maybe not untill the 50D.

1Ds Mk III:
Just look at the 1D Mk III and extrapolate: Bump in reso, assume the same 1.25x increase (from 8 to 10) so you'd get 21 Mpixel. Double DIDIG III, 5 fps, ISO 3200 and extended to 6400. Add Live preview.
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Someone else even stated a very exact date: 17th July.

A nice one:D.