Canon's bad marketing - big mistake

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I live in Belgium and am an amateur photographer, but have been shooting Canon cameras for many many years now. My current camera is still an EOS 40D, yes. Didn't want to upgrade to a pro model until I knew a bit more about the beautiful art of photography. Didn't want to upgrade to 50D, 60D or even 7D, because the difference in final image quality was too small for me. Been seriously upgrading on lenses though the past few years. 2012 promised to be the year of taking things to a higher level. I had very high hopes for the 5D Mk 3.

After reading a lot and looking at many pictures I think Canon is making exactly the same mistake as Nikon did a few years ago with the introduction of their D700. I think that was a far better and far more sophisticated tool than the 5D 2 in allmost every respect. Except for resolution (and video). The 5D 2 had allmost twice the resolution of the D700 and that was what people wanted at that moment. Being the lesser camera than the D700 they still sold truckloads more than Nikon with their D700.

Now we see the same thing happening with the D800 and the 5D 3. I am absolutely convinced that the 5D 3 for the majority of people will be a far better and more versatile camera than the D800. Except for resolution (and maybe sharpness). But, just like a few years ago, that is exactly what people want at this moment. My guess is that Nikon will be selling truckloads and truckloads more of the D800 than Canon of the 5D 3. Let's not forget that the whole media landscape currently is about high, higher and highest resolution.

Nikon and Sony, 2 of the biggest multinationals in photography equipment, have picked the card of high resolution. That alone should say enough. If you want to sell a lot of your product, than give the people what the people wants. As the Romans already knew. That's the most basic rule in marketing. Canon doesn't seem to be willing to accept that as a fact. If and when the market dictates the need for high resolution cameras, than it's very foolish and dangerous to neglect that. The 5D 3 may be as good as it gets, but taking a look at photos from the D800 makes my stomach turn with envy. Never seen anything like this from a DSLR. The amount of detail is simply from another planet and makes the 5D 3 look rather pale.

I am convinced of the fact that a good photographer needs to study the composition of his photo before taking it. But I can assure you that many of these so called very good photographers will be cropping on the D800 photos like never before, applying the rule of thirds, etc. in post processing and presenting stunning photographs. Of course they will never admit this, but nonetheless Nikon gives them the perfect tool to do this, without being noticed by the majority of people.

I, for myself, will not be turning to Nikon, because I have too much invested in Canon glass and I'm not making any money out of my photography. So I won't buy the D800. Guess I will be sticking with my 40D for another while. I have the money, but I won't buy the 5D 3 either, because next to each other the photos of the 5D 3 aren't worth looking at when compared to those of the D800. We're not even talking about the price difference here. I am a faithfull Canon customer, but very disapointed in Canon's marketing strategy. Sticking to 22 Mp will cost them a lot of money. But that's only my opinion.
 
You're gonna fit right in here. ;)

However, joking aside - there are many of us who agree with you. I posted up a week or two ago that I would not be surprised if Canon's entire market research department has been fired. Some one dropped the ball with respect to "what consumers want."

Nikon hit the market spot on. Canon flubbed it up this time around. Give it time... Canon will respond.
 
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Japanese companies don't work in strict compartments like most US companies. They work in teams and decide using consensus across the executive suite. I doubt the marketing team is quaking.

I do think it will be interesting to see if the 5D Mark III is the right camera for this time and if it appeals to large enough market to be profitable. As someone wrote in another posting, I agree that it is ideal for working wedding and event photographers and it is fast enough with the right features (fast and accurate autofocus and tracking) that it will appeal to many sports photographers. The gear heads here have snapping them up like they were selling for $1500. So we shall see...
 
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Even though I strongly believe that 36MP is overkill for *most* people, I also see a lot of people who like as many MP as they can get because they've been told for SO long that more MP is better. Not better for some jobs, or some people. Or better up to a certain level. Just better.

So, while I think canon did an amazing job with the 5d3 (so far given the reports), I do wonder whether the sector of the market that *wants* rather than *needs* more MP really can appreciate that or even make use of it.

At the same time I do feel for those who have a 5dii who have nothing to upgrade to through since better AF, dual card slots and 1/2 to 1 stop better ISO etc.... isn't worth anything to them. On the plus side, it saves them some money ... for now ;)

Sooo.... this is probably a long way of saying that I sort of agree with you. I think maybe the market wasn't ready for a camera where a lot of people only see the stat which says it's increased by 1MP.
 
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You have a 40d and you don't see an upgrade into moving to a 5d mark iii ??
Now everything about Canon sucks because Nikon has a 36mp ???????

Come on there is more to photography then only the camera.
Like we all need 36mp now and a DR of 14.

All photographers in the world are not able to make good images anymore after the Nikon D800 was announced. ;)
 
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Well marketing is mainly for people who don't know a lot about cameras.
I'm not saying it has no influence on professionals too, but professionals know cameras quite well and they know perfectly megapixels aren't everything. It's not like selling a stupid compact crappy 16Mpixels camera to random John Doe because he is SURE 16Mpixel are better because they're more and it's a newer camera so it MUST be better than 12Mpixel...then he doesn't even know what a backlit sensor is and why you get better pictures in a compact camera with 12Mpixel backlit sensor than a standard 16Mpixel one...but that's John Doe, not pro photographer.
 
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I think the main problem going in the DSLR world is that too many people think higher MP bodies are a cure all for poor skills.
Like everyone complaining about the 24-70II not having IS. ( Who all is planning on using this lens at an air show in AI servo mode?) Really,,,,,

Just because Canon didnt go with 80MP in the 5DIII, people think they were shortchanged.
 
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Hage said:
Sticking to 22 Mp will cost them a lot of money.

It may cost them your money. They're not getting my money for the 5DIII either, but that's only because 18 MP is plenty for me, so they're getting double the amount of my money for the 1D X. But you and I are in the minority. There are lots of people with a 5DII who really only need a better AF and they'll have the perfect camera - the 5DIII fits the bill. There are even more people with a Canon APS-C body who didn't get a 5DII because of the AF, and the 5DIII fits that bill, too. Canon will be raking in money hand over fist from the 5DIII. Oh, and just as a little bonus, they're going to keep selling the 5DII at its new lower price point for a while, and making significant profit from that, too.
 
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I don't get the fascination with more megapixels... especially amongst amateur photographers that will never ever be able to appreciate that kind of resolution in print or especially on screen. I'm all for better image quality, but I don't think having a sensor that out resolves most of the lenses I can afford that can only be appreciated on poster sized prints or billboards is the answer to that. WTF are people doing that needs 36MP?!
 
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neuroanatomist said:
Hage said:
Sticking to 22 Mp will cost them a lot of money.

It may cost them your money. They're not getting my money for the 5DIII either, but that's only because 18 MP is plenty for me, so they're getting double the amount of my money for the 1D X. But you and I are in the minority. There are lots of people with a 5DII who really only need a better AF and they'll have the perfect camera - the 5DIII fits the bill. There are even more people with a Canon APS-C body who didn't get a 5DII because of the AF, and the 5DIII fits that bill, too. Canon will be raking in money hand over fist from the 5DIII. Oh, and just as a little bonus, they're going to keep selling the 5DII at its new lower price point for a while, and making significant profit from that, too.

I agree with this. Those of you feeling bad for Canon because they may not (in your opinion) make enough money from the 5D3 -- I think they'll be just fine.
 
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Let me put it in another way. If you're in for a new computer and you buy the latest core i7, nobody finds that strange. Everybody finds it normal that you buy the latest technology. When you're in for a new camera and you want to buy a 36 Mp one, because that is the latest technology too, everybody on the Canon forums finds that strange. Why is that ? It is in the human nature to want the newest products at the latest technology. Otherwise we would all still be listening to cassettes and LP's. I might agree that 36 Mp is not for everyone, nor for every day use. But at least people should have a choice. Now many people simply don't have that choice because they're stuck with either Canon or Nikon. As an all time Canon user I too find it very hard to admit, but the detail in (some of) the D800 pics is just off the scale.
 
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Hage said:
Let me put it in another way. If you're in for a new computer and you buy the latest core i7, nobody finds that strange. Everybody finds it normal that you buy the latest technology. When you're in for a new camera and you want to buy a 36 Mp one, because that is the latest technology too, everybody on the Canon forums finds that strange. Why is that ? It is in the human nature to want the newest products at the latest technology. Otherwise we would all still be listening to cassettes and LP's. I might agree that 36 Mp is not for everyone, nor for every day use. But at least people should have a choice. Now many people simply don't have that choice because they're stuck with either Canon or Nikon. As an all time Canon user I too find it very hard to admit, but the detail in (some of) the D800 pics is just off the scale.

It's about balance. You can't just look at one spec like sensor resolution or CPU speed when you buy a product... it's the system as a whole and how it performs for you that matters. Just because I can buy a dual CPU 12-Core monster Mac Pro, doesn't mean I can come even close to utilizing that power.

Of course, everyone needs to look at what's holding their photography back and decide who offers the better solution to that bottleneck. For me, it's keeper rate on focus and the noise in low light that's a problem for me. Although more MP might help, that's not the best and only answer.

If you've been on the cusp of breaking out as a fashion or landscape photographer that can make good money, but your current 20MP camera is holding you back, then maybe an affordable 36MP body is just what you need.

At any rate, I don't think it's Canon's marketing that's the problem. It's just your needs are not in Canon's target market. But mine happen to be.
 
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Hage said:
Let me put it in another way. If you're in for a new computer and you buy the latest core i7, nobody finds that strange. Everybody finds it normal that you buy the latest technology. When you're in for a new camera and you want to buy a 36 Mp one, because that is the latest technology too, everybody on the Canon forums finds that strange. Why is that ?

Because that's not a very good analogy.

Imagine instead we're discussing sports cars. Do you buy the one with the biggest engine displacement, or the one that has the highest top speed / shortest time on the course?

Megapickles are important, yes, but mostly in the sense that you're not going to make it through the race without at least so many. But, just as your sports car is going to get smoked on the track if you've got lousy breaks and so-so steering, your high-megapickle camera is going to give you worse pictures at the wedding / sports arena / wildlife preserve than the low-megapickle one if it can't achieve good focus, if it's got a slow framerate, etc., etc., etc.

Now, if you're just doing straight-line quarter-mile drag racing, the car with the biggest engine displacement is probably the one to bet on. Similarly, if you're just doing studio photography with studio lighting and what-not, the high-megapickle camera is probably the one you want. But do keep in mind that the top-fuel dragster will laugh at your silly hotrod, as will the medium and large format cameras at your puny SLR. But did you ever try to pop down to the market for a bag of groceries in a top-fuel dragster, or take party snapshots with an 8" x 10" view camera?

Horses for courses, and all that.

Cheers,

b&
 
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Canon has a solid installed base who has invested in lense for the Canon mount. All they needed was give them a solid option with the MKIII and they have delivered. So they might loose 5% to Nikon but they will also gain alot of wedding photographers who will come over. So they got their strategy right.
 
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Hage said:
Let me put it in another way. If you're in for a new computer and you buy the latest core i7, nobody finds that strange. Everybody finds it normal that you buy the latest technology. When you're in for a new camera and you want to buy a 36 Mp one, because that is the latest technology too, everybody on the Canon forums finds that strange. Why is that ? It is in the human nature to want the newest products at the latest technology.

So, you're suggesting the 5DIII is outdated technology? Ouch. On what do you base that assertion? The D800 has a slower frame rate, and the 5DIII offers a 50% higher specification there. What's outdated now?

Let's look further at your analogy. Which is better - a Core i7 with a slower clock speed and an HDD, or a Core i5 with a faster clock speed, more RAM, and an SSD? Different systems perform better in different applications, but for many needs the i5 in that configuration will perform better, 'outdated' or not. Now...with a card full of 36 MP images to process, you're going to need that Core i7 and tons of RAM and the SSD...and you'll probably still need a pot to brew some tea while you wait...
 
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