Canon press release:

Canon to sponsor the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games as an official Tokyo 2020 Gold Partner (Still Cameras and Desktop Reprographic Hardware)

TOKYO, February 18, 2015—Canon Inc. and Canon Marketing Japan Inc. announced today that the Company will support the Games of the XXXII Olympiad and the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) as a Tokyo 2020 Gold Partner in the category of Still Cameras and Desktop Reprographic Hardware which include desktop printers.

Canon has entered an agreement with the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, making the Company a Tokyo 2020 Gold Partner. In this capacity, Canon will contribute to the delivery of the Games of the XXXII Olympiad and the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, which will be held in 2020 in Tokyo, and in addition, will provide support to the Japanese national Olympic and Paralympic teams competing from 2016 to 2020.

Tokyo 2020 Gold Partners are positioned as the highest tier of the Tokyo 2020 domestic Sponsorship Programme. As a sponsor of Tokyo 2020, Canon products and services in the still cameras and desktop reprographic hardware categories, which include desktop printers, will be designated as Official Products of the Games.

Canon will provide behind-the-scenes support to members of the press covering the Games, including camera and lens maintenance services and product loans. Drawing from the Company’s experience and know-how cultivated to date, Canon will improve on-site media support for cameras during Tokyo 2020, including on-site camera service and support centers to assist the numerous journalists and sports photographers from various countries and regions across the world.

Canon will continue contributing to the advancement of sports through the use of Canon still cameras and desktop reprographic hardware which include desktop printers.

Overview of Tokyo 2020 Gold Partner agreement

Agreement programme: Tokyo 2020 Gold Partner—”Tier 1″ within Tokyo 2020 domestic Sponsorship Programme
Products and services: Still Cameras and Desktop Reprographic Hardware
Agreement period: From February 18, 2015, to December 31, 2020
Region: Japan

Canon-sponsored Games

Event	Dates	Location
Games of the XXXII Olympiad	Jul. 24-Aug. 9, 2020	Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games	Aug. 25-Sep. 6, 2020	Tokyo, Japan

Canon-sponsored Japanese NOC Delegations attending the following Olympic and Paralympic Team events

Event	Dates	Location
2nd Lillehammer Winter Youth Olympic Games	Feb. 26-Mar. 6, 2016	Lillehammer, Norway
Games of the XXXI Olympiad	Aug. 5-21, 2016	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Rio De Janeiro 2016 Paralympic Games	Sep. 7-18, 2016	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
XXIII Olympic Winter Games	Feb. 9-25, 2018	PyeongChang, South Korea
PyeongChang 2018 Winter Paralympic Games	Mar. 9-18, 2018	PyeongChang, South Korea
3rd Summer Youth Olympic Games	2018 (dates TBD)	Buenos Aires, Argentina
3rd Winter Youth Olympic Games	2020 (dates TBD)	Location TBD
Games of the XXXII Olympiad	Jul. 24-Aug. 9, 2020	Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games	Aug. 25-Sep. 6, 2020	Tokyo, Japan

Canon announce a new high-profile cinema lens, the HJ24ex7.5B. No indication on the price so far (won’t be a inexpensive lens). Available from May 2015.

Press release:

Canon unveils the HJ24ex7.5B lens – outstanding optics and lightweight design created for HD TV production

London, UK, 18 February 2015 – Canon today unveils a new addition to its HD broadcast lens range – the HJ24ex7.5B. A successor to the hugely popular HJ22ex7.6B, the lens has been updated using customer feedback and includes a number of new features, including a wider and longer focal range with enhanced image quality, as well as an improved design and user handling. A truly versatile lens, the HJ24ex7.5B is perfect for a diverse range of broadcast environments, including studio sets, live production and news gathering, thanks to the unique combination of a high quality 24x zoom – the longest zoom in this class available today¹ – an impressive 7.5-180mm wide-angle view and a lightweight, portable design.

Advanced optical performance, both wide and far
Created specifically for the world of TV production, the HJ24ex7.5B’s enhanced optical design allows broadcasters and producers to go both wider and closer on their shoots, with the new 24x zoom giving added freedom whilst on set or on location. Demonstrating Canon’s expertise in optical design, the lens’ 7.5-180mm focal range surpasses that of its predecessor and removes the hassle of mounting different lenses, enabling users to switch seamlessly between long distance, fast action shots, to close ups. The HJ24ex7.5B’s revised optics also produce a sharper, more refined image throughout the entire zoom range, with the quality and clarity that’s required for HD productions.

Exceptional portability and professional performance in one
An enhanced ergonomic design and revised optical structure ensures operators can quickly and comfortably shoot on the go. The weight of the lens has been reduced down to just 1.78kg, allowing shooters to freely move around sets and locations, as well as easily keep pace with subjects. The lens has been engineered to be both lighter and better balanced than its predecessor, with an improved centre of gravity – thanks to the weight reduction and optimisation of the optical layout and body structure. The lens can also be easily handled when shoulder mounted, with access to settings easily accessible in the palm of the hand, ensuring operators don’t have to move away from the camera’s viewfinder.

Designed to provide the best possible performance for broadcasters, the HJ24ex7.5B features the same Digital Drive Unit found in the latest HD High-end ENG lens line-up, which enables camera operators to select repeatable zoom positions and speeds, as well as focus and iris settings as they wish. An absolute value encoder, built into the Digital Drive unit, also allows operators to quickly commence shooting without any initialisation, ideal in news gathering and sports environments. Also suited to virtual applications, the absolute value encoder improves the lens’s power consumption, helping operators to shoot for longer, as well as enabling the lens to automatically detect lens positions so the chromatic aberration compensation function on cameras works instantly.

The HJ24ex7.5B will be available from May 2015.

Image © Photography Bay & used with permission

Canon is the leading camera manufacturer, Canon is the market leader. However…

Canon does a lot of things in the right way (though not all agree) but this doesn’t mean everything is ok. Photography Bay made a list of things you may really dislike as a Canon bound photographer (my comments in parenthesis).

1. Price of Lenses and Accessories
2. One-Year Warranty on ALL Products (not for EU)
3. Major Lag Between Product Announcement & Availability (think 5DS, it will be available in June 2015)
4. Affordable 4K (uh, this is a good point – c’mon Canon give us this stuff)
5. Lack of Internal Interval Shooting Options (this was eventually featured on the EOS 7D Mark II and the upcoming 5DS and 5DS R)
6. Where is the Next Generation of Storage Formats?
7. Slow to Adopt New Technologies and Trends (another good point)
8. Mild Upgrades in the Canon Rebel Line
9. Abandonment of the Serious HDSLR Shooter (I do not agree on this one)
10. Market Segmentation

Each point of the list is discussed and explained, just have a look at Photography Bay to learn the reasons.

 

Quesabesde made some interesting infographics about the cameras (and camera brands) used for the World Press 2014 Photo Award (won by Canon photographer Mads Nissen). The infographic above shows which camera models have been used the most. As you can see the EOS 5D Mark III, EOS 5D Mark II, and EOS-1D X clearly dominate. Canon predominance is  visible also in the next infographic below.

 

The Spanish text says (machine translated): Infographic created from data provided by World Press Photo. In the series of images made with several models has posted only the most used camera. The identity of a total of seven cameras are known.

[via Quesabesde ]

At CP+ Imaging Resource interviewed some Canon reps. And these people are big shots in the Canon-Universe: Yasuhiko Shiomi (Senior General Manager, ICP Development Center, Yoshiyuki Mizoguchi (Group Executive, ICP Group, and Naoya Kaneda (Senior General Manager, ICP Development Center, all from the Image Communication Products Operations division at Canon Inc.

The interview touches many topics, among them: AF technology, Canon’s future plans with mirrorless cameras, the video features of the EOS 5DS, and more. Some excerpts:

Dave Etchells/Imaging Resource: My first question is on autofocus technology: The most recent generation of Hybrid CMOS AF is much faster than the previous one. Can you tell us what technical advances led to that improvement? Also, how would you compare the new Hybrid CMOS AF III’s performance to that of Dual Pixel CMOS AF, in terms of speed and accuracy?

Yasuhiko Shiomi/Canon Inc.: Compared with conventional models, first of all the number of pixels has increased significantly, and the pixel density has also increased. So we’ve incorporated Hybrid CMOS AF across the board with all of the models [that don’t already use Dual Pixel CMOS AF]. We’ve also improved the algorithms used to calculate AF, which has improved speed. However, with regard to Dual Pixel CMOS AF, the conditions that are required for applying this technology are different. It’s not really an apples to apples comparison.

What about Canon’s mirrorless strategy?

DE: Switching to mirrorless: Where do mirrorless systems fit into Canon’s longer-term strategy? Does Canon view mirrorless as primary or exclusively a sub-frame platform? Or do you see it as being more broadly applicable, and appropriate for both sub-frame and full-frame systems? And then the second half of the question is will we see the EOS M line evolve further, or will there be a completely new platform at some point?

Yoshiyuki Mizoguchi/Canon Inc.: Okay. In terms of how we view the role of mirrorless, first it’s within the EOS framework that we’re talking about. There was obviously the need to pursue smaller products that were more lightweight. So we kind of view the EOS mirrorless cameras from that perspective to begin with. It’s not just looking in terms of solely as a mirrorless product, but within the interchangeable lens camera segment. We kind of view it as playing a role within that … sort of an extended view, as a means of achieving a more compact, lightweight product. There was obviously the question of whether or not, within the regular DSLR format, there was a demand for lighter, smaller products. You know, there are various approaches on that, but this is a means for us to address that issue within sort of the EOS universe.

The interviewer also tryed to get some information from Canon reagrding the possibility of a full-frame mirrorless camera. Canon did not answer in a clear way. The interviewer thinks that “while Canon would never say “never” to a full-frame mirrorless body/lens system, their current thinking is that “compact” and “full-frame” really don’t belong in the same sentence together”.

There is obviously much more in the interview, and I reccoment you have a look at it.

[via Imaging Resource]