New Canon 50D - The DSLR that thinks it's a point and shoot

In what seems to me to be a surprising move, Canon today announced the newest addition to their pro-sumer line of cameras, the 50D. Now, I'm not really sure how I feel about this. Less then a year after the release of the 40D, Canon is releasing a camera that essentially competes with the 40D. Especially with so much anticipation for the 5D Mark II, it seems like a strange choice for them to up a new camera into this market space. They are essentially giving those individuals that were waiting for the new 5D an upgrade path that is significantly less expensive. Either way, the press release hinted at many new features and enhancements over it's predecessor. Some of them sounded very exciting and some of the seem less then promising.

Things that sound cool:

• 15.1 Mega Pixel - This is a huge update, especially considering the minimal jumps from the 20D to the 40D.
• DIGIC IV - New image processor is always a plus.
• Higher ISO - Up to 12800 ISO which levels the playing field a little with comparison to Nikon and the D300
• Upgraded LCD screen - 920,000 dot/VGA screen means even better resolution for preview and live view. This is especially interesting for me seeing I've always been a bit frustrated with the resolution of the preview screen.
• RAW in creative modes - Though not my style, I like to see that RAW is an option for those people that are still out in the creative modes.
• Improved Live View - Live View was a nifty idea but I never really used it mostly because AF was not very smoothly integrated. With the new Live View features, I'm interested to see if they made AF much easier.
  

Things that sound scary:

• Illumination Correction - Apparently this feature automatically evens the brightness across image a la a gradient filter. For JPEGs, these changes are written directly to the file. For RAW files, these changes corrected in post-production in RAW with DPP. What scares me is, personally, I wouldn't want the camera deciding where it thinks the line between light and dark is. Adjustments over the entire frame I can live with because you can predict and adjust for what the camera will do. Adjustments across only part of the frame rely heavily on the decisions made by the internal processor on the camera.
• 15.1 Mega Pixel - Shoving more pixels on the same sized sensor sounds like a recipe for noisy pictures.
• Auto Lighting Optimizer - Sounds a bit like they are photoshopping for you, which, for the same reason Illumination Correction scares me, scares me.
  
• Creative Full Auto settings - An interesting idea but this again feels like auto photoshopping.
  
• Live View face detection - This feature seems like it doesn't fit in a DSLR. I just can't imagine people holding their huge DSLR out in front of their face like it is a little point and shoot. It really does feel like Canon is trying to make Live View standard way to compose shoots with a digital camera but I just don't see that being feasible with a 2 lbs DSLR that is hopefully strapped to your neck.
• sRAW1 & sRAW2 - I never understood why someone would want to shoot in sRAW. It didn't make any sense to me then and it I don't understand why they would add one more level of sRAW.
  
• HDMI Output - This seems to be another feature that has been imported from the point and shoot line that really doesn't fit. To me, when I want to show off my pictures to others, I'm not going to be tethering my camera to the TV and showing them their. For quick preview with your family, this might be useful, but in the market that a usual DSLR is in, this doesn't seem necesary.
  

The new 50D really seems to me like an attempt to release a camera that appeals to amateur photographers that don't know much about DSLRs and advanced photography but want to get into that space. Also seems more like an attempt to compete with Nikon rather than releasing a camera that really does meet the needs of its customers. Either way, I'll be interested to see how this new offering shakes out. If anything, the new upgrades to the pro-sumer level cameras are a good sign of what will be coming with the new 5D.

Original Press Release
DP preview of the 50D