Canon Announcement on January 9, 2014 – What is Coming?

Canon Announcement

According to DCfever’s facebook page (thanks Frank) Canon will hold an announcement event in Hong Kong on January 9th, 2014, two days after Nikon is also set to make an announcement. The text says (slightly corrected by myself):

Following the earlier news conference in Hong Kong [we] received an invitation [from] Nikon, [and] Canon also immediately [followed with an invitation] thereafter, on January 9 [a] press conference [will be] held [by Canon …]

We can only speculate what will be announced on 1/9. As you can see in the comments for the Facebook post, speculations are going wild, considering anything from the EOS 7D Mark II to the EOS-1D X Mark II, not to forget a set of lenses.

Actually, no one knows what is coming. After the rumors stating that there will be no EOS 7D Mark II, but, instead, a new APS-C flagship with another name, I do not really expect this DSLR to be announced next week. Same for the lenses, which should be announced later. The latest rumor was about a high end, high resolution DSLR with a hybrid viewfinder, and this one too is set (if the rumor is reliable) to be announced later this year.

The interesting fact is that Nikon will held an announcement two days before Canon. That, indeed, could be a sign of something important coming. Stay tuned.

Canon EOS M is the Second Most Sold Mirrorless Camera in Japan (2013)

Canon EOS M

Source: sonyalpharumors

BCnranking published sales figures for mirrorless cameras and DSLRs in Japan. As you can see in the picture above, the [shoplink 6091]EOS M[/shoplink] is the second most sold MILC in Japan with a market share of 9.2%, topped only by the Sony NEX 5R. After all the bad press (not always justified) the EOS M got in the US (mainly) and in Europe, I am happy to see that this little, amazing camera is selling pretty good in Asia. I own an EOS M and I am more than happy with it.

If you look at the DSLR sales figures below, you can see the chart is dominated by Canon (10 DSLRs) and Nikon (8 DSLRs).

Canon EOS M

 

Canon Deals: EOS 5D Mark III ($2880), EF 24-105mm f/4L IS ($710), Rebel T3 w/ 18-55mm ($349)

[shoplink 17888 ebay] Canon Deals[/shoplink]

Top Rated Plus seller getitidigital (99.4% positive ratings) has the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS lens for [shoplink 17888 ebay]$709.99 (click here)[/shoplink]. US model and warranty, free shipping.

Top Rated Plus eBays seller qd_us (99.8% positiver ratings) has the Canon EOS 5D Mark III body only for [shoplink 17886 ebay]$1879 (click here)[/shoplink]. New item in original box, 1 year store warranty.

Amazon US has the Canon Rebel T3 with the 18-55mm IS II lens on sale for $349. Compare to $399 (at least).

[shoplink 17886 ebay]Canon Deals[/shoplink]

Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD Review (and sample pics) – updated

All pictures copyright by Frank Wong, used with permission.

Update 2: the original post is online again.

Update: Frank Wong’s server is experiencing heavy traffic load, it may be unreachable. You can download a zip file with all pics here (27MB). Please be aware that the pics are without description, so to get the whole story you have to wait for Frank’s server to come online again (hopefully soon).

Frank Wong published a review of Tamron’s latest lens, the Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD superzoom (Adorama | B&H Photo). Moreover, Frank was so kind to provide an English version of his review (thanks!). More about the Tamron 150-600mm, auto-focus test video, and product and sample pics after the break.

Click here to open the rest of the article

Only Canon (and Nikon and Sony) Will Survive the Smartphone Revolution (according to Credit Suisse)

The Canon EOS M2

Reuters reports an analysis by Credit Suisse imaging analyst Yu Yoshida saying that only Canon, Nikon and Sony will survive the smartphone revolution. The brands that build heavily on mirrorless cameras (Olympus, Fujifilm, Panasonic), on the other hand, will face hard times since smartphones, i.e. devices able to shot high quality photos, are eating into their market. In other words: customers prefer the latest generation of high-end smartphones over mirrorless cameras, and connectivity appears to play a big role. Says Yu Yoshida: “Only those who have a strong brand and are competitive on price will last – and only Canon, Nikon and Sony fulfil that criteria“.

The analysis states that “Canon and Nikon dominate the SLR camera market, while Sony could survive any shakeout thanks to its strength in making sensors for a number of camera manufacturers as well as collaboration with its smartphone division“. Yu Yoshida: “If you look mid-to-long term, digital camera makers are slipping and the market is becoming an oligopoly“.

Some statistics:

  • World-wide sales of compact cameras will fall for 40 percent this year (down to 59 million units)
  • Panasonic camera sales dropped 40 percent from April to September 2013
  • Mirrorless cameras have had a real break-through only in Japan, where they make up 36% of sales. On the other hand, MILC market share are 10.5% and 11.2% in the USA and Europe
  • Mirrorless camera sales in the USA dropped 20% during the holiday shopping season

It’s known that mirrorless sales are good in Asia, not so exciting in Europe, and even less in the USA, where professional looking DSLRs are still king. I think it’s a pity that many people does not realize how amazing mirrorless cameras are.

[Chicago Tribune/Reuters via PetaPixel]

 

Sensor Performance Comparison of 22 Canon DSLRs (updated)

Crop taken from ISO 1600 comparison – Image credit: Zol.com.cn

Update: as reader Eyal (thanks) correctly pointed out in the comment section, the credit for the images used in the comparison goes to imaging-resource.com. Apologies for not having seen it.

Chinese site ZOL (translated) compared the sensor performance of 22 different Canon DSLRs, APS-C and full-frame, to see how much sensor performance improved over the years.

It is interesting to see how much sensor performance went to the better for APS-C sensors, especially for higher ISO settings. If you compare the crops shot at ISO 6400 you can clearly see how much better the EOS 70D performs if compared to older models, the 70D outperforms even the 7D. Differences appear to be less obvious for the full-frame DSLRs, though the improvement is visible.

Although you have to deal with automatic translation the post is definitely worth to have a look.

Comparative Sample 1
Comparative Sample 2
Comparative Sample 3

[via dslcamera]