Great post Andrew.
It has been proven several times, all these DSLR cameras have a HUGE potential inside which is not fully delivered to customers due to a marketing and business matter. That is clear and known on every large product line manufacturing strategy.
The company has to "segmentate" their products to get more profit, even when they could deliver a MUCH better product with only a more featured software (firmware).
The point is: how much are these companies going to limit / "cripple" their products (cameras in this case)?
For instance, a $3,500 EOS 5D Mark III SHOULD be able to deliver more and better video features / performance. The same happens to the EOS 1D X.
NONE of them have a BASIC video feature like "Peaking", even when [b]Canon called the EOS 1D X as "The Film-maker's DSLR" in their official press release[/b]: [url="http://www.hdcamteam.com/2011/10/20/canon-eos-1d-x-needs-firmware-update/"]http://www.hdcamteam.com/2011/10/20/canon-eos-1d-x-needs-firmware-update/[/url]
There are cheaper cameras made by Sony and Panasonic with Peaking and better video resolution. Without a doubt Canon (and Nikon) [b]CAN deliver much better video features in their current DSLRs just via Firmware Update[/b].
How much they can do? That is up to their convenience from the business perspective, and the hardware limitation on each model. BUT the current hardware has huge potential which is not being exploited.
Magic Lantern has already clearly proven it. Lot of those features could be implemented in an official firmware because they work perfectly. There is no technical reason to deny it, only business reasons.
If the whole community complained and requested to Canon to improve the firmware of expensive cameras like 5D Mark 3 and 1D X [b]in video mode[/b], there would be more chances to get at least some of those very possible features and improvements.
It's a shame that [b]HACKING cameras[/b] is the only way to get some [b]basic features/improvements[/b] when manufacturers decide not to deliver them to customers, even when implementing those improvements wouldn't hurt their sales (in fact it could increase sales in many cases). "Peaking" in Canon & Nikon DSLRs is a very clear example, not to mention the hack to the Panasonic GH2.
[b]We all hope Product Managers of such big companies think more about this and change their minds in a more open and modern way.[/b]
Regards.