Opinion: The difficulty facing Canon (and everyone else)

[blackcoffee17]

EasyJet - which I tend to use - has:
"Everyone can bring one small cabin bag per person on board for free.

It can be a maximum size of 45 x 36 x 20 cm (including any handles and wheels) and needs must be kept under the seat in front of you. That should be enough to bring all the essentials for your journey or for a short trip. Your bag can weigh up to 15kg, but we do ask that you’re able to lift and carry it yourself". If you pay extra for speedy boarding etc, they allow a second bag (I have posted a picture of how I can get an R7, R5, RF100-500, RF100-400 + iPad into the second).15kg is a lot and they never weigh.

Ryanair, the Canon of cheap airlines, has a limit of 10kg and I have seen them check at the gate - that way you have no chance of avoiding extra payments. Avoid them if you can.

BA never checks weight.

I used Ryanair a million times with a fully loaded carry-on backpack and not a single time was asked to weigh it. Maybe i was just lucky.

 

[AlanF]

I used Ryanair a million times with a fully loaded carry-on backpack and not a single time was asked to weigh it. Maybe i was just lucky.

I've seen them nab bunches of Italians flying from Stansted to Ciampino (Rome). They used what looked like bathroom scales. I know the rules and never have any problems - unlike the old couple who were charged last week £110 for the Ryanair staff having to print off their outbound tickets because they printed the inbound ones by mistake. They, Ryanair, are b*st*rds.

Couple 'horrified' at £110 Ryanair check-in fee

The airline has defended its decision to charge an elderly couple who had mistakenly downloaded the wrong tickets.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[bf]

Engineering brain appreciates M system! Way to go! Bring the M back to life you m*&&%$$#!

 

[BBarn]

The introduction of the RF-s surprised me. I switched to FF and have no interest in going back to APS-C. If I wanted small, I'd go MFT. The intro of RF-s just slowed the introduction of FF lenses. The ILC market will continue to wither and shrink. And I'd suggest that the smart players won't focus on several platforms.

 

[neuroanatomist]

The introduction of the RF-s surprised me. I switched to FF and have no interest in going back to APS-C. If I wanted small, I'd go MFT. The intro of RF-s just slowed the introduction of FF lenses. The ILC market will continue to wither and shrink. And I'd suggest that the smart players won't focus on several platforms.

That's the likely reason the EOS M line was effectively terminated. History certainly suggests Canon is a 'smart player', given that the've led the market for 20+ years and currently dominate it.

Personally, I didn't switch fully to FF, or at least I haven't yet. The M system is really good for daytime and travel, hard to beat for the combination of portability and IQ. Having said that, I took an R8 on my last trip. But one of my kids took the M6 with the M18-150 and M11-22.

 

[chasingrealness]

I am all about small and light. Smaller cameras with bigger software and better smartphone integration would really go a long way to making ILCs more necessary again.

Like we should be able to livestream from our phones using our ILC as a camera and our phone/AirPods as a microphone/monitor, for example.

Wireless connectivity for uploading photos to our phones for editing in Lightroom mobile should be much less onerous as well. It’s not the worst workflow but it could be much smoother.

And speaking of smartphones, if they already employ computational photography, why not allow owners to pair their phone and ILC together to co-analyze the environment and set multiple exposure zones within the same frame as we are shooting? Like why can’t we employ the computing power of our cameras and the software power of our phones to use an ILC camera sensor to accomplish images that give owners the best of both worlds?

Within the cameras themselves, I’d like to see a feature that tags key photos within a series of shots in which the subject is in focus to speed up selection in situations where I’m shooting photos at a high frame rate. If there was a “best of the day” feature that would allow exporting a whole album or highlight reel direct to social media, that would be huge for a lot of people.

When it comes to lenses, I love my fast primes and I am a sucker for that 1.2-2.8 aperture range. I would be willing to carry one such lens with me as I travel, but I’d want to have the option to zoom through the sensor to produce tack sharp images at different focal lengths that are between 20-60 megapixels. Perhaps the control ring could be used for that “sensor zoom” purpose?

At the end of the day, I just think that with the hardware technology available today, we could be getting so much more through software. I wouldn’t even mind a subscription SaaS.

 

[Aaron D]

So long as Canon stays committed to professionals, it seems to me they would do well to flesh out that niche.

I personally can't afford to keep two systems (sensor formats) up to date. I've got to have an R5 for my work, and any backup body also has to be full-frame — so my lenses do what they do regardless of body. It would be really wonderful if they'd make a full-frame version of their M6 so that THAT could be my back-up as well as a more compact travel, day-to-day camera. Same resolution as the R5 ideally, and a viewfinder! I'd buy one in a heartbeat.

 

[Brown]

"we make bad purchasing decisions not knowing what is available in the future"

This is silly.
There's an entire catalog of EF lenses to sate any real or perceived need in the RF system.

 

[Marphoto]

“consumers may seriously think about switching to Nikon, or potentially the absolute horror of finding a lens they need on Sony\'s roadmap and thinking of switching to Sony. Even though, unbeknownst to the consumer, Canon may indeed be releasing a similar lens in the near future. A professional using Nikon equipment has a better understanding of what they will have available for them and they can plan around that.”

Incredibly astute observations. I had been shooting Canon exclusively since the late80’s when they released USM AF. Stuck with them as they transitioned into digital and owned nearly every pro/prosumer body. When the movement was clearly headed towards MILC, Canon was caught napping. That compelled me to dip my toes transiently into then industry leading Sony. I returned with the release of the R5 though the lack of a roadmap for my style of shooting was all to apparent. Nikon seemed to be more interested in my segment and I’ve been quickly embracing their offerings. As you noted it is an increasingly condensing market and camera manufacturers need to develop strategies to be successful. Very interesting times.

 

[neuroanatomist]

Incredibly astute observations. ... When the movement was clearly headed towards MILC, Canon was caught napping.

What an incredibly non-astute conclusion. Canon entered the MILC market in 2012 with the EOS M, and over the next 5 years that line became the most popular MILC line globally (based on unit sales). Then they entered the FF MILC market in 2018, and 4 years later they became the #1 overall MILC brand in Japan (and possibly the world, we'll know that later this year). All the while, they have maintained a nearly 50% overall share of the ILC market as a whole.

But you conclude they were 'caught napping'.

 

[Walrus]

When the movement was clearly headed towards MILC, Canon was caught napping.

Totally agree with that; M system was lousy, and then when they entered with FF, the first two R cameras were not really appealing.
Basically Canon REALLY entered MILC with the release of R5 and R6 in 2020, before that their offering was pretty cr@p for someone on DSLR looking for transitioning, they wasted so much time compared to Sony.

 

[neuroanatomist]

Totally agree with that; M system was lousy, and then when they entered with FF, the first two R cameras were not really appealing.
Basically Canon REALLY entered MILC with the release of R5 and R6 in 2020, before that their offering was pretty cr@p for someone on DSLR looking for transitioning, they wasted so much time compared to Sony.

For such cr@p cameras, it seems a lot of people bought them. At their peak, around 17% of all ILCs sold in the world were from the EOS M line (almost as many cameras as Sony sold in total that year, and many more than Nikon has sold annually for the past several years). If the pre-2020 R cameras were so terrible, why is there an RP listed in your signature?

 

[PeterH]

I am not a professional photographer but I have been a devoted Canon user for over 50 years. I shoot with the Canon R and their white RF lenses. I also photograph with my IPhone 14 in RAW and have taken some unbelievably beautiful photos with both. If I’m out for a full day of walking at a travel destination or boating I seldom carry the camera gear; I rely on the iPhone. On a recent trip 22 day trip to SE Asia I carried the Canon about 70% of the time. The IPhone built-in AI enhancement features beautifully compensate for light conditions. Today I edit and enhance most of my Canon and IPhone photos using Luminar Neo. I find that their intuitive editing tools and sliders make editing easier and remarkably FUN.

 

[Sporgon]

The 28–70mm f/2 seems ideal for a wedding, fashion or portrait photographer,

The thought of lugging that 1.5 kg lens all day and most of the night at a wedding leaves me cold ! Or rather exhausted. The reason being that as it covers virtually all scenarios you’d be holding it up to your eye much of the time. You’d probably want it on a gripped camera body too, and when you add the flash…….my wrist is aching just thinking about it !!

 

[frankchn]

Where do they weigh the carryon bags – at check-in or at the gate? I’ve only had checked bags weighed at check-in, and I’ve often had them let a bag that’s 1-2 kg overweight the usual 23 kg limit slide with no hassle or fee (though in some cases I have a higher allowance with airline status, e.g. BA allows me 32 kg, but American just allows additional 23 kg bags and has let me slide).

In my experience, at check-in. They will ask you to put your carry-on on to the luggage scale, and then tag your carry-on bag with a "Carry On" tag. They will apparently deny you boarding at the gate if you attempt to bring untagged bags onboard.

 

[Sporgon]

Gives you a broader focal range,

Probably a broader back too, over time !

 

[Sporgon]

I used Ryanair a million times

You’ve used Ryanair a million times and you’ve lived to tell the tale ? Congratulations !

 

[neuroanatomist]

The thought of lugging that 1.5 kg lens all day and most of the night at a wedding leaves me cold ! Or rather exhausted. The reason being that as it covers virtually all scenarios you’d be holding it up to your eye much of the time. You’d probably want it on a gripped camera body too, and when you add the flash…….my wrist is aching just thinking about it !!

I have personally used the 28-70/2 with the camera held in my hand for several hours, no issues. That was an R3 with the E1 hand strap. Trying that with my R8 would be a slice of hell.

 

[Sporgon]

I have personally used the 28-70/2 with the camera held in my hand for several hours, no issues. That was an R3 with the E1 hand strap. Trying that with my R8 would be a slice of hell.

Indeed the R8/RP would not be the ideal companion for that lens, even with the grip extender.

 

[John Wilde]

In spite of all this, Canon forecasts that they will sell 2.9 million interchangeable lens cameras this year, for an ILC market share of (2.9/5.85) almost 50%.

Their Q2 2023 camera-only revenue was +11.8% compared to Q2 2022.