Off Brand News: Nikon is #1 in full frame camera market during US holiday season, D850 most sold

Nikon D850
View Post

Nikon D850 at a glance:

  • 45.7MP FX-Format BSI CMOS Sensor
  • EXPEED 5 Image Processor
  • 3.2″ 2.36m-Dot Tilting Touchscreen LCD
  • 4K UHD Video Recording at 30 fps
  • Multi-CAM 20K 153-Point AF System
  • Native ISO: 64-25600, Extended: 32-102400
  • 7 fps Shooting for 51 Frames with AE/AF
  • 8K Time-Lapse, Negative Digitizer Mode
  • 180k-Pixel RGB Sensor, Focus Shift Mode
  • SnapBridge Bluetooth and Wi-Fi

Nikon did exceptionally well with the Nikon D850 (), and users love it.  The Nikon D850 was the most sold full frame DSLR during the holiday season 2017 in the USA.

Nikon press release:

Nikon Inc. Achieves #1 Spot in Full Frame Camera Market During Important 2017 Holiday Selling Season

Market Bolstered by Exceptional Demand for the Award-Winning Full Frame (FX-format) D850 DSLR

MELVILLE, NY – Imaging leader Nikon attained the #1 position for both market share and revenue for December 2017, in the full frame digital camera with interchangeable lens (DCIL) category in the U.S.1 The overwhelming success of the powerful new Nikon D850 DSLR as well as the acclaimed D750 DSLR helped contribute to the brand’s strong growth within the full frame camera segment for December 2017. According to The NPD Group, Nikon achieved double-digit unit and dollar sales growth within the full frame camera segment in December 2017 vs. December 2016.2This market category comprises all full frame digital cameras with interchangeable lenses (DCIL), including DSLR and mirrorless cameras. December is a significant month for sales because of the large volume of units sold during the holidays; industry-wide, DCIL full frame unit sales for the month of December 2017 were almost equal to unit sales from January through March of 2017, according to The NPD Group.3

“Nikon has returned to an emphasis on high-end products for advanced and professional users. These users appreciate Nikon’s full frame offerings because of their amazing image quality, reliability, low-light capability and high-speed performance,” said Bo Kajiwara, President and CEO, Nikon Inc. “Nikon is an innovative, diversified company with a clear, long-term strategy to thrive into 2018 and beyond.”

Click here to open the rest of the article

Mirrorless Cameras may definitely take over in 2019, Thom Hogan states (and yet another poll)

Canon Eos M5 Mark Ii Mirrorless
View Post

As antidote to the more noisy and breathless rumor outlets out there, have a look at Thom Hogan’s short and educated article about the evolution (past and future) of mirrorless camera systems.

Mirrorless initially looked like it was going to quickly erode DSLR unit volume back in 2012. That proved to be a false positive. Mirrorless was still nascent, Nikon was heavily promoting the Nikon 1 because they couldn’t make DSLRs due to the quake and flood (and already discounting the Nikon 1), and there was a lot of sampling going on to see if mirrorless truly was the future of interchangeable lens cameras. Frankly, no, it wasn’t yet ready back then.

[…]

Compare that to today. Let’s use Canon as an example. You’d be hard pressed to show me how an entry Rebel DSLR is better than an EOS M5. After all, they’re using the same sensor. The Rebel is bigger, heavier, bulkier. It doesn’t do as well with face recognition autofocus, a big thing for the masses. In other words, most of the things that led samplers in 2012 to say “not ready yet” are no longer applicable. They can get equivalent or better results for their type of shooting out of a smaller, lighter, simpler camera now. A friend of mine says that there’s a study that shows statistical significance to European camera sales to European airline carry-on practices. As airlines tightened carry-on weight limits, people in Europe bought smaller and lighter cameras, apparently. Read Thom Hogan’s article…

There are some good points in Hogan’s article.

You likely know Canon will soon announce a new mirrorless camera. Some people are speculating the upcoming EOS M50 could indeed be the long-awaited full-frame mirrorless camera we are all eagerly waiting for. And now it’s also rumored to do 4K video. Sound to good to be true to me. We just had an elaborate prank with the PowerShot G7 X Mark III images. I urge to you to be more realistic. The EOS M50 is going to be announced ahead of CP+. We will soon know.

We want to learn what you think about the State of Mirrorless.

Do you think mirrorless camera systems will definitely take over in 2019?

  • Yes, they will (44%, 439 Votes)
  • No, they will not (35%, 349 Votes)
  • They already did (11%, 107 Votes)
  • Unsure (8%, 80 Votes)
  • They will never take over (3%, 30 Votes)

Total Voters: 1,005

Loading ... Loading ...

The cameras and lenses most used to shoot Sundance 2018 movies

Sundance
View Post

The folks over at No Film School posted some interesting statistics about the gear used to shot movies presented at Sundance 2018.

  • 247 movies provided data, only three shot on film
  • the three most used camera brands are, respectively: Arri, Canon, Sony
  • most popular camera: Arri Alexa
  • Most popular lens, respectively: Canon EF series lenses, Cooke, Panavision

Head over to No Film School for more information.

Fortune Magazine says Canon is among “World’s Most Admired Companies” for 2018

canon

Canon press release:

FORTUNE Magazine Places Canon Among “World’s Most Admired Companies” for 2018

MELVILLE, N.Y., January 19, 2018 – Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, is proud to announce that Canon Inc., its parent company, has been named to FORTUNE Magazine’s “World’s Most Admired Companies” list for 2018, demonstrating its strong standing within the global business community. Called the “definitive report card on corporate reputations” by FORTUNE, Canon received positive marks for financial soundness, long-term investment value, social responsibility, global competitiveness and quality of products and services to earn this distinction, resulting in a rank of fourth in the Computer category.

“To be named as one of the ‘World’s Most Admired Companies’ is a true testament to Canon’s forward-thinking vision, solidifying the strength of our brand and speaking to our continued commitment to innovation,” said Christine Sedlacek, senior director and general manager, Corporate Communications, Canon U.S.A., Inc. “Canon prides itself in developing leading-edge technology to help meet the needs of our customers while still staying true to our strong philosophy of corporate social responsibility. Receiving this honor is the result of the hard work and dedication of all Canon employees, as well as the devotion of the company’s loyal customers, for which we are incredibly grateful.”

Executive, directors and analysts from 680 companies in 29 countries around the world were asked to rate these companies based off of nine criteria categories: financial soundness, long-term investment value, people management, social responsibility, use of corporate assets, quality of management, quality of products/services, innovation and global competitiveness.

For more information on Canon U.S.A., Inc., please visit www.usa.canon.com.

Click here to open the rest of the article

Canon working on miniaturisation of shutter mechanism, patent application

canonIs there something coming from Canon, something small? After a patent application to improve the durability of a shutter mechanism, we also spotted a Canon patent application describing how to miniaturise the shutter mechanism.

Canon patent application P2018-010054A describes methods to further miniaturise the shutter mechanism:

The present invention relates to a blade drive device for driving blades entering and leaving an optical path, and an image pickup device including the blade drive device, for example, an IR (infrared light) cut filter and an AR (anti-reflection) A filter switching device for switching the filter, and a device incorporated in a lens barrel of a video camera or a surveillance camera equipped with such a filter switching device.

More Canon patent applications.

Canon working to improve durability of shutter mechanism, patent application suggests

canon patentCanon patent application JP-A-2018-10053 describes how to improve the durability of shutter blades.

Claims:

An opening forming member in which an opening serving as an optical path is formed, First and second shutter blades which enter and leave the opening, A drive transmission member engaged with the first and second shutter blades for transmitting a driving force, And a stopper for stopping the movement of the blade by abutment of the first and second shutter blades when the optical path is blocked by the first and second shutter blades in the opening,
Wherein the first and second shutter blades each include a shutter portion for shielding the optical path in the opening portion, an engaging portion for engaging with the drive transmission member, and a connecting portion for connecting the shutter portion and the engaging portion with each other Has,
Wherein the stopper includes a main stopper in which one side of the engaging portion side of the first and second shutter blades abuts and a second stopper provided between the opening and the drive transmission member and on one side of the connecting portion And a sub-stopper with which the portion abuts.

It’s good to see that Canon’s R&D are working on the really useful things. More Canon patent applications.