EF mount's obselences

[dolina]

With Canon finally making a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera makes you wonder when they will abandon SLRs all together. If I am not mistaken it took Canon 5 years to transition from FD mount to EF mount.

So what do you think? Will we be seeing our beloved gear become yesterday's news or a decades old survivor?

[dilbert]

With Canon finally making a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera makes you wonder when they will abandon SLRs all together. If I am not mistaken it took Canon 5 years to transition from FD mount to EF mount.

So what do you think? Will we be seeing our beloved gear become yesterday's news or a decades old survivor?

FD -> EF was all about electrical contacts.
EF -> EF-M is about the focal plane being in a different place relative to the rear of the lens.
EF -> EF-S is just about a smaller image circle.

If they abandon SLRs then it will be the low end SLRs that disappear - the xxxxD series (if they haven't already ceased development on new cameras in this part of their product range) and xxxD series. If you see how pro's work, you'll quickly understand that mirrorless just doesn't work for them.

[87vr6]

Yea. Canon is definitely getting rid of EF. 

[paul13walnut5]

Yep, the EF mount is definately obselete, thats why keep on launching new ones, and new cameras that take them, and why they made the M backwards compatable with them.  Definately on the way out.

And the FD transition to EF took about 5 seconds, not 5 years.  You either adopted or you didn't.  There was an adaptor, but most folk either soldiered on, or embraced the brave new world.  There wasn't really any transitional path to speak of.  Seperate and exclusive systems.

[tortilla]

With Canon finally making a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera makes you wonder when they will abandon SLRs all together. If I am not mistaken it took Canon 5 years to transition from FD mount to EF mount.

So what do you think? Will we be seeing our beloved gear become yesterday's news or a decades old survivor?

I think electronic viewfinders are the future, but there is still a long way to go, especially regarding auto focus. But I'm sure that at least pros and many enthusiasts always will want to shoot FF (which is not possible with EF-M mount), so the EF mount is not endangered.

[viggen61]

With Canon finally making a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera makes you wonder when they will abandon SLRs all together. If I am not mistaken it took Canon 5 years to transition from FD mount to EF mount.

So what do you think? Will we be seeing our beloved gear become yesterday's news or a decades old survivor?

Not until long, long, after we're all gone from this Earth.

I can't speak for everyone else, but I have a very hard time using a camera at arm's length, particularly with a three-pound 100-400mm lens on  the end. No way could I shoot birds 50 yards away in a tree with that lens held at arm's length...

Mirrorless cameras are fine for some people in some circumstances, but I, for one, much prefer my big, bulky DSLR where I can put my eye up to the viewfinder and see - in real time - what my subject looks like.

[Ellen Schmidtee]

With Canon finally making a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera makes you wonder when they will abandon SLRs all together. If I am not mistaken it took Canon 5 years to transition from FD mount to EF mount.

So what do you think? Will we be seeing our beloved gear become yesterday's news or a decades old survivor?

I've lost you. Canon's MIL cameras use the same EF mount, except for a shorter flange distance. If anything, it supports a longer lifetime for the mount, not quick obselences.

[neuroanatomist]

With Canon finally making a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera makes you wonder when they will abandon SLRs all together.

Sure...right when they put that 'wonder camera' from couple of years ago into production - the one with the 1:1-macro-to-5000mm lens, ultra high resolution sensor, fast-frame video-only capture so you just pull the stills you want, and about the size of a current 24-70 lens.  That should be along any day now...

[Sith Zombie]

With Canon finally making a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera makes you wonder when they will abandon SLRs all together.

Sure...right when they put that 'wonder camera' from couple of years ago into production - the one with the 1:1-macro-to-5000mm lens, ultra high resolution sensor, fast-frame video-only capture so you just pull the stills you want, and about the size of a current 24-70 lens.  That should be along any day now...

CR3

[RLPhoto]

The EF mount will go out of date but the EF mount replacement would allow reverse compatibility. The outrage/backlash in modern computer times would be 1000x worse than back in the 80's.

[distant.star]

.
In 1951, a man named Rudolf Flesch published the book, "The Art of Clear Thinking." Many libraries still have it. Used copies can be purchased:

http://www.amazon.com/Clear-Thinking-Rudolf-Franz-Flesch/dp/B00005VFWY

The OP would do well to take a look at this book. The insights will likely be staggering.

This topic's title seems to pose the question, will the Canon EF-mount be obsolete at some undetermined time in the future. By the way, there is no word "obselences."

Disregarding the mystery of how the EF-lens mount could become obsolete multiple times, the OP then poses a wholly different question: Does Canon's introduction of a mirrorless camera using a different lens mount mean they will stop offering SLR cameras. Huh??? Canon just upgraded their low-end point & shoot line with an A1400 using AA batteries (as did the 1200 and 1300). So, will Canon now abandon cameras and start selling flashlights? Toy fire trucks with flashing red lights and sirens?

Trying to make sense of this, the only thing I can figure is the hangover from a weekend binging on dilithium crystals lasts into Tuesday.

[Don Haines]

. Huh??? Canon just upgraded their low-end point & shoot line with an A1400 using AA batteries (as did the 1200 and 1300). So, will Canon now abandon cameras and start selling flashlights?

Convergence.... The way of the future is the iPhone.... You can take pictures AND use it as a flashlight..... Just not very well for either

[Don Haines]

With Canon finally making a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera makes you wonder when they will abandon SLRs all together. If I am not mistaken it took Canon 5 years to transition from FD mount to EF mount.

So what do you think? Will we be seeing our beloved gear become yesterday's news or a decades old survivor?

To be fair here.....look at Olympus....