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Interesting, Mark, and no surprise. I guess one interpretation is the old generational "young people don't know how to work," but I'd resist that. As a young journalist I could keyboard a story into a text/layout system and be done in an hour while an old managing editor banged away on a manual typewriter and made pencil edits. I was at the bar with the other young guys while he was still banging away at his desk. I guess it's just more technology transition and the usual resistance by the oldsters. I know today I've never "texted" and see no point to it.
Anyway, for me, the real highlight of what you've said is "...all I care about is getting another generation or two of DSLR's out of Canon before they go the way of film cameras." The crux of this is how you define DSLR.
The new Canon M is not by pure definition a DSLR since it has no traditional mirror for "reflex" or reflection. However, it does enable you to view through the lens so the same thing is accomplished. For me, it comes down to how you see the image coming through the lens. If I put aside my bias for looking through an eyepiece, maybe the screen really isn't much different in fact. But then, I'm the first to suggest I don't see the same clarity on a 3-inch screen that I see looking directly through that lens via mirror. And there's the influence of sunlight on that screen, limitations on angle of view, etc. Finally, my biggest issue seems to be AF speed and feedback. I'm seeing conflicting comments on how fast the new M can autofocus. If it's as fast as a traditional DSLR, that goes a long way toward suggesting the mirror really can go away. Unfortunately, I haven't found looking at focus on a screen nearly as satisfying as looking directly through the lens.
Oh, and I'll also defer to one poster who made the valid point about platform stabilization achieved by holding the camera against the head.
I'm sure the technology will soon get to a point where that mirrorless focuses as fast as any traditional DSLR. And perhaps those of us who value seeing the focus directly through the lens will have to go away. Even with that, there are constraints in the marketplace. Wedding photographers, for instance, sell their service to clients. Those clients believe the typical EOS1 form factor (or gripped 5D series) and traditional eyepieces define a pro photographer. Imagine the horror in the bridal party when the photog shows up with something like the Canon M and starts snapping away while looking at the back screen -- like something they'd do with their cell phones! Making that transition is going to take some time -- at least your "generation or two," I'd guess.
Tangentially, for those interested in understanding Japanese manufacturing and management, I'd suggest an insightful book from 25 years ago. It's "Made In Japan" by Akio Morita. He was Sony chairman and relates the rise of the company from post-WWII Japan to a worldwide technology leader. It's probably not as relevant today as it was in 1988, but the background is priceless -- especially if you want to understand things like western criticism of a company having a 76-year-old running the show as is being discussed in another thread here.
unfocused said:
Great insights as usual distant.star.
Your comments fit very nicely into something I read a year or so ago about computer users. The conventional wisdom is to divide the world into persons who are comfortable with computer technology and those who are not. But this particular study found a huge variation among those who use computers. In fact, they found about five or six distinct categories of users.
I don't remember all the details, but I remember that many of us aging baby-boomers fell into a category that relied very heavily on "anchored" computers. We like our programs and like working on computers doing things like Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Lightroom, Word, Excel, etc. Many younger users fell into a category that used computers a lot in their daily life, but mostly for communicating and social purposes. They like mobile phones, tablets, etc., and consider them just a tool or a means to an end. They consider it a waste of time to sit down at a desktop and spend hours working on a project and they actually have less knowledge about actual computer programs than many people older than they are.
I think that is one of the main differences between the mirrorless generation and the traditional DSLR users. (And, if you look at Canon's marketing videos for the new M camera, it's pretty clear it ain't aimed at my generation.)
So, what's my point? Hell if I know. I guess just that I agree things are changing and frankly, about all I care about is getting another generation or two of DSLR's out of Canon before they go the way of film cameras.
