Yeh, it makes sense to me too, especially if they need time and iterations and lessons learned from the R and RP to get the pro model right.
They are producing some lenses which will sell the system all by themselves - I'm already intrigued and I'm fully invested in Sony at this point. But an 85 f/1.2 with apodisation, the 28-70 f/2 zoom, the fast fifty and that really short 70-200 look really tempting. Especially as my regular lens reviewers are really starting to rave about the quality of those first few lenses.
If you want a high quality do everything lens, there 's already a 24-105 f/4 native.
If you want something cheaper, why bother making a cheap lens for a system where the lenses are CLEARLY aiming to be top-end? I don't see the point of diluting the lens lineup.
An EF adaptor and a kit lens will do just fine for now and for the next few years while they sell the system on the basis of the excellence of the new R lenses.
There's probably very little to be gained in a native redesign of bottom end kit lenses for the mirrorless format anyway- the advantages of the mount are clearly what you can do with it, not how cheaply you can build the lenses.
I'm watching for the pro body very carefully, because of the lenses. If I weren't trying to have cheap year, I'd be picking up an RP now to have a play with my existing EF lenses, and maybe treat myself to that 28-70 f/2.
It's the most interesting set of announcements Canon have made for me in a LONG time. The one thing that makes me see sense and not jump in is the video specs- no DPAF in 4K is a killer for me. The APS-C crop in 4K wouldn't be an issue. But the killer video feature Canon have is DPAF, which this camera doesn't have in the resolution I'd want to be shooting in.
I think it highlights that Canon really are struggling with sensor tech. Apparently they admit that they can't cool the sensor enough to achieve 4K/30p let along the 4K/60p which will be the go-to spec for the next round of cameras from other manufacturers. It probably also goes a long way to explaining the absence of IBIS in the R series- if they're already struggling with heat, no wonder they can't contemplate floating the sensor for now.
I like the results of my Sonys and Hasselblad and RED, but I still do pine for the ergonomics and overall together-ness that Canons used to have. I was a Canon user for the first 10+ years of my professional career and I'm still kinda rooting for them to release a camera which gives me an excuse to go back to shooting with one, at least some of the time.
The RP isn't it, but it is WAAAAY closer than anything else they currently make. It would be a gateway drug into the expensive lenses, to be downgraded to a backup body when the proper pro body comes along.
Cheers, Hywel