Who is waiting for Canon Mirrorless?

[Sith Zombie]

Hi All!
I'v been a long time fan of this site but I don't usually participate in forums much, hence just signed up.

Anyway, I'm a canon user [currently use a 40D] who's just stumbled upon mirrorless cameras. At first I dismissed them as being inferior to DSLR's but after a bit of research I began to see useful they could be, and began to see them as 'another weapon in the arsenal'. See, I'm quite protective of my gear [can't afford to replace it :'(] so unless it's for work or a specific project that I'm working on, my 40D isn't always by my side. Which as a photographer, is a fairly stupid situation to be in

So I thought about waiting for a canon mirrorless so that I can have a 'weapon' by my side at all times.
Now here comes my question: Why wait for Canon?

Well I already own Canon equipment so I guess it is natural to stick to a 'tried and tested', but on more consideration I thought "the lens mount will probably be new, so I'll have to buy new lenses and buy into a system again". I then saw no advantage of waiting for a Canon mirrorless.

I'm leaning heavily towards a Nex 5n or Lumix G3 [midrange/ mid price]
Just interested in knowing what other users are doing really and why.
Thanks

 

[pdirestajr]

I would be interested in playing around with a mirrorless body only if it were EF compatible. I don't want to add a whole new system of lenses.

 

[darrellrhodesmiller]

i dont think there will ever be a perfect solution out there. i am totally waiting on a canon mirrorless. i'm really curious to see what route they take with it. i hope they take a very different route than the competition. There are a lot of consumer/pro-sumer 4/3 mirrorless options.. all are good.. but from the reviews all seem to have some big flaw.. the Sony Nex system gets great reviews but lenses are limited.. i had high hopes for the Olympus OM-D .. but its getting really mixed reviews.

i'm hoping Canon goes high end with their mirrorless. Yes, they'll get a lot of nay-sayers for the price of it.. but a high end mirrorless solution that sets the bar on quality and low light would be really nice.

Everyone wants EF mount for this full frame.. if they do that.. what will be the benefit of mirrorless? the camera will be roughly the same size and the mirrored DSLRs.. do i really want to put a canon 70-200 mk II on a "small" mirrorless solution? is it really small at that point? even the primes are big lens comparatively to a mirrorless camera. my 85mm f1.8 is a fairly small lens on my 7D.. but on a mirrorless solution it wont fit in my pocket..

i know making cameras is all about tradeoffs.. i'm definitely waiting to see what comes out of canon.. they could take this in so many different directions.

i'd like 1 of two solutions.
1) in a perfect world i'd really like something about the size of the Canon gx1.. and i hate to say it.. but something with a new lens mount allowing much smaller lenses.. (something i could sneak into a concert that doesnt allow "professional cameras"

2) an all out professional quality mirrorless solution with EF mount and APC or FF sensor. if they do this i hope they work hard on the user interface of the camera. they dont just tack on the user interface from the 5dmkIII or 7D. i dont want a frankenstein of a camera just cobbled together from other design teams. i hope they really use this as a complete new form of camera.. and get edgy and experimental. touch screen? app on iphone to control it? who knows.. but really turn the camera world upside down with it. Nikon really threw down the gauntlet with the D800.. i'd really love to see canon throw a completely solid curveball back.

D

 

[7enderbender]

I may be interested if this becomes a system where I could use my old FD lenses in a meaningful way - just like this can be done with other mirrorless cameras already. A friend of mine uses a Samsung with some nice old FD glass and loves it.

 

[moreorless]

Personally I'm not that interested in anything smaller than my 550D, I might be intersted in a larger sensor(ASPH< FF or maybe even MF) system if it keeps the weight/size down a bit though.

If mirrorless does go in a high end direction then aiming for the "budget Leica" market seems the best move to me, quality relatively compact wide/normal primes(and maybe a compact UWA zoom?) that balance on a smaller body well aimed at the street/landscape market where extreme AF performance is less of an issue.

My guess is that Canon will stick to ASPC mirrorless to start with though and only go larger if the market in general follows that direction.

 

[Sith Zombie]

I guess as canon fans, we're all waiting to see what they bring to the table. As the 5D mkiii proved, they are going to have a tough time pleasing everybody.
Personally if they bought out something like the nex system with a new mount for smaller lenses and an EF mount adapter, i'd be very happy because I could use my existing lenses whilst I slowly purchase the smaller lenses and take advantage of the size difference. Use the DSLR for work and more demanding situations.

I'v noticed a lot of people are enjoying using old lenses on mirrorless systems, its great to see people adapt systems to their needs.

 

[paul13walnut5]

I love the small form of cameras like the NEX 7 and really was quite besotted with the GF1, but I never bought...

Already have canon lenses, and a rebel body is quite a nice size for me for a carry around camera.

But I am interested in seeing what Canon bring to the party, particularly regarding optics, I really hope they are EF-s or EF compatable, and would like and APS-C sensor.

My reason is pretty silly.. I just like the aesthetics of pancake lenses, I just think they look very very cool.

Chide me. Just an opinion.

 

[Ricku]

I am waiting for Canon, or Nikon, or Sony or whoever to release an affordable full frame mirrorless. I'd like it to be similar to the Leica M9, but with a pricetag that doesn't kill your economy!

Tho I'm afraid that Canons first mirrorless camera will be a crapster with a compact sensor.

 

[Sith Zombie]

Yeah, I'm thinking Sony will possibly get there first as they seem to be doing things a bit different with their slt cameras and aps sized mirrorless. Nikon played it pretty cautiously with the nikon, Canon might play a similar game to test the waters, then hopefully bring out FF mirrorless.

 

[Dylan777]

I would be interested in playing around with a mirrorless body only if it were EF compatible. I don't want to add a whole new system of lenses.

With EF lens attachs to mirrorless body, can you put it in your pocket? If yes, I take one.

About s100 when you don't want to carry DSLR.

 

[moreorless]

One possibility that was mentioned on the lens forum was a more extreme version of Ef-S in a mirrorless system. No idea if its even possible but an EF mount camera that can also mount lenses with a much smaller backfocus distance does seem somewhat interesting. The body might not me much smaller but with up to 40mm of the lens inside it the overall package wouldnt be too much different to the likes of the NEX with a zoom lens.

 

[NormanBates]

For me, the perfect solution would be an EF-M mount: same shape and electrical conections of EF, but flange distance greatly reduced (less than 20mm, vs 44mm for EF). That way, you could use all EF lenses on an EF-M body by using a trivial adapter (just add distance and connect the electrical contacts). And you'd have more flexibility to design EF-M specific lenses with the back element much closer to the sensor, and also pancakes, etc. And it would support full frame and APS-C sensors.

 

[dickgrafixstop]

I need a Canon mirrorless system like a fish needs a bicycle. Whatever it is, it probably won't be much smaller
than the current Rebel, will require a new lens system, and won't get significantly better images. A G1X with
interchangeable lenses? A Rebel without a prism? Who cares?

 

[krjc]

For me not at all interested. After i digest the purchase of my 5D3 I will be getting a G1X.

 

[J]

Since we're wishing, I'd basically like a Fuji X-like system, but with sensor phase detect.

 

[sandymandy]

I always wonder how a tiny mirrorless camera and telezoom lenses will balance out. New lens mount would suck too. Please include an adapter.

 

[Bennymiata]

I was in the same quandry, and just bought a G1X, mainly for my wife to use.

I found the mirrorless cameras with a decent sized sensor that were really good were just too expensive for what they offer, and then the lenses are so big and having to carry around a group of lenses just defeats the whole purpose IMHO.

90% of my shots are with my 24-105, so the G1X fills the bill perfectly without having to buy a whole slew of new lenses, and putting on EF-s or EF lenses on a tiny body just seems ridiculous to me.
I tried a NEX-7, and found the big lens on the end of it was very unbalanced to hold comfortably.

 

[mws]

I can't wait to see what Canon does in this area. More then anything I want it to be somewhat pocketable (coat/cargo shorts etc) Right now I'm using a 50D w/grip and plan on upgrading to a 5Diii, and just want something smaller to take places, a big SLR is just intimidating in some settings.

I would love it to be full frame, but have a feeling that it will be a C size sensor. If it's anything less then C size, I will be disappointed, I really want the shallow DOF. Sony has done nice things with in C size with the Nex line up, I'm always surprised they don't get more press.

There will almost have to to be a new lens mount, which I don't mind, as long as there are adapters that allow full use of EF and EF-S lenses. If Canon doesn't make them, someone else will. Canon would be dumb not to.

Ideally I would love something similar to the M9, that doesn't cost a fortune. (Even if that doesn't fit in a pocket)

I actually got sick of waiting and just recently picked up a Lumix GF2 with 14mm pancake of ebay for only 300 to play with in the mean time. I've heard a lot of really good things on the Lumix series. Actually I wonder if Canon would ever release anything in the 4/3s format? That would be interesting.........

 

[EvilTed]

"Since we're wishing, I'd basically like a Fuji X-like system, but with sensor phase detect."

If they manage to get decent AF and not lock the camera up every day, then yes.
The X-Pro 1 is buggy as all hell and very frustrating for a body and lens that cost $2300

ET

 

[elflord]

I'm leaning heavily towards a Nex 5n or Lumix G3 [midrange/ mid price]
Just interested in knowing what other users are doing really and why.
Thanks

Yes, if/when Canon ships a new system, it will be with a new lens mount. There will be maybe 3 native lenses, including a slow kit zoom, a slow superzoom and maybe a 17mm f/2.8 lens. If they shipped an adapted that provided aperture control and AF, that might be a point in favor of them, though the adapted lenses will only work well if the adapter includes phase detect AF (like Sonys)
Both Micro 4/3 and Sony will adapt just about any lens (manual focus only), some lenses (like Canon FD) are available used for cheap. Sony enthusiasts tend to use adapted lenses a lot (because the native AF lenses are rubbish for the most part)

I went with micro 4/3 (Panasonic GF2) because I wanted micro 4/3 (they have the most mature mirrorless system -- plenty of good native AF lenses -- Olympus 12mm f/2, Panasonic 25mm f/1.4, Panasonic 20mm f/1.7, Olympus 45mm f/1.8, and the up coming panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8, Oly 75mm f/1.8) and also picked up the 20mm f/1.7. The Sony NEX cameras have better sensors but a weaker system of lenses.

The Panasonic G3 you are considering is a good pick if you want something at a good price with a viewfinder.