5D

David J Taylor wrote:

Which leaves the small-format cameras as low-end cheap (?) and nasty (?)
alternatives to the "proper" DSLRs. Perhaps the high-end ZLRs will then

Unfortunately, there are many types of products that have gone through
the same sort of evolution, with low end and high end, but not much in
the middle.

David J Taylor wrote:

I thought that the 4/3 system might provide an opportunity to break from
the constraints of last century's 35mm cameras, providing some novel
optical solutions, and still retain sufficient image quality for the great
majority of applications, whereas the innovations are actually being seen
in ZLR cameras.

APS failed, despite sufficient image quality for the great majority of
applications. It's something about intentionally limiting your options,
even though you are unlikely to ever need the options that you shut
yourself out of.

Even if some new sensor technology was able to solve the current noise
issues with 4:3, the larger sensors will still be better (unless the
noise reduction is of such magnitude that for all intents and purposes
it is non-existent no matter how small the pixel size).

The 1.5 and 1.6 crop factor cameras are in essence a break from last
century's 35mm cameras. It was a question of how small they could make
the sensor while retaining sufficient quality. The lens mounts were
retained for marketing reasons.