Nikon Believes Mirrorless Will Catch Up With DSLRs But The Issue Is EVF Lag

Nikon Z 6
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In an interview with DPReview, Nikon execs share their thoughts about the company’s Z 6 and Z 7 cameras and about the state of the mirrorless nation.

As far as I know Nikon is the first company clearly and directly addressing the fact that EVFs (Electronic View Finder) still suck compared to an optical viewfinder.

From the interview (emphasis mine):

Question: How do you think the market for full frame mirrorless will evolve?

Answer: In terms of hardware, it is likely that mirrorless will catch up with DSLR. But one thing that is a challenge is the time lag of electronic viewfinders. Even though we have a great mirrorless [solution], we cannot beat the optical viewfinder.

For really high-level professional photographers at sports events and so on, I believe that the DSLR will survive. I think there will be a synergy between DSLR and mirrorless, so we can expand the market moving forward.

[…] we’re really trying to be the best and provide the ultimate performance of the viewfinder. The view through the viewfinder should be as natural as possible. To achieve that goal we did two things – we focused on the optics, and also on image processing.

Read the interview at DPReview…

Nikon Z mirrorless system:

America: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA
Europe & UK: Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon IT, Canon IT, WEX Photographic, Canon FR, Canon UK, Canon DE

Fujfilm Exec Says Canon Is Wrong, ILC Market Will Not Shrink, Depends By Innovation

Photography Fujfilm
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During CP+ 2019, Imaging Resource sat down with two top Fujifilm execs (Toshihisa Iida and Makoto Oishi) to talk about the photo industry.

In another interview, Canon stated that the camera market is doomed to shrink by 50% in the next years. A prediction Fujifilm execs seem not to agree with.

From the interview:

DE: [Canon exec] says that the interchangeable-lens business is going to contract by half, over the next two years. Do you agree with that assessment? What are your own projections?

Toshihisa Iida/Fujifilm: Totally, totally disagree.

DE: You totally disagree.

<laughter>

TI: We really just cannot believe that projection of Canon’s.

DE: Yeah. What are your projections, what do you think the market will do overall?

TI: I think it all depends on what innovation and what influence comes from the manufacturers. It’s our mission to make the market viable. So I think our projection is there’s a lot of room even to grow further in the camera market.

DE: It might even grow? (!)

TI: Yeah, yeah, yeah. If we look at the Asian market, there’s a huge population over there. Some countries may decline, but some countries soon will change to growth. I think overall, the global camera market, you know…

Summed up:

  • Fujifilm totally disagrees with Canon’s prediction, that ILC business is going to contract by half over the next two years
  • Market will depend on innovation that will come
  • Fujifilm believes there is room for further grow
  • Some markets will decline, but other markets have still potential to grow (Asian market)

For a complete analysis of the interview head over to Fuji Rumors.F

Canon EOS R With IBIS Is Coming, Canon Exec Says, And EF-M Mount Is Not Dead

Canon Eos R Mark Ii Rumor
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Amateur Photographer sat down with Canon execs at CP+ 2019, and the talk was about Canon’s mirrorless full frame EOS R system.

The short interview gives some interesting insights in Canon’s agenda. The EOS M is the mirrorless system with APS-C sensor, Canon confirms. However, when asked if they will make an EOS R with APS-C sensor, the answer is somewhat ambiguous while still confirming that the EF-M mount is the APS-C mirrorless mount. Judge by yourself:

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AP: Are you going to keep EOS M in its existing form, or are you going to make a APS-C camera with the RF mount?


YM: That’s a product development for the future so I can’t go into detail, and the market will dictate what sort of direction we should take. If the customers do want a small size, lightweight mount I believe there is room for that, so as we said […] we will continue to work with the M mount.

When asked about IBIS the answer is more straightforward.

AP: There have been quite a lot of requests from customers and reviewers alike for IBIS on the EOS R, not to mention dual card slots. How do you respond to this?


YM: Yes, we are aware of these voices… We are thinking how we can develop the line-up. With the R and RP we look at the entirety of the package, as mentioned. In terms of IBIS, we are looking into it for the future. We believe IBIS will work together hand in hand with optical IS lenses, such as the ones you see in front of you, to offer better features.

There is more to grasp in the interview at Amateur Photographer.

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The Canon EOS RP Has The Same Sensor As The EOS 6D Mark II, And More Tidbits From Interview

Canon Eos Rp Refurbished Cameras
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We were wrong assuming the new Canon EOS RP did not have the same sensor as the Canon EOS 6D Mark II.

In an interview with Imaging Resource’s Dave Etchells, Canon execs reveal some technical bits about the EOS RP. It turns out the EOS RP sensor is the same sensor as featured on the EOS 6D Mark II, with the exception of the micro lenses optimised for mirrorless lenses. The EOS RP also has the same degree of weather sealing as the EOS 6D Mark II.

This confirms one of our early Canon mirrorless rumors, stating an upcoming Canon mirrorless camera would have the same internals as the EO 6D Mark II.

The Autofocus on the EOS RP should have the same speed as the EOS R. While not having the same number of focus points as the EOS R, 5000, the EOS RP still has more than 4000.

Some excerpts from the interview:

DE: We’re very interested in how you made the RP so light. Even though it’s so light, it still has excellent feel, it just feels very rigid, very stiff. How did you accomplish that? What can you tell our readers?

Canon: So handling is obviously key in this type of camera. It was really important that we choose to use magnesium in the right places and plastic in the right places, so that we [could] make the camera body substantially smaller, but at the same time maintain the same kind of feel or build quality [as our past cameras]. We didn’t want to sacrifice build quality; that was something we paid particularly extreme attention to.

About the upcoming RF 85mm f/1.2L DS (Defocus Smoothing) lens Canon says:

It uses basically the same technology as apodization. There are several manufacturers that have apodization lenses, but our approach to apodization is slightly different. What we do is we use coating technology to make the apodization.

About the upcoming pro EOS R model:

We know there’s a lot of customers and there’s strong demand for a pro body. We’re aware of that. But at the same time, the expectations in terms of performance are really high as well, so we need time to make sure that we get everything right in the body.

They did not reveal any timing for the pro body. Be sure to read the interview at Imaging Resource.

For first impression and hands on reviews see here.

Pre-order the Canon EOS RP in USA:

  • Canon EOS RP Body with EG-E1 Extension Grip and Canon Mount Adapter on sale at $1299 Amazon | Adorama | B&H Photo
  • Canon EOS RP with EF 24-105mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM, EG-E1 Extension Grip and Canon Mount Adapter on sale at $1699 Amazon | Adorama | B&H Photo
  • Canon EOS RP with RF 24-105mm f/4L IS, EG-E1 Extension Grip and Canon Mount Adapter on sale at $2199 Amazon | Adorama | B&H Photo

Pre-order the Canon EOS RP in UK: Park Cameras

Pre-order the Canon EOS RP in Germany: Amazon DE | Canon Germany

World-wide pre-order links:

America: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA
Europe & UK: Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon IT, Canon IT, WEX Photographic, Canon FR, Canon UK, Canon DE

Developers Of Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III and EF 600mm f/4L IS III Lenses Interviewed

Canon EF 400mm
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Canon posted an interview with the engineers who designed and developed the Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III and Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS III telephoto lenses.

The interview is available as a PDF and you can see it here.

An excerpt:

Interviewer: Please tell me about the background, design policy, and your enthusiasm at the start of development.

Nagao (Development Leader): Pro photography situations require the ability to capture split-second, one-of-a-kind moments in high quality. I accompanied pro photographers as they shot, and I noticed how many times that they were all packed into a tight space while tracking a subject. In order to capture such photo opportunities, I realized just how important it is to have a piece of equipment that feels like a part of you and that can be manipulated with complete ease in such tense shooting situations. We then started research from the question of “what should the pinnacle of next-generation lenses be?” We listened to the opinions of experienced photographers, thinking of how we could provide the best piece of equipment to satisfy such users, and engaged in the development process with the ideal lens in mind, but without being caught up in the framework of the conventional lens. 

Shimada (Product Planning): The foremost product concept was a lightweight design. This means a dramatic sense of lightness that one can feel when holding in the hand, as we achieved with the EF400mm f/2.8L IS III USM and EF600mm f/4L IS III USM. The reason we are committed to a lightweight design is because even though the pro and advanced amateur photographers who use super-telephoto lenses have their own ideals when it comes to specifications and style, they all invariably request a lighter lens. We also took into consideration the common view that simply lighter is not enough — rather, the weight balance when holding the camera is an important factor as a professional tool of the trade. Of course one requirement that absolutely must be met is high image quality. Just how light could we make the lens while achieving high image quality? That was the key point of this project.


Canon Waits For User Feedback To Further Develop EOS R, EOS M and DSLR, New RF Lenses To Be Announced Soon, 8K Model On Its Way

Canon Eos R Firmware Update
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Imaging Resource’s Dave Etchells interviewed Canon execs about the EOS R system.

The interview discusses various topics related to the EOS R development, to Canon’s market strategy, and future plans. Some excerpts:

DE: Canon continues to offer many capable and high-end DSLR cameras. Do you expect to continue with similar R&D expenditures on DSLR cameras and lenses in the immediate future, or will resources be shifted toward the EOS R system and future mirrorless cameras and lenses?

Canon Inc: It’s a bit too early to make that decision. While we have heard a lot of positive feedback on our EOS R System and wishes for its future, we saw very strong demand [for] DSLRs including 5D Mark IV, 6D Mark II, 80D and Rebel series during the holiday shopping season. Also, the EOS M50 has been very popular since its launch.

Canon offers a wider range of cameras and lenses over any other brand to meet various demands of our customers. Currently, we are simultaneously developing new products in the DSLR family, EOS R series and EOS M series. The most important 

When asked if Canon has a clear plan for the future development of the EOS R, EOS M and DSLR systems, the answer was that they are waiting to hear from customers to learn where to focus.

More statements from Canon execs:

[…] sales performance of EOS R camera and RF lenses is almost in line with our original expectation. We have gotten a huge amount of positive feedback on the RF lenses. Everyone who has tried the RF 50mm F1.2 has loved it.

We developed the EOS R System for the next 30 years, and started by introducing higher-end RF lenses. Yes, we are very serious about mirrorless. But please do not get the wrong impression, we will continue to enhance DSLR technology and products as well.

Video will play a huge role in the EOS R System for sure. For example, an 8K video capable camera is already in our EOS R-series roadmap

Canon execs also confirmed that the company is already developing the next RF lenses, and from the wording used it seems clear that the announcement isn’t far away. And as you can read above, Canon has an EOS R model with 8K video on their agenda.

There is a lot to grab from this interesting interview, and I guess it killed a lot of possible EOS R rumors for the next months.

Canon EOS R world-wide order links:

America: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA
Europe & UK: Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon IT, Canon IT, WEX Photographic, Canon FR, Canon UK, Canon DE

Canon RF mount lenses world-wide order links:

America: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA
Europe & UK: Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon IT, Canon IT, WEX Photographic, Canon FR, Canon UK, Canon DE