The New Light 16 Prompts Concern over Canon's Direction

[mitchel]

As a lifetime Canon user with a ton of great Canon glass, I can't help but voice my growing disappointment and concern with the brand. Every day I feel more like someone with a great collection of buggy whips, endlessly debating with my friends and colleagues the merits of one buggy whip versus another. We need to face the sad fact, for whatever reason, Canon is failing to keep up with the innovation in image-making and processing. We all sit around waiting for Canon's latest horse-drawn carriage; meanwhile, in the real world, SONY offers continually superior sensor performance and, more importantly, the upcoming Light 16 (as well as the existing Lytro stuff) shows where photography is really headed. Sure, these cameras are a bit of a gimmick, but clearly the idea of a single small camera taking multiple samples with a single button push, along with massive in-camera image processing, is where things are headed. Yes, I breathlessly await the latest 1D/5D, hoping against hope that I'll be dazzled by either the sensor or by the processing, speed and convenience ancillaries, but for me, this is Canon's last chance for now. They really need to wake up and take a serious look at what is happening around them. They already missed the boat, completely, on the impact the cellphones would have on their P&S market, and now they appear to be snoozing as other companies exploit more effectively the intersection of optics and computer processing. Canon, it's time to get back to some serious innovating. Please, don't force me to abandon ship!

 

[unfocused]

Your are correct and completely wrong at the same time.

As a lifetime Canon user with a ton of great Canon glass, I can't help but voice my growing disappointment and concern with the brand.

Okay, but what you are complaining about has nothing to do with Canon.

Every day I feel more like someone with a great collection of buggy whips, endlessly debating with my friends and colleagues the merits of one buggy whip versus another... the upcoming Light 16 (as well as the existing Lytro stuff) ... along with massive in-camera image processing, is where things are headed.

Possibly, but what you fail to grasp is that we are a good 10 years or more away from any of this technology becoming truly usable. We may be debating buggy whips, but we are debating buggy whips 10 years before automobiles became viable. If you want to sell or shoot the horse now, that's your decision, but you have to be prepared to walk for the next decade until the technology catches up.

We need to face the sad fact, for whatever reason,Canon is failing to keep up with the innovation in image-making and processing. We all sit around waiting for Canon's latest horse-drawn carriage; meanwhile, in the real world, SONY offers continually superior sensor performance and, more importantly, shows where photography is really headed.

Complete and utter bull. Sony isn't showing anyone anything. They have focused on one minor metric and done a very good job of exploiting that metric. But, it's neither revolutionary nor even all that significant for the future of photography.

They really need to wake up and take a serious look at what is happening around them. They already missed the boat, completely, on the impact the cellphones would have on their P&S market, and now they appear to be snoozing as other companies exploit more effectively the intersection of optics and computer processing.

Yes ALL the camera manufacturers has utterly failed when it comes to connectivity and the internet. Canon has been no worse or better than any other manufacturer. They all failed to comprehend the market revolutionizing impact of cloud technology and connectivity. I certainly hope they all get their act together on this front, because it's more than annoying, it's having an impact on my ability to compete and deliver for clients.

But, it is simply trolling to single out Canon on this front and to pretend Sony is any better.