As the Canon flock tries to maintain their patience, it's wearing thin as they continue to take it on the chin from other Mfgs. mirrorless offerings. While we wait for Canon to pull a rabbit out of the hat, their competition has already given the market high res camera bodies with fast frame rates, eye controlled focus, IBIS, dual card slots and more. So, to hear that in a year or so, Canon will probably, almost surely, maybe sometime, perhaps eventually bring life to this long awaited pro body is hardly earth shattering news, nor does it excite the senses. I have yet to see any "real" prolonged enthusiasm in the sports and wildlife camp about any current Canon R offerings. Those that have gambled and bought an R body, make sure they bring along their second card slot, affectionately known as their 5D or 1Dx or even a 7D ii, conspicuously slung over the other shoulder, always at the ready. There are many willing to wait but any pro body offering better wow them with state of the art features in a body that hasn't been dumbed down or crippled with excuses. I, so hope this pro body plays out that way and we hear a collective "Wow!" when it finally makes its way to the marketplace. Knowing that Canon expects a 40% downtown in camera sales over the next yr or so has to make us wonder how they will manage to maintain enough enthusiasm and motivation to produce new offerings for a marketplace hungry for that next body but not necessarily willing to pay for it.
Yes. I feel beaten to a pulp by Canon. As a stills shooter, I couldn't care less about fast frame rates or video. Some do. I don't. The R was no gamble for me. The R has great eye EF (in my opinion), IBIS will be nice when it happens (but isn't an essential, for me). Do you really expect to see any "real" prolonged enthusiasm from the sports/wildlife camp for the current R offerings? I wouldn't think the current offerings are much of a consideration except for
some of the birding wildlife crowd and many, many of them prefer a fast crop sensored camera. Upgrading a system takes $$$$. Switching takes $$$$. It's a pretty sure bet that those genuflecting before Sony and praying for an equivalent Canon are not stampeding to buy an A9 or A7rIII. How do I know this? Because Sony is losing market share. Sony will lose even more next year. Professional sports photographers are a very small piece of the market pie. Our local newspaper sports guy uses a 70D when he shoots the local high schools at their events. Yes, even at nigh football games. Yes, one card slot. To think that all professionals are participating in the fast camera, high resolution, dual card slot arms race is plain silly. So Canon is correct to appeal more to the realistic form and shape of the market as a whole, not the niche, when bringing a new system to the marketplace. In a contracting market, placing emphasis on volume sales is most important.
Knowing that Canon expects a 40% downtown in camera sales over the next yr or so has to make us wonder how they will manage to maintain enough enthusiasm and motivation to produce new offerings for a marketplace hungry for that next body but not necessarily willing to pay for it.
The market isn't as hungry as you think. It is in massive contraction. Why? I think there are several reasons. One of those reasons being that what is already available (and has already been purchased) satisfies most in the ILC owner market. People don't tend to upgrade when they are already happy. Owners are saturated and see little reason to spend thousands of dollars on something new
from any company, including Sony. The pool of most consumers on this forum are not typical in any way, shape, or form.
Sony could release a 500 fps, 200 mega pixel camera next year. The market for that? Infinitesimal. Many of the complainers here do not understand that in the disastrous contraction of the ILC market, the surviving companies must appeal to the maximum number of remaining consumers. Neither the 1DX II, the coming 1DX III, or the A9, or A7r III, or high resolution offerings do that. Just like 600mm and 800mm lenses don't. In fact, none of Sony's current offerings or anything from Canon 6D and above do it, hence the M. Sony offers nothing in that category, so they are losing market share. In my opinion, 30MPIX is high resolution anyway. 10 years ago, it was unheard of. Most people don't want, or have, the equipment required to handle or store gigantic files. Buying in to the high end means buying in to more than cameras and lenses, which are already huge financial obstacles or deterents to most, on their own.
I did find a Sony spec sheet once. The pages were stuck together like a 16 year old boy's first Playboy. Like most of us, the girlfriend or wife he got later didn't come close to comparing to what he , in reality, could get. (joke)
* Everyone, please forgive my punctuation. Having trouble remembering sometimes.