The Canon 70D should be announced tonight, and with it we will gain critical information, not only about it, but about the Canon 7Dii. You may be scratching your head and wondering why the 70D is so meaningful to the 7D & 7Dii. Consider the following:

The 70D Specs are already out performing the 7D on nearly all critical features:
A. New Sensor
B. Better ISO (Canonrumors already is saying that the 70D will set a new benchmark in ISO noise, which is the achilles heel of the 7D.)
C. Touch Screen Monitor
D. Same awesome 19 Cross Type Focus Points as 7D
E. Improved Live View Focusing – 5x faster than than other Canon Live View Cameras.
F. 70D Has HDR & multiple exposure mode like the 5Diii.
G. 7 FPS, 1 from the dual processor 8FPS of the 7D.

I could be wrong, but the way I see it is that essentially the 70D IS the 7D replacement. Its features exceed the 7Ds in almost every category. Which also leads us to conclude: The Canon 70D will priced at or higher than the current 7D which is about $1600. Canon will not sell a better camera, with more features for less money. It will be a good thing if I am wrong on this, but I dont think I am. Update Some websites are listing the Canon 70D at $1200 for body only. I am really surprised at this, but hey…that is a LOT of camera for $1200!! Yay!

It makes no sense that Canon has a camera that is going to outperform and out sell the 7D, for $300-$400 less the price!

Because the 7Dii is coming, and if we can infer what we know about the 70D, we can also expect the following from the new 7Dii:

1. It’ll will be coming very soon
2. It will still be crop sensor
3. It will most likely have better focusing systems
4. It will have all the things that make the 70D cool, wifi, HDR, multiple exposure mode, etc.
5, It will most likely have more FPS, in the 10+ range. It will probably need a new battery to do this.
6. It could have touch screen, but probably wont have an articulating monitor.
7. It will be a new class of of camera, geared towards mid-level prosumer sports shooters
8. The Price should be in the $1800-2200 ball park, I dont think it will exceed the 6D’s price too much.

What I believe Canon is doing is re-writing their line ups and how they compete with Nikons, with the SL1 now being their entry level camera. This is how the new battleground should look:

SL1 vs D3200
T5i vs D5200
70D vs D7100 & D300s
7Dii vs ?
6D vs D600
5Diii vs D800
1Dx vs D4