What's Next for Canon?

[Don Haines]

You don't need Harry Potter newspapers... Look at online news.... note the number of stories that include video clips.... The articles are a combination of text, static images, and video. Each has it's place and serves a different purpose. Like it or not, video is here to stay.

Of course video is here to stay. My point is, are still photos here to stay? Well, yes, they probably are...but you don't need a still camera to take still photos. Remember Canon's concept camera - it shot video and the intent was to excerpt still frames as needed.

I think we are saying the same thing....Video is here to stay, stills are here to stay.....

For web purposes, you can extract a pretty decent image from video... not anything good enough to print a poster with, but if all you want is a facebook post, it will do. Most astro-photographers shoot video, extract stills, and image stack them to get a "still picture". For birds and wildlife (and that includes brides), if you really want that high quality image, nothing comes close to a quality still image.

BTW, have you played with 4K video? Even from a GoPro you get a surprisingly good image... eventually 4K video will trickle up to "real cameras" and then one will be able to extract an even better image from video.

Also, a number of point/shoot cameras now have a mode where when you take a picture you also get a 5 second video clip.... the lines are getting blurred further...

 

[infared]

I'm a photo guy, not a video guy. But in a few years, my kids will be saying, "These silly pictures don't even move, s'up with that?!?"

I really have a hard time picturing a future where photographs are also completely replaced with video. Both have their place. Would I really want looping videos on my walls at home rather than static pictures? That would be maddening. I don't want everything everywhere to be in constant movement. Imagine replacing 100 wedding photos with 100 videos -- it would take forever to go through them.

Yeah. Not gonna happen. Two different mediums. Very different purposes. One is about the narrative. The other is about the moment.

Clearly, you guys haven't seen the photos and newspapers in the Harry Potter movies...

Harry who?

 

[Albi86]

I think that everyone who isn't a sports photographer will sooner or later switch over to mirrorless.

+1

If most of your shots are <150mm mirrorless is a no-brainer.

BTW, I don't know why some people are assuming that a mirrorless offers less IQ than a DSLR, thus being a sort of surrogate.

 

[George D.]

You don't need Harry Potter newspapers... Look at online news.... note the number of stories that include video clips.... The articles are a combination of text, static images, and video. Each has it's place and serves a different purpose. Like it or not, video is here to stay.

Of course video is here to stay. My point is, are still photos here to stay? Well, yes, they probably are...but you don't need a still camera to take still photos. Remember Canon's concept camera - it shot video and the intent was to excerpt still frames as needed.

I think we are saying the same thing....Video is here to stay, stills are here to stay.....

For web purposes, you can extract a pretty decent image from video... not anything good enough to print a poster with, but if all you want is a facebook post, it will do. Most astro-photographers shoot video, extract stills, and image stack them to get a "still picture". For birds and wildlife (and that includes brides), if you really want that high quality image, nothing comes close to a quality still image.

BTW, have you played with 4K video? Even from a GoPro you get a surprisingly good image... eventually 4K video will trickle up to "real cameras" and then one will be able to extract an even better image from video.

Also, a number of point/shoot cameras now have a mode where when you take a picture you also get a 5 second video clip.... the lines are getting blurred further...

For sports shooting if you think about it 12fps drive (1DX) is half the speed of 25fps movie mode. Why the fuss with fps, you just shoot movie and extract every other frame. That's what Canon will be soon giving us, single frame + movie mode albeit high speed movie mode for slow motion ability.

 

[Don Haines]

For sports shooting if you think about it 12fps drive (1DX) is half the speed of 25fps movie mode. Why the fuss with fps, you just shoot movie and extract every other frame. That's what Canon will be soon giving us, single frame + movie mode albeit high speed movie mode for slow motion ability.

If a camera can shoot video at 60 frames per second then it is capable of 60 frames per second of still images... the problem becomes storing them... I have a p/s camera that will operate 60fps with 3M images, 12fps with 16M images, and will shoot 120 and 240fps video. One would hope that a DSLR would be able to stream more data to a memory card or have a bigger buffer....

One of the things to expect with mirrorless cameras is much higher frame rates for stills....

 

[Ruined]

Yeah stills extracted from a movie will always be lower quality than traditional stills due to the large amount of compression that would be needed to fit the movie on an SD card.

 

[LetTheRightLensIn]

I'm a photo guy, not a video guy. But in a few years, my kids will be saying, "These silly pictures don't even move, s'up with that?!?"

I really have a hard time picturing a future where photographs are also completely replaced with video. Both have their place. Would I really want looping videos on my walls at home rather than static pictures? That would be maddening. I don't want everything everywhere to be in constant movement. Imagine replacing 100 wedding photos with 100 videos -- it would take forever to go through them.

+1

(and I say that as someone who does love video in DSLRs)

 

[BJDrew]

I'm a little bummed with Canon too.

Here's a little satire you might enjoy:
Canon Responds to Revolutionary Sony Mirrorless Full Frame with Even More Revolutionary APS-C DSLR

http://www.leica-boss.com/2013/10/canon-responds-to-revolutionary-sony-mirrorless-full-frame-with-even-more-revolutionary-aps-c-dslr/

 

[OldSalt]

Canon is going to regret their hesitation and lack of action embracing the mirrorless niche. This may sound a bit bold but this is the exactly the type of thing that puts good companies in jeopardy. It is a short trip from comfortably profitable to desparately broke. With the rapid advancement of the mirroless format including some awesome full frame sensor options I can't see it slowing down and it will eventually overtake the more familiar traditional DSLR format. Cheaper to manufacture (offering greater profit margins to boot) and image quality nearly on par and soon to be equal in all respects am I the only one who can see that the SLR format is terminally ill? Oh sure there will always be the holdouts and denials just as today you have the few who would not break from film SLRs but they will be relagated to a small niche.
Let me just add that regardless of what many may want or think these companies are in business for only one reason; TO MAKE A PROFIT, this will and already is driving companies into this format. And is the ONLY reason Canon hasn't jumped ship yet because today they are MAKING MONEY.

I for one am going to offload all my Canon gear in the not so distant future, as I am excited by the progress and simplicity of the mirrorless format and definitely wont miss the extra weight and bulk if my old gear.

Lastly if Canon would invest now and produce a sensor that was at least on par with the new Sony and Fuji sensors put it in a body that offered manual and automatic controls and features (like the X-PRO-1 only better) I would buy it without hesitation but I lament because they won't. So I will move on having enjoyed Canon products when they were cutting edge and moving on the the "new" cutting edge where ever that leads
me Fuji/Olympus/Sony who knows it's a brave new world!

 

[Frage]

I´ve got this one day ago in Istanbul. I am very sorry for the quality.

Have fun.


IMG_0138 por Basta!!!, en Flickr

IMG_0137 por Basta!!!, en Flickr

IMG_0136 por Basta!!!, en Flickr

IMG_0139 por Basta!!!, en Flickr

 

[Click]

Sorry Frage, can't see your pictures.

 

[Frage]

Now you can, I hope

 

[Loswr]

Now you can, I hope

So you're saying Canon is diversifying, and launching a gaffer tape division??

 

[Bob Howland]

Frage, why are these pictures significant? (That's a serious question.)

 

[Grumbaki]

Just one piece of food for thoughts in the whole "canon is so passive with mirrorless".

While I agree on the analysis of the current market, you can't say that canon already lost the segment like I see some say here already.
From a business point of view, there is no or little point being the first or dominating the early adopter market. With a strong brand name, you just need to drop the killer product with good timing: at general adoption. If smartphone and tablets markets taught us one thing, this should be it.

 

[Eldar]

To me it looks like a 5DIII body with a 50/1.2L, after a tape orgy. Maybe a 3D prototype ... Let's hope.

 

[Ricku]

But seriously, why would someone cover their camera in tape like that? I can only think of one explanation, and that it that they have something to hide.

He even covered the Canon logo on the lens cap.

Could this be the unicorn we've been waiting for?

 

[AmbientLight]

But seriously, why would someone cover their camera in tape like that? I can only think of one explanation, and that it that they have something to hide.

He even covered the Canon logo on the lens cap.

Could this be the unicorn we've been waiting for?

It appears to be merely a tourist fearing that someone may steal his camera during vacation. Probably it was an American, because in earlier discussions regarding the excessive use of gaffer tape on camera equipment only U.S. citizens appeared to have serious concerns regarding theft. As a European I have never covered up my equipment.

 

[Ricku]

But seriously, why would someone cover their camera in tape like that? I can only think of one explanation, and that it that they have something to hide.

He even covered the Canon logo on the lens cap.

Could this be the unicorn we've been waiting for?

It appears to be merely a tourist fearing that someone may steal his camera during vacation. Probably it was an American, because in earlier discussions regarding the excessive use of gaffer tape on camera equipment only U.S. citizens appeared to have serious concerns regarding theft. As a European I have never covered up my equipment.

You are probably right.

But he even covered the jog dial, the side of the camera, and the area around the hot shoe.. Doesn't make any sense! Unless he's trying to add some extra weather protection. lol

 

[verysimplejason]

Limited Edition Special Edition Gaffer Taped L Cam.