I actually do understand that being dodgy in dealing with customers through questionable marketing releases and misinformation is acting in bad faith.
Seriously, how can people ignore the blatantly obvious mismatch between actual engineering specs and stated marketing specs! We've been through this before on every forum, with the R5 overheating denialist fanboys who don't want to see and acknowledge a reality that doesn't sit comfortably with their brand-loyalty consumerist tribalism...
As an example, with the R5, we have a hybrid camera that is marketed in the initial hype phase before release with all the focus on 8K video recording, with very little mention on its capabilities as a stills camera. Turns out the R5 is a mighty fine stills camera, with decent 4K video, 8K is not really usable, and they might release an R5 more focused on video:
We get promises of high frame rates in the advertising, R5 can do 20fps, but if we dig through the fine print we get a long list of obscure qualifiers that aren't even hinted at anywhere!
Here are the specs from the Canon web site currently:
- Continuous Shooting - Max. ApMax. Approx. 12fps. with Mechanical shutter or 20fps with electronic shutter speed maintained for 350 JPEG or 180 RAW images 6 7
The little superscript numbers at the end of the statement tell us there's more to it, information which wasn't available pre-release or post release, people had to dig through their manuals in the fine print to find, it, and it's now in the fine print at the bottom of the Canon page:
6. Max Frames per second will vary depending on the battery type, if Wi-Fi is turned on, operating temperature lens used and file size. The number of possible shots and maximum burst vary depending on shooting conditions (including [1.6x (crop)], aspect ratio, subject, memory card brand, ISO speed, Picture Style, and Custom Function). The speeds quoted are based on testing with the following settings: Shutter speed 1/1000 sec. or faster, Aperture Maximum aperture, Flash Not used, Flicker reduction Not used, Battery pack Fully charged LP-6NH, Temperature Room temperature (23°C / 73°F). Battery grip or WFT-R10 Not used, Wi-Fi settings OFF.
7. Max Frame rates for stills can vary between lenses and aperture setting used
Realistically. and what Canon is telling us here, is that those maximum frame rates are only possible using RF lenses of particular focal lengths, and only at certain apertures, with fully charged batteries, with certain memory cards, with specific ISO settings, with WiFi switched off, and only when shooting outdoors, because flicker reduction needs to be switched off also, and only when the weather is not too warm!
To use your photocopier example, if Canon's marketing segmentation used for camera products was used with photocopiers, was used, it would more like this:
- Entry level cameras photocopiers would have lots of useful; features and offer great value for money.
- Midrange photocopiers would offer faster printing rates, higher resolutions, and better build quality, but would be missing network connectivity, you need to buy the next tier for that.
- Top tier models would offer faster printing, higher resolution, and a longer duty cycle for continuous operation, and all have network connectivity. All top tier models will come with a collator, high capacity paper tray, and automatic stapler, but some of these would be disabled in firmware depending on which top-tier model is selected below the flagship model.
- With the flagship model, there would be a single extra versatile function limited in firmware, like artificially locking out the highest level of high colour and high resolutions output that the hardware is capable of, to push you to buy their dye sublimation printer range which costs many times more
That would be more accurate comparison, which would be just as bad, and hopefully illustrates more clearly what I was saying!