Canon unveils 1080p HD video-shooting DSLR

Canon has launched a 15.1Mp digital SLR camera that’s also able to capture full HD video. Canon_EOS_500D_02 Canon's EOS 500D: take snaps, record 1080p movies The EOS 500D, designed as the next model up from the 450D – reviewed here - has top still-image continuous burst rate of 3.4f/s and a basic ISO sensitivity of between …

[Jolyon Smith]

Why has it taken this long?

Genuinely curious - why does it take a 15MP+ camera to take 2MP video ?

Is it simply down to the efficiency of the data transfer between the CCD and storage and the compression of the 15MP RAW data in each frame to the 2MP video data in the codec ?

Or is it just about product differentiation (i.e we don't want you spending mega $$'s on one camera when we can sell you TWO cameras for mega $$'s each) ?

If it's the former, then is there a similar breakthru on burst shooting rates in this camera ?

If it's the latter, what's changed so much that Canon are now happy to sell us just one camera ? Just tight sales ? Is it now that people are buying 0 cameras, so if they can buy one to do two jobs Canon hope to grab that sale ?

Or do I just think about these things too much ?