Shutterbug: Breaking the Four-Minute Mile

We recently returned from the 2006 PMA Convention and Trade Show in Orlando, FL—the largest annual international trade show in our industry. With over 600 exhibitors, 20,000 attendees, and more than 200 educational sessions, this four-day event is pretty much a “must see” for everyone in the imaging business.

As always, an abundance of new software and hardware technologies were introduced at PMA, as well as even a few film-related products. Perhaps the most striking trend this year was the accelerating reduction in the prices of entry-level digital SLRs from a number of manufacturers. With several digital SLR kits (a body and a zoom lens) priced under $600, photographers can now step up to the versatility of digital SLR photography for less than the cost of last year’s full-featured, fixed-lens “prosumer” cameras.

In 2003 Canon unveiled the first sub-$1000 digital SLR/lens combination, with the introduction of their widely popular Digital Rebel. At the time, some industry mavens viewed this achievement as the technological equivalent of a track-and-field milestone set in 1954 by 25-year-old Englishman Roger Bannister when he recorded the world’s first sub-four-minute mile. Since Bannister’s feat, of course, four-minute miles have become rather commonplace. Obviously, so too have sub-$1000 digital SLRs.

This year’s stunning drop in the price of entry-level digital SLR cameras comes at a opportune time for early adopters who are interested in buying a second digital SLR with the enhanced features that have resulted from ever-evolving imaging technologies. Mid-level digital SLRS can also be expected to offer an increasingly attractive combination of features and value, as the trend toward higher-resolution and improved functionality at lower costs continues unabated. And now that “newcomers” Sony, Panasonic and Samsung have entered the SLR fray, a variety of new options will be available to consumers as well.

Roger Bannister, by the way, retired from running to pursue a career as a neurologist shortly after breaking the four-minute mile at Oxford. Canon, on the other hand, has much more in store for us for years to come.