Canon Mirrorless Sooner than Expected? [CR1]

[Canon Rumors]

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More vague information
Canon’s entry into the mirrorless market could be coming sooner than later. It’s suggested we could see an initial announcement before the summer, with another model announced in September.

With anything Canon at the moment, dates for release of existing products and future products are nearly impossible to nail down. Even people that always know, don’t know in 2012.

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[Daniel Flather]

We'll see.   I'll have my 40th birthday before we see this camera; I'm 37 now.

[mathino]

We'll see.   I'll have my 40th birthday before we see this camera; I'm 37 now.

Good point  With Canon completly not able to deliver products announced already for months. If they announce mirorless before summer it should be available next summer "on stock"

[dilbert]

With anything Canon at the moment, dates for release of existing products and future products are nearly impossible to nail down. Even people that always know, don’t know in 2012.

Why?

Is this the impact of the 2011 natural disasters flowing through?

Or is this an outward sign of the competition that Canon is facing in 2012 from Nikon and Sony?

[outsider]

I don't get it with the retro styling...
Give me a camera in the most ergonomically comfortable package. Not a slim box with rounded corners circa 1940.

Is that really the best shape for a mirrorless camera?

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I think they need to release it.  They have access to marketing information, and can't help but see that last year 14% of sales were mirrorless, and the percentage is climbing rapidly, while point and shoot sales is in the dumps.
 
I'm pretty sure they have a design ready, its likely more a matter of setting up a factory, tooling, etc for high volume production.

[FunPhotons]

I'm pretty sure they have a design ready, its likely more a matter of setting up a factory, tooling, etc for high volume production.

Probably not, engineering companies rarely invest anything in a new product until they intend to produce it. Everything costs money, marketing, R&D especially, and the R&D required for a production line (test, tooling, production bugs) Including prototype runs and R&D investment I could easily see a 4-10 million dollar investment for a new line like this.

I wonder what they would do - a new lens line surely, metal bodies and styling like the S100?

[D_Rochat]

I don't get it with the retro styling...
Give me a camera in the most ergonomically comfortable package. Not a slim box with rounded corners circa 1940.

Is that really the best shape for a mirrorless camera?

I kind of like it. I especially like what Olympus did with the OM-D and the optional grips. I hope they do the same thing and not go the route Nikon did with their mirrorless cameras.

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I'm pretty sure they have a design ready, its likely more a matter of setting up a factory, tooling, etc for high volume production.

Probably not, engineering companies rarely invest anything in a new product until they intend to produce it. Everything costs money, marketing, R&D especially, and the R&D required for a production line (test, tooling, production bugs) Including prototype runs and R&D investment I could easily see a 4-10 million dollar investment for a new line like this.

I wonder what they would do - a new lens line surely, metal bodies and styling like the S100?

Canon is not a engineering company, they are a manufacturing company.
 
They patented a lens adapter for the EF lenses to a new small design over a year ago, and I'd certainly bet they have been testing prototypes.  That lens adapter had to fit in with a lens design!
 
Canon invests a ton of money into R&D every year, more than most.
 
 A 4-10 million investment is a really low estimate, they will spend more than that on advertising.  Just tooling and factory setup for new lenses would eat that up in short order. 

[ScottyP]

I guess, but ugh.  Electronic viewfinder?  Bad battery life?  And when you combine the mirrorless 10 or 12 fps with the new fashion for ultramega-megapixels you just have a huge storage issue.

[ecka]

Perhaps that's the reason for 650D/T4i delay. OR, Canon has no new APS-C sensor ready (yet), so they just skip 650D/T4i in 2012 and use the old 18mp sensor for mirrorless. I just hope they will use one of the two new FF sensors for FF mirrorless .

[AvTvM]

Canon mirrorless?
I for one know exactly what it will be: a sorry little G1X-style box with the same sorry G1X-sensor and its sorry 4:3 not-even APS-C format and a sorry sluggish GX-1 AF System one version with a sorry poor EVF and one version witout EVF and a sorry 18-55/f3.5-5.6 kit lens ... I already hate it, before it is even announced. So sorry, Canon ... I will not buy it.