Archive for March, 2011

The Bad News [CR2]

Delays?
Not hearing a lot of positive things about current products and new products because of the Japanese earthquake.

The latest info I’ve received says all of Canon, Nikon and Sony are still unsure what the near future is going to bring.

Canon may be in fact delaying new product announcements. I was told every executive within Canon is being told to “prepare for the worst”. Sales reps are being told not to say anything.

I do not personally know anything about the rolling blackouts and “dead zone” expansion in Japan around Canon manufacturing facilities.

I’ve received no word whether or not Canon is looking at moving some manufacturing to different countries.

Pricing Rising
As  a lot of you have probably noticed, camera equipment is getting more expensive and disappearing from shelves. There’s lots of out of stock items around various stores.

A lot of retailers are getting or close to getting MSRP for camera stuff. This is not going to change quickly.

All rebate programs that were planned have been cancelled for the most part. I’m still looking around to see if any are still a go.

Recent Rumblings
I’m not sure what to make of recent product announcement rumblings, whether things have leaked because plans have changed.

cr

5D3, 1D5 and 1Ds4 Timeline [CR1]

Lots of variables.
There is lots of stuff flooding in about the 5D3, 1Ds4 and 1D5.

1D Mark V
It’s been said before, but a new 1D in 2011. Announced in the June/July timeframe. Full frame this time around.

5D Mark III
I received 2 different announcement dates. September timeframe and in the 28mp range from a decent source and 30mp and June from an unknown source.

1Ds Mark IV
Another person in the camp of the 1Ds4 being in 2012. 40+ mp and announced in very late 2011 or early 2012. The gist of the comment was the “1Ds” moniker will be discontinued.

CR’s Take
Stuff is starting to flow in again, there will be some truths buried in all of it. A camera announcement of some kind is on the near horizon. As always, I’ll keep digging.

cr

Lenses Officially Delayed

Probably not a shocker
Canon has officially delayed the EF 8-15 f/4L Fisheye, EF 300 f/2.8L IS II & EF 400 f/2.8L IS II.

The new date? No one knows.

A bigtime lens guy said he expects to see “an abominable snowman riding a unicorn” before he sees the new fisheye.

I think June/July at the earliest now.

Official Press Release (Translated)

thanks Alexandre

cr

3 More DSLR’s in 2011? [CR1]

More Cameras!
It’s been suggested Canon has 3 DSLRs to announce in 2011.

1Ds Mark IV, 5D Mark III and ????. We’ve been told previously that a new 1D would arrive before the year is out. There have also been some 7D Mark II rumblings around the web.

CR’s Take
I can get behind 2 new DSLRs in 2011, I don’t see 3 after all that’s gone on in Japan. Unless it’s a late 2011 announcement with a 2012 delivery.

cr

New Article Section

“This Lens is Soft” and other myths
I have a couple of guest writers that are writing new articles or allowing me to republish things they have written in the past.

First up is our friend Roger Cicala over at LensRentals.com

I loved his article on frontfocus and backfocus and the whole “this lens is soft” topic. He’s a man with more experience that most with multiple copies of lenses. Sometimes he’ll own 100 copies of a lens.

You’ll find his writing easy to understand, sometimes humorous and always educational.

Read the Article

cr

Much Ado About Nothing

The “Rumors”
There are lots of “typo rumors” circulating the web at the moment. Retailers having placeholders for cameras that don’t exist, as well as stuff showing up on Canon’s own site.

I have very good sources that let me know when announcements are coming. Sometimes these invitations to press events are NDA’d. I have received absolutely nothing about DSLR products.

Video
Two people have written in saying there will be “significant” announcements from Canon for NAB. Neither was able to elaborate on products. We don’t focus a lot on video at Canon Rumors, but if you know something…. I’d like to know too.

I hope going to NAB will change how we report video related products.

I wish I had more to write, but things really became quiet after the earthquake in Japan. I do expect things to pickup around April 1st with a lot of sillyness, and then the real stuff.

cr

Canon Doesn’t Need a Compact Camera System

….according to the head of consumer imaging in Europe

Canon doesn’t need to introduce a mirrorless compact system camera (CSC), according to the head of consumer imaging in Europe, as the company does not have a problem selling its existing compact and DSLR products. In an interview with Amateur Photographer, Rainer Fuehres said that compact system cameras have been introduced by manufacturers that find it difficult to compete in the digital SLR market. Not ruling out the possibility that Canon will enter this area, Rainer stressed that if it did the reason would not be because Canon felt it had to.

Read more at Amateur Photographer

CR Editorial
I pretty much disagree with everything Mr. Fuehres said in regards to Canon’s place in the mirrorless world.

Point one, there’s no way Canon as a company thinks, “hey the stuff we sell now is all we need to sell, selling more stuff isn’t worthwhile”. Canon makes money very well and selling stuff in new expanding markets is a no brainer.

Could Canon do it differently than Sony, m4/3 and Samsung? I think they could. There have been rumors Nikon will introduce a mirrorless camera geared to the pro market. If you go after the pro market, you don’t have to worry as much about volume and you’re not competing directly with the consumer level products other manufacturers are producing. If your pro mirrorless camera does well, you can slowly work your way down to the consumer market instead of the other way around.

From my personal experience and what I’ve seen, 80% of the people I know with mirrorless cameras do not own SLRs. That’s a lot of customers Canon does not have. If you fear you’re going to have your DSLR sales cannibalized by mirrorless cameras, just make sure it’s you cannibalizing them.

I will note, most every M9 owner I know has a DSLR system as well. Canon doesn’t need a $7000 mirrorless camera, but something in the $3000 range will give them a solid margin and they don’t have to put crazy amounts of manufacturing resources behind it.

Now his statement about others entering the field because they can’t compete in the DSLR market is somewhat true. Although there’s one company hasn’t had a problem competing in the DSLR field and is doing very well in the mirrorless market, and that’s Sony. They have the resources to match Canon every step of the way.

Canon will introduce a mirrorless camera, and no one in the company will tip their hat to what may be coming.

thanks Ian

cr

First Canon Mirrorless Related Patent?

The First Canon Mirrorless Related Patent?
This appears to be a lens adaptor. EF to something else?

Egami compares it to the Sony NEX to alpha mount adaptor.

Publication number: Patent 2011-53437 (P2011-53437A)
Release date: March 17, 2011 (2011.3.17)
Title of invention: Lens adapter apparatus and system

Google Translated Link (egami)

CR’s Take
I don’t read japanese, so I’m relying on the job the translator does to the site. It looks like a lens mount adaptor. If/when Canon enters the mirrorless market, I am pretty confident they will have an EF adaptor for such a system.

This is the first patent I’ve seen that has even a remote chance of being about a mirrorless camera from Canon.

cr

NAB Announcement? [CR1]

Something Coming?
There’s some talk about a “significant” Canon announcement for NAB. I wouldn’t think NAB would bring about a DSLR announcement, but maybe something in the camcorder realm is a possibility.

Availability of anything new is another story.

Japan
Lots of people are asking what’s going to happen with stock levels and things like that with Canon and other Japanese origin gadgets. The answer is, I don’t know.

Canon is telling their reps not to say anything about Japan and what effect this tragedy is going to have on the industry. For the moment, no one really knows.

What I will say, is do not expect this to be rectified in a couple of weeks. We’re talking months before anything gets back to what is considered “normal”.

Canon Canada Cancels Upcoming 60D Rebate
Canon Canada has cancelled an upcoming instant rebate program on the 60D, a casualty of the earthquake. There’s probably going to be more of this coming in the next few weeks.

cr

*UPDATE* Canon Australia Announcement?

*UPDATE 2*
Canon Australia really needs to rethink how they use the word “exciting”.

It is a truly exciting event for us to be nearing our 50,000th World of EOS member. We definitely wouldn’t be able to do it without your help and we hope that we will get to greater heights as we continue to provide added value for our World of EOS members both now and in the future. Cheers, the Canon team.

*UPDATE*
It’s suggested the announcement could be price drop related. We’ve heard murmurs about Canon Australia dropping prices to compete with the grey market.

From Canon Australia
Canon Australia posted on their Facebook page that they have an “exciting announcement” coming today.

I have heard nothing from anyone about an announcement, so I am in the dark as to what it could be. I cannot find a similar post by any other Canon subsidiary.

From: Canon Australia Facebook

thanks Rob

cr