Canon naming conventions for Consumer DSLRs leaves me confused

[Tronhard]

For the most part Canon's naming convention is pretty logical:

#D = Full frame and professional level bodies, 1D, 5D, 6D, 7D with variations given a MK## 7DMkII
accepting 6D is not seen by some as pro, and the 7D is their pro APSC body
##D = Prosumer cameras 60D, 70D, 80D... (I'm not sure what happens after 90 as they already have a 100D)

Now we come to the consumer/enthusiast bodies:

In MOST of the civilized world they continue the numbering pattern:
###D = e.g. 600D, 650D, 700D, 750D, 760D...

But in North America they are rebranded Rebels (I gather because of a marketing effort with Andre Agassi in 1990) which is fine, BUT then they went to (me) a confusing jumble of numbers and letters: Rebel T3, EOS Rebel T4i, EOS Rebel SL1,

While in Japan since 1993 they use the Kiss name with the jumble... Kiss Digital N, EOS Kiss X6i, EOS Kiss X7...

The numbering ###D system makes it easy to identify where a camera body lies in the progression but for the life of me I am confused by the naming systems in Japan and North America.

I understand that for marketing and warranty reasons they wanted to identify different sales regions, but why could they not have had the Rebel 650D and the Kiss 650D?

Is there a logical pattern to this convention and if so, can you explain it in simple terms please???

[Black Pearl]

This has bugged the cr*p out of me for years. Minolta had a different name on their US bodies, Nikon had N bodies and not F bodies in the US and for what? If you're a global brand sell your products globally and have the confidence to pick one name

[Tronhard]

Hi Robin:

I agree that Canon are by no means to only ones to produce inconsistent model naming conventions. Since I am a Canon user, and often help out other Canon owners with their issues, I am constantly having to look up what a Rebel (whatever) is. I don't mind the Rebel and Kiss Prefixes, by why change the model version number from one that made sense?

I think also that they should have applied the same convention to their Prosumer and consumer bodies as they did for their pro gear, namely to have fixed model names with version marks, such as seen with the Canon 5d, Mk I, Mk II, Mk III etc. I have no idea what they will do with the series after the Canon 90D is created because the next logical progression will be the 100D, which was issued to a completely different type some time ago.

[Donald]

The mind of the sales/marketing departments is a mystery, the processes of which will forever remain unknown and beyond us mere mortals.

[DanK]

As a long-time Canon user, I have found this a minor nuisance, primarily when responding to people who use Rebels (or whatever you call them). I just don't bother trying to remember. I just google whichever name a poster uses, and the others pop right up.

I did puzzle about the 7D when it first came out because I thought of it as the upgraded replacement for my 50D. However, once they also had the 60D, 70D, 80D series, the logic became a little clearer. The 7D now shares almost everything but sensor size with the 5D; the new models of each leapfrog the other. If someone stole all my gear and I had to replace it, I would consider the 5DIV and the 7DII as competitors, and I would make the decision primarily on the basis of sensor size and price.

Of course, the 6D doesn't fit with that, but in practice, I have seen a lot of discussions in which people clearly are deciding between a 6D and a 5D.

[Donald]

I would consider the 5DIV and the 7DII as competitors, and I would make the decision primarily on the basis of sensor size and price.

I think that's a very sensible way of thinking. The 7DMkII was the trailblaser for so much of the current technology now in the newer Canon's. They got it to work in the 7DMkII and have since put it into the new higher end cameras that have appeared since.

I feel I have the perfect twosome with a 7DMkII and a 5DS .... and I love them both.

[Tronhard]

I have the 7D Mk II and 5D Mk III at present and if I was to upgrade my FF I would be torn between the new 5D Mk IV and the 5d Mk III S-R. The massive sensor without the anti-aliasing filter produces images for amazing detail. Perhaps I shall wait for a potential 5D Mk IV S-R! For me, being into wildlife photography and landscape, I find the two bodies not so much competitive as complimentary, with the 7D Mk II giving my telephoto lenses that extra reach, still with a 50MP sensor you could crop a fair bit and still get good results.

With regard to Dan's comments on the naming. That is exactly my problem, helping those out with the pesky Rebel ????? names. They make ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE TO ME!!! So I have to look them up each time, which is less helpful when I have no internet access at the time. This is only a problem for me when I am in Canada, thankfully NZ has the ###D naming convention.

[johngunkler]

After the 90D I predict either the 100E (for EOS) or the 91D up to the 99D, then 99.1D (or maybe 991D) etc. What do you think? OK, maybe I had too much coffee this morning


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[xpatUSA]

This has bugged the cr*p out of me for years. Minolta had a different name on their US bodies, Nikon had N bodies and not F bodies in the US and for what? If you're a global brand sell your products globally and have the confidence to pick one name

Indeed. Sigma did some of us no favors at all by suddenly changing their model prefix from upper to lower case letters. Of course, in the fora people stubbornly continue with upper-case to mean later models. Or there are those fools that use "texting" style in their post and refer to older models in lower-case.

So it is that if someone writes "DP1" or "dp1", it could mean any one of five quite different models.

Doesn't help either that some models are distinguished by a separately added qualifier, e.g. "Merrill", "Quattro", "Quattro H".

Almost too much for this pendant, I'll tell ya.

Please pardon my mention of a minority manufacturer . . .