Interview With Canon Executives

[Canon Rumors Guy]

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DPReview has posted an couple of interviews it has had with Canon executives. Once in late 2013 and another at CP+ last month. Most of the interview is about what you’d expect a Canon executive to say.</p>
<p><strong>On the topic of Smartphones</strong>

<em><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">“Realistically, thanks to the global prevalence of smartphones there are more photographs being taken. And as such I anticipate an organic growth of people who are using their smartphone and come to want to take better photographs. Regardless of what device they’re using, whether it’s a smartphone or a compact camera or DSLR, I’d like to encourage people to take more and more pictures.”</span></em></p>
<p><strong>On Canon being stagnant or boring

</strong><em>“They may perceive us in that way, but we are incorporating technological innovation into our products. The EOS 70D’s Dual Pixel AF technology is a good example of innovation that is unique to Canon.</em></p>
<p><em>Dual Pixel CMOS AF was born out of the concept of allowing the user to freely choose which kind of finder they wanted to use. The optical finder, the camera’s LCD or the screen of a mobile device via our EOS Remote app.”</em></p>
<p><strong>On 4K video taking over from true still images

</strong><em>“Yes, definitely. There will always be a need for still photographs, in my opinion. I believe that still images contain more information, and have more depth and meaning.”</em><strong>

</strong></p>
<p><strong>On the EOS M2 coming to North America or Europe

</strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><em>“It’s a possibility but we haven’t made a final decision yet. We’re looking at the market.”</em>

</span></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.dpreview.com/articles/2097339172/cp-2014-canon-interview-we-dont-see-the-smartphone-as-an-enemy" target="_blank">Read the full interview</a></strong></p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">c</span>r</strong></p>

 

[Rienzphotoz]

On Canon being stagnant or boring

“They may perceive us in that way, but we are incorporating technological innovation into our products. The EOS 70D’s Dual Pixel AF technology is a good example of innovation that is unique to Canon.

I don't know about any other recent "innovation" from Canon, but the Dual Pixel AF is AWESOME! ... just got the 70D yesterday and I was blown away by how fast it auto focuses by just touching the screen ... there is nothing out there that can accurately auto focus on a touch screen as fast as the 70D (both for stills and video) ... one has to try it to see it.

 

[Ellen Schmidtee]

"Will still photography be necessary in the age of 4K video?

[GT] Somewhere in the future, maybe the two things might converge but currently with 4K technology you're talking about an 8MP still image, and with 20-30MP stills cameras being the norm I don't know whether 8MP would satisfy someone's needs."

Cause nobody can't compromise on prints sized A5 and smaller anymore? Damn...

 

[saveyourmoment]

"Will still photography be necessary in the age of 4K video?"

Yes, because an 8MB image from a movie with a shutterspeed of 50 will be blurry... if we could shoot video with 160/250 or even higher shutterspeeds around 1000 or more to freeze action, then it will compete dslrs...

for now we only can take images from a 4k video when the subjects aren't moving, or slowly moving at least.

 

[sanj]

"Will still photography be necessary in the age of 4K video?"

Yes, because an 8MB image from a movie with a shutterspeed of 50 will be blurry... if we could shoot video with 160/250 or even higher shutterspeeds around 1000 or more to freeze action, then it will compete dslrs...

for now we only can take images from a 4k video when the subjects aren't moving, or slowly moving at least.

We can.

 

[traveller]

Woohoo! Time to play the "take a Japanese Executive's comments out of context game"!!!

Round 1:

"...looking to the future one thing I can say for sure is that the camera has to outperform the human eye... "increasing resolution, sensitivity, dynamic range (my italics, bold and underlining -to prove to doubters that it is coming!) and so on..."...unlimited resolution, unlimited sensitivity and unlimited dynamic range you can take photos of anything that exists on this earth." [Ken-Ichi Shimbori DPReview's CP+ 2014 Canon Interview. Edits have been made for structure and clarity]

Wow, it looks like Canon are working on a new uber-camera that will out perform anything currently available! Never mind these silly wishes of forum members: 36 megapixels? Pah! Put "unlimited" megapixels in your pipe and smoke it! A mere finite ISO 409,600 Nikon? Don't make me laugh. 14.8 Ev dynamic range RED? This new Canon will be able to simultaneously take a picture of the midday sun and the inside a black hole!

 

[Woody]

Wow, it looks like Canon are working on a new uber-camera that will out perform anything currently available! Never mind these silly wishes of forum members: 36 megapixels? Pah! Put "unlimited" megapixels in your pipe and smoke it! A mere finite ISO 409,600 Nikon? Don't make me laugh. 14.8 Ev dynamic range RED? This new Canon will be able to simultaneously take a picture of the midday sun and the inside a black hole!

You beat me to it!

Anyway, I hope Canon is seriously working towards this goal. They seem to be stuck in some kind of rut these few years...

 

[distant.star]

.
Most interesting to me was the clear statement that the EOS-M was an "experiment."

It's plain to me Canon has backed away from mirrorless for now. Likely they will let the other guys (Sony, Olympus, Fujifilm, etc.) sort it all out before they commit to anything seriously.

 

[mkabi]

Wow, it looks like Canon are working on a new uber-camera that will out perform anything currently available! Never mind these silly wishes of forum members: 36 megapixels? Pah! Put "unlimited" megapixels in your pipe and smoke it! A mere finite ISO 409,600 Nikon? Don't make me laugh. 14.8 Ev dynamic range RED? This new Canon will be able to simultaneously take a picture of the midday sun and the inside a black hole!

So, basically close to godly powers.... anything less and its laughable, right?

Why stop there? It will give you X-ray vision and heat/laser vision. Give you super human strength and the ability to fly. All you have to don is a red cape and blue tights.

 

[Marsu42]

"Will still photography be necessary in the age of 4K video?

No, because you can just select the frame you want and it will have sufficient resolution. Now you only need a flash system that does 30 full hss bursts per second and lasts for some hours w/o overheating and power drain :-> ... that's why I'm happy with my 3fps 6d.

 

[Ellen Schmidtee]

"Will still photography be necessary in the age of 4K video?

No, because you can just select the frame you want and it will have sufficient resolution. Now you only need a flash system that does 30 full hss bursts per second and lasts for some hours w/o overheating and power drain :-> ... that's why I'm happy with my 3fps 6d.

A) I was mocking the resolution based argument the interviewee was making.

B) Plenty of photos are taken without a flash. Last two family events I went to took place outdoors in full daylight, so I didn't even bother taking a flash with me.

C) Flashes like the 320EX solve part of the problem.

So, will still photography be necessary in the age of 4K video? Yes, 4K can eat a nice chunk out of it.

 

[neuroanatomist]

.
Most interesting to me was the clear statement that the EOS-M was an "experiment."

It's plain to me Canon has backed away from mirrorless for now. Likely they will let the other guys (Sony, Olympus, Fujifilm, etc.) sort it all out before they commit to anything seriously.

Mirrorless is the future. So are flying cars… But we're not really ready for either of them quite yet.

 

[mackguyver]

"We will continue to produce new mirrorless cameras and although our competitors in this field are very strong, we hope we won't be beaten by them."

LOL - my favorite quote from the interview. I don't think they are the #1 camera company by relying on "hope".

 

[unfocused]

.
Most interesting to me was the clear statement that the EOS-M was an "experiment..."

This got me thinking about the complexities of modern manufacturing. Today's market research tools allow companies to hone in on specific audiences for products. No longer do they need a one-size-fits-all approach. Modern manufacturing systems also allow for greater customization and cost-efficient production of products for sub-markets and even sub-sub-markets.

On the other hand, the worldwide communications of the internet and social media make it impossible to market a product in one region or country without the rest of the world knowing about it. And, it is a given that some percentage of the customer case outside of the targeted region is going to want a product that isn't available and feel "cheated" by not getting it, even if there isn't much of a market for it in their region.

In the old days, international companies could produce country-specific products and about the only way anyone knew about them was if they actually visited that country. Not the case anymore. Not trying to make any particular point about the EOS-M, just an observation about manufacturing and marketing in general.

 

[traveller]

.
Most interesting to me was the clear statement that the EOS-M was an "experiment..."

This got me thinking about the complexities of modern manufacturing. Today's market research tools allow companies to hone in on specific audiences for products. No longer do they need a one-size-fits-all approach. Modern manufacturing systems also allow for greater customization and cost-efficient production of products for sub-markets and even sub-sub-markets.

On the other hand, the worldwide communications of the internet and social media make it impossible to market a product in one region or country without the rest of the world knowing about it. And, it is a given that some percentage of the customer case outside of the targeted region is going to want a product that isn't available and feel "cheated" by not getting it, even if there isn't much of a market for it in their region.

In the old days, international companies could produce country-specific products and about the only way anyone knew about them was if they actually visited that country. Not the case anymore. Not trying to make any particular point about the EOS-M, just an observation about manufacturing and marketing in general.

The counter argument is that the people who are informed enough to care that the product line is not available in their market can always use the internet to import it for themselves. Not that I would advocate this strategy!

It strikes me that Canon has yet to decide whether it's a multinational or a global company. Currently, it seems that head office are happy for each territory to market whichever part of the product line sells locally. This (possibly) helps to make the company responsive to local conditions, but hardly sits well with creating a global brand.

 

[Drizzt321]

When you look at the future for photography, is there anything that worries you?

[MM] Not specifically. Maybe if someone invents a potion for eternal life, that will be the day that people will stop wanting to record events. But as long as our lives are limited, I believe that people will continue to want to capture memories.

Personally, I find this response to be the most interesting. Also the least likely, but you never know! We can still hold out hope. Just like for a new 100-400L, or a 24-105L f/2.8 IS that's outstanding. Maybe even a a 135L f/2 IS! Or maybe Canon contributing to MagicLantern a few bits of register documentation with tacit approval to operate on the 1D series. Or maybe a unicorn will come striding down the rainbow that lands at my feet with a leprechaun sitting on top a pile of gold so I can buy Canon and make that a reality.

 

[docsmith]

Great interview(s).

Another interesting quote "with 20-30 MP stills cameras being the norm...." ...the 5DIII is only 22 MP, the 70D is 20 MP. Is this a hint that an upcoming release is in the upper range of the "20-30 MP?" Or is this more of an acknowledgement of what other camera manufacturers have produced?

Fun to speculate.

 

[JonAustin]

When you look at the future for photography, is there anything that worries you?

[MM] Not specifically. Maybe if someone invents a potion for eternal life, that will be the day that people will stop wanting to record events. But as long as our lives are limited, I believe that people will continue to want to capture memories.

Actually, if a magical elixir for eternal life were produced, one could argue that the ability to capture memories would become even more valuable ...

 

[9VIII]

We've found that feedback from users is different depending on the country that they're from. For example, among customers in the USA the need for videos is rising. They're asking for the highest picture quality both in stills and video and they're asking for the two to be merged.

This forum is definitely not a good representation of the average user.

At this point it wouldn't surprise me if the 7D2 is very heavy on video features, and given the "unlimited" comments, I'm also looking forward to the next 1D more than ever.

 

[Arkarch]

I found the Rebel SL1 Americas size comment interesting.

I'll relate it to cars - I really enjoy my VW (German) Touareg because I can get my 6' frame into it easily; whereas the last time I tried to get into a Nissan (Japanese) Pathfinder, a vehicle I loved twenty years back, I had to literally crawl into it.

They have to realize that big hands can not possibly handle a small camera comfortably.

They should also take note that small point&shoots are nearly impossible for older people, some with arthritis, to work properly.