Press release here. Anyone able to translate it for me???

Right. That's a bit odd.
I think it's aimed at photography sessions in schools/colleges. The tutor locks the settings so no one can tinker with them.
If that's the case, then what are the students actually learning?
It's not April the 1st, is it? (8+/

Mark

Aye, I checked the dates. "Student Version" would make more sense, you'd've thunk. NICK! De-gobble the Canon-de-gook!

I think it also embeds EXIF data in a barcode form that would only be available to the photographer and the agency/organisation that the tog works for.
It strikes me as a solution looking for a problem.
It's clearly not aimed at the amateur market. It strikes me as being aimed at a very small target of photographers.
Perhaps there's more demand for it in other territories.

Mark

Why can't we have GPS compatibility! Boooo!

I can't find any mention of this on Canon's site.
I'm calling foul.

Mark

It's here, unfortunately.

Right, say you own a photography studio and employ other photographers to cover events for you. You will be processing the images yourself when you get back. You want to make sure that the photographers don't exceed, say, 800ISO, always use daylight white balance, and stick to sRAW to preserve CF card space. If I'm getting this right, you will be able to lock down the camera's features so you know already, within a certain range, what sort of photos you'll be getting back. Not owning a studio, it's entirely possible there are other ways this could be used that I'm unaware of.

Ok, so basically it's targetted at a very select group of people, who own studios but don't employ photogs who are experienced/wealthy enough to follow instructions or want a 5DII/1Ds?

Something like that. I think. Um.

It's all very odd to my thinking.

Mark

In the brief skim I did before my eyes glazed over, I got the impression the market this camera is aimed at is studios (or portable studios) where the subjects need to be photographed consistently and in industrial quantities. The blurb specifically mentioned school photos, and medical/forensic work. I can imagine certain catalogue work would fall under this as well.

In which case, being able to lock down the camera to specific functions would mean you can almost form a production line style of photography. Wheel the item/child/cadaver in, focus, shoot, next please.

I do all the catalogue stuff for the online shop at work, but I have to say keeping the same settings on the camera body isn't that difficult. Make a note, then if you have to power down the camera for lunch, or whatever, you can set it up again.
In fact, this reminds me, I have questions...

Surely a professional studio would want to use full frame kit? It would make morse sense putting this is the 5D range. Roll it into future consumer level kit at a later date.

Or am I being delusional?

Not all pro's use full frame. A lot of nature/sports guys n gals like the handy 1.6 crop. It's like an extra zoom for free compared to a full frame.