Canon seems overly focused on cameras with longer focal lengths. Their lenses above 70mm are nothing but perfection. So are their bodies oriented towards action photography.
I feel like they simply are mediocre and lacking for the majority of pro photographers though. Sure they are better than the competition, but nowhere near where they could be.
Their offerings for non-action photographers are mediocre by industry standards, Leica has way better lenses and the Nikon has way better bodies with the upcoming D800e And D3S being perfection in their respective roles.
What gives? Its like Canon is content with incremental improvements for the masses.
I've decide to further explain this, here's my post from page 2:
I'm not sure where attitudes like this come from. Canon doesn't 'hate' anybody or group of photographers, nor do they 'like' any. What they like is making money, and their product development plans are guided by what they believe will garner them the most profit.
I feel like that's Canon's core problem. They seem much more interested in making minor tweaks to maximize profit, yet they forget about the big picture and overall market share. If they made a truely epic core system, they'd see a much larger market share and greater overall profits not to mention satisfying more people.
(abbridged) I think its rather unfair to say that Canon isn't paying attention to non-action photographers. Their newest versions of non-telephoto lenses strongly indicate otherwise, especially for lenses released in the last couple years.
I would disagree. The 24mm f/1.4 L II and 85mm f/1.2 L II are stellar, but having owned both the 14mm f/2.8 II and the 50mm f/1.2L , the 50mm is dissapointing, and should be much sharper with much less CA and the 14mm f/2.8 L just isn't good enough. The Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 is not only much better, but it zooms AND it's cheaper. Canon's ultra wide lenses are dinosaurs.
Canon's 70-200mm f/2.8 IS II is stellar yes, it's also an action photographers lens. Simply put Canon non action bodies are way behind the curve, and so are their bread and butter lenses (normal primes and zooms), save a few exceptions. That's why I feel like their offerings below 70mm are really done as an afterthought to make profit.
The 5D MK II is not a sports or wildlife camera, its aimed directly at landscape and studio photographers. They are not going to go away from that, they sell more 5D MK II's than all their competition to this camera combined.
However, understand that Canon is not in the small market speciality camera business. They long ago established themselves as a high volume manufacturer that produced excellent quality products for the price. They are a large company and know how to do high volume production, and do it well. They make a profit when everyone else is losing money, so from that standpoint, they are doing something right.
The upcoming D800/D800e from Nikon obliterates the 5D II. 36 mp and optionally no AA filter. Canon's response is the reported 22mp 5D II successor. If Nikon gets their primes and zooms from 24mm to 70mm up to par it's game over. Either way anyone shooting from 14mm to 24mm just found their definitive camera.
Between the D3s and the D800e Nikon will have the best bodies, their lenses are lacking but Nikon is in the perfect position to dominate if they fix that.
Canon really needs to come up with an answer to the D800 and all the fantastic low light high dynamic range cameras from Nikon. Something with the 1Dx sensor in a compact body and a D800 clone in other words. I feel like Canon could possibly challenge Nikon if the 22mp 5D sensor is as good as the 1Dx sensor, it's resolution is designed so it is great at video (it works out to exactaly 4 pixels per pixel on a 1080p video) but that's no reason it can't have 1Dx low light and dynamic range performance, that would be ideal, considering the autofocus system is rumored to be exceptional.
Canon's lenses above 70mm are superb and so are their 24mm prime lenses. Everything else is pretty mediocre however. Canon needs to simply clone the: Nikon 14-24mm, Leica 35–70mm f/2.8 Vario-Elmarit-R ASPH (yes I realize this was a $7000 lens made at a loss, but it's the best normal zoom ever made at any aperture, and I'm sure it would be profitable if made in high volume at half the price, and including IS would really be ideal). Then all they need is to come up with a sharp CA free 50mm L prime.
That's 2 bodies and 3 lenses that would corner the market for the pro wedding, studio and landscape guys. (one body which they might even be already making)
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