In an interview with Reuters, Masaya Maeda (head of Canon's camera division) said that they are exploring the possibility of launching a compact mirrorless camera with the features and capabilities of a upmarket DSLR camera:
"We are considering the technical aspects. We will launch an interesting product next year"
In the past Canon has viciously denied the need of a mirrorless system in their current lineup.
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Canon Q
A-ha, with price tag even more far distant from Pentax Q bargain.
Good.
They can compete with Pentax for the toy-camera market.
By the way, why don’t they save their time and just make interchangeable lens PHONE cameras. The first person to do that will truly create a new industry if they are cheap enough.
Don’t underestimate $75-200 bucks here and there at the low-end.
That being said, pet/toy cameras are not the way to go.
I wonder who’ll be first, Nikon or Canon?
Likely Nikon. Canon defended itself from Mirrorless concept for very long while Nikon officially stays silent while unofficially they are working on their own system for some time now – likely will be based on tiny&silly sensor like the Pentax Q (maybe bit bigger but nothing in pair with APS-C)
Sony was first of the big three with the APS-C sized mirrorless body, or course. By now, they have had at least one year to refine their product. Try one before you start bashing it. The current NEX cameras may not offer all the “pro” features that many of us think we need, and the menu interface may not be the easiest to learn, but when it comes to pure image quality, I think it is a winner. This is coming from an advanced amateur shooting with DSLR-A700 and A850 bodies.
Let’s see whether they stuff it up or come out with a NEX killer.
Could this be the first proper mirrorless? We’ve already seen enough useless toy cameras.
“with the features and capabilities of a upmarket DSLR camera”
Hmmm… With the price of an upmarket Leica as well?
Cheap plastic junk perhaps?
My guess is something about $4000.
It protects their dSlr sales and is half as much as a Leica M.
Probably features of a 7D.
HopefullY there wont be yet another new lens mount introduced.
If Canon does introduce a product at a high price point, it may not fare well at all. (Ditto for Nikon.)
Physical size is an important consideration of buyers. There are a lot more people who want something smaller than the current crop of DSLRs for convenience. The µ4/3 cameras have appealed to those desires, but it it taking a while for a completely new format to catch on and the lenses designed for it to be brought to market. Should Canon come up with yet another format, it will take some time to bring an assortment of lenses to market for it as well.
µ4/3rds offers better IQ than the much smaller sensor P&S cameras and the newest releases are improving the high ISO capability of the sensors. Panasonic has been talking about their next generation sensor. How much better IQ than µ4/3rds does the market really want? I do not believe that the mass market demands anything greater than that. The enthusiast market probably would be amenable to an M8 or M9 style camera with lenses to go with it…once again there will be a delay in bringing the lenses to market.
The lack of lenses will be a problem for this new camera, unless it is a µ4/3rds format that can use existing lenses while Canon brings out its own and must provide something that Panasonic and Olympus do not. That is quite a challenge.
The market for $7,000 M9s and $10,000 lenses is quite limited. I do not believe that a move in that direction would be worthwhile for Canon.
They have enough money and resources then any other camera company out there. I’m sure they are no scared of failing. I bought a GF1 and sold it it a week. I had a X100 and sold that in 1 month ( made a $500 profit! ) . hopefully nikon and canon can make it right.
None of the camera makers can release such an expensive almost fully digital automated product based on software and expect people to pay that much for it. Be it Pro or not, it would sell bad.
People don’t respect the digital technology as much as mechanics. We take hardware software for granted. Rightfully so… do you expect that 5000$ digital camera to be worth anything in 10yrs, or even work or be compatible to anything to transfer pics in 15yrs… I think not.
Leica can price theirs… but people buy it cause it was always expensive and its a lifestyle statement!
Admin,
Canon did not say that they’re considering releasing a small mirrorless camera next year”.
The Reuters article says:
That’s two different statements and doesn’t mean the “interesting product next year” is a small mirrorless camera. Also if they’re only at the stage of considering the technical aspects, they haven’t developed a product to say it is interesting. Sony was testing their Nex bodies and SLT bodies for around an year before they were finally released. A brandnew mirrorless camera platform (roadmap for bodies and new lenses) is not easy to make.
Even canonrumors.com emphasised on the difference between an interesting product and a mirrorless product and I hope you back up your statement with some evidence or alter it to reflect the article you’re quoting.
The title of the original article was “INTERVIEW-Canon considering compact mirrorless camera” and since Reuters were the one who did the interview, I assumed this was a good and accurate description.
Too little too late?
Or just more vapour, perhaps this time to try to dissuade us from deciding to go with micro 43, now that it finally has a selection of interesting lenses?
who was the idiot at canon who denied that canon would go this way, i think they will be the last company to do so, they will have a lot of ground to cover to catch up with all the other manufacturers