Video Capabilities Will Be at the Heart of All Future Canon Prosumer Camera Bodies [CR2]

[Canon Rumors Guy]

We’re told a big selling point of all future Canon prosumer camera bodies will be video capabilities. Internally Canon has had a lot of discussion about improving the perceived feature set of prosumer cameras to match the likes of Sony and Panasonic.</p>
<p>We consider a prosumer DSLR to be anything EOS 7D Mark II and up. That said, we don’t think Canon has anything currently we’d consider prosumer in the mirrorless space, as much as I like the EOS M5 and EOS M50. Feel free to disagree on the latter.</p>
<p>The source claims that Canon no longer wants to lose the “spec war” with their future camera releases. This way of thinking is trickling down to various Canon subsidiaries around the globe to prepare for the changes coming.</p>
<p>As <a href="http://www.canonrumors.com/whats-next-from-canon-2/">we mentioned yesterday</a>, there’s likely going to be an accelerated product development cycle over the next 18-24 months, and video will be central to it.</p>
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[Etienne]

More than 10 years after the release of the 5D2.
That has to be the slowest corporate response in the history of slow corporate responses.

 

[fingerstein]

there’s likely going to be an accelerated product development cycle over the next 18-24 months, and video will be central to it.</p>

Ok! But I need it now! In two years my business can be bankrupt if I don't move on, with the competition.

 

[Chaitanya]

We will believe when we see a tangible upgrade from Canon rather than a castration spree of upgrades that have been a norm for last couple of years.

 

[gsealy]

Canon can start with the GH5/GH5s specs and go from there. We'll see.

 

[Quackator]

Ok! But I need it now! In two years my business can be bankrupt if I don't move on, with the competition.

If what you think really is that a new camera will prevent you from going bankrupt,
you will for sure go bankrupt.

 

[amorse]

The source claims that Canon no longer wants to lose the “spec war” with their future camera releases. This way of thinking is trickling down to various Canon subsidiaries around the globe to prepare for the changes coming.

Interesting sentiment - I wonder if the constant presentation of Canon lagging behind competition on several websites is starting to take its toll on Canon's leadership.

I am more interested in what this means for Canon's development cycles - if they're going to try and compete on spec sheet stats, what will that mean for reliability and the number of camera lines in the long run? I've always been of the opinion that Canon does things really slowly to allow them to manage a lot of different camera lines at once and making sure that everything works with a very high degree of reliability on day one. If they're going to compete on spec sheets, then some cameras will need accelerated release schedules, and that additional development resource has to come from somewhere... I guess I'm wondering if that means they will reduce the number of lines they manage or reduce the amount of work that goes into one line before release.

 

[privatebydesign]

The source claims that Canon no longer wants to lose the “spec war” with their future camera releases. This way of thinking is trickling down to various Canon subsidiaries around the globe to prepare for the changes coming.

That is laughable, they could reverse that perception overnight with a couple of firmware upgrades. There is no reason on earth why the 1DX MkII couldn't be the first and only camera to output 4K 60P to ProRes RAW over HDMI, that would make it the forum darling overnight. Or they could open it up for C-Log, or maybe even just output 4K through the HDMI port. Etc etc... Oh, they could open up the touchscreen for anything instead of only focusing in video!

 

[sanj]

More than 10 years after the release of the 5D2.
That has to be the slowest corporate response in the history of slow corporate responses.

Hahaha. True. They feeling the heat now.

 

[BillB]

The source claims that Canon no longer wants to lose the “spec war” with their future camera releases. This way of thinking is trickling down to various Canon subsidiaries around the globe to prepare for the changes coming.

Interesting sentiment - I wonder if the constant presentation of Canon lagging behind competition on several websites is starting to take its toll on Canon's leadership.

I am more interested in what this means for Canon's development cycles - if they're going to try and compete on spec sheet stats, what will that mean for reliability and the number of camera lines in the long run? I've always been of the opinion that Canon does things really slowly to allow them to manage a lot of different camera lines at once and making sure that everything works with a very high degree of reliability on day one. If they're going to compete on spec sheets, then some cameras will need accelerated release schedules, and that additional development resource has to come from somewhere... I guess I'm wondering if that means they will reduce the number of lines they manage or reduce the amount of work that goes into one line before release.

I think that part of what has been going on is Canon's stubbornness about making up its own mind about which specs are important and which are not, and trusting its own judgement about what will sell and what will not. As a result they taken a pounding on things like 4K and FF mirrorless from the internet buzzards. So are these sources saying that Canon is going to play the spec game to generate better internet buzz? Another piece of the puzzle is that dual pixel technology was Canon's lead technology for mirrorless and video, and that is well established, so maybe it is time to rock and roll.

 

[unfocused]

Two comments:

1) Someone must have really been stomping across the bridge this morning because we seem to have woken up all the trolls.

2) I don't see Canon abandoning anything in their formula that is working, but rather just making a few modest adjustments.

They may shorten the release cycles slightly to reflect increased consumer impatience. We seem to be in an era where its popular to release modest updates more frequently so certain buyers can brag that they have the latest and greatest, even if it isn't much changed from the previous model. (70-200 2.8 III being a good example of the kind of modest update we might see).

A shorter release cycle doesn't mean releasing anything that is still in "beta" but rather making to more feasible to defer some some feature releases until the next cycle.

Of course, if this is true, I would note that they seem to be taking their sweet time with the 5Ds and 7DIII.

 

[Deleted member 378875]

Laughable or tragic ?

I can't help thinking that Canon have lost a lot of good engineers and simply no longer have the technical competence to compete even if they want to.

They can't compete with Sigma Art lenses on resolution and seem totally incapable of providing features such as In Body stabilization or the processing / heatsink capabilities required for high resolution images at even half-reasonable frames per second.

It seems to me their main selling points these days are ergonomics, colour and a lot of customers with existing lenses who don't want to play leapfrog/jump-ship.

Anyone remember Wang ?

 

[sanj]

If they truly match the specs, Sony and Panasonic will have to reinvent themselves.

 

[photogdan]

More than 10 years after the release of the 5D2.
That has to be the slowest corporate response in the history of slow corporate responses.

Exactly. They are not going to change their market leading strategy overnight. This is a statement by hangers-on, directed specifically to hangers-on in order to keep them, well... hanging-on.

 

[ahsanford]

At last! [Said like an overly dramatic 7 year old] Canon is going to do what the fanboys want like I've been saying all along! I'll show Timmy my spec sheet will kick his spec sheet's butt! I'm going to record 8K video of me reading my spec sheet!

: [looks for the hand to face emoji and fails to find it.]

Sorry. This story may actually be a decent get by CR Guy and may absolutely end up happening, but the lack of specifics and the "spec war" bit reads like pure, uncut internet forum catnip.

My 'delete my only post on this thread so it stays out of my New Replies list for years to come' Spidey sense is going bonkers right now. This thread is going to be crazy.

- A

 

[mrzero]

So, why the lackluster output on servo zoom for lenses? Thus far, we have one servo controller with two fixed speeds, and it only works on one consumer-grade lens. On top of that, they just announced upgrades to two major L zoom lenses that don't include the servo connection. Imagine the video quality of a 70-200/4 or 2.8 L IS with a proper servo control. We won't have it, at least not any time soon.

 

[Cochese]

I'd rather image quality be at the heart of all DSLRs going forward. Then again, I just picked up a 5D MIV and despite renting it for a couple of weddings, it's still blowing my mind how much better it is than the 5D MIII. In every conceivable way.

 

[ahsanford]

So, why the lackluster output on servo zoom for lenses? Thus far, we have one servo controller with two fixed speeds, and it only works on one consumer-grade lens. On top of that, they just announced upgrades to two major L zoom lenses that don't include the servo connection. Imagine the video quality of a 70-200/4 or 2.8 L IS with a proper servo control. We won't have it, at least not any time soon.

I could be wrong, but I believe that servo control would require the lens to move to a manual focus by wire (FBW) design like Nano USM or STM. Just about all AF L lenses made today are Ring USM with full-time mechanical focusing. So to make a higher-end or L lens with Nano USM for video would be considered a downgrade by the stills photography camp, and so far we haven't seen one.

That said, we should never say never. There are some rare exceptions -- I want to say the 85 f/1.2L II is both FBW and Ring USM, but that one AF'd like molasses.

Who knows? Maybe we get one of these (below) on a future lens.

- A

 

[Talys]

Oh, they could open up the touchscreen for anything instead of only focusing in video!

You could tell Sony the same thing, LOL.

 

[skyshooter]

I just noticed that the M6 15-45 kits are down to $600 on the usual sites. That seems to be a recent discount if I'm not mistaken. Hopefully an updated M6 for those of us that don't care for an EVF?