topic Re: End of the Line for M Series, Finally? in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

End of the Line for M Series, Finally?

Tronhard — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 04:49:54 GMT

Canon Japan formally discontinues the last EOS-M cameras, saying goodbye to EF-M: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

If so, is Canon finally starting to reduce its legacy platforms? They are taking their lead from an article from Canon Rumors: Canon EOS-M has been quietly discontinued (canonrumors.com) In does seem that the M-series has disappeared from the USA catalogue and my local NZ catalogue listing.

Re: End of the Line for M Series, Finally?

Waddizzle — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 10:19:47 GMT

Wow, is Canon really discontinuing the M series without replacing it? That makes me stop and wonder about this news/rumor.

I never quite understood why it was not as popular in the US as it has been in other regions around the world. The initial models were not capable of remote control and shooting for some reason, which was corrected on later models.

The M series compact MILC lineup was a good match to compete with Sony A6xxx bodies. I would find it hard to believe that Canon would simply throw in the towel on that demographic.

Re: End of the Line for M Series, Finally?

rs-eos — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 10:53:33 GMT

The R-series line replaces it (EOS R50 and R100).

Re: End of the Line for M Series, Finally?

kvbarkley — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 13:14:05 GMT

"Wow, is Canon really discontinuing the M series without replacing it? That makes me stop and wonder about this news/rumor."

You make it sound like the market for interchangeable Lens cameras is growing and thriving. To survive you must be strongly differentiated from cell phone cameras and the M series was not that.

Re: End of the Line for M Series, Finally?

shadowsports — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 13:45:02 GMT

I think this decision was largely tied into size and convenience. People that want a tiny formfactor today are likely to bring their phone over a MILC camera. If you want small, the majority of people are going to pull out their phone. If you want more than point and shoot (which the M series is and isn't) then you are going all in for a larger body and lenses.

While the M series did offer significant versatility, it has been somewhat eclipsed by mobile devices. I'm OK with a larger body and am old enough now that this will probably not change. I'm willing to be inconvenienced, or to be the guy with the camera and big lenses. For others, maybe they don't want to carry or present themselves with this. I won't show up with a big camera and lens at a party or wedding, but if I'm out and about, I'll have my camera. Phones continue to get better, but I enjoy my larger camera. Smaller cameras had their place, but like it or not, mobile devices do a pretty good job now, they are all smaller and lighter than just about any M series camera, and lens combo. The M series was never for me, but I know a lot of people really liked it. There are still plenty of choices / options available.

Re: End of the Line for M Series, Finally?

deebatman316 — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 16:07:55 GMT

With the advent of APS-C RF Mount cameras. There is no need for EF-M APS-C cameras anymore. Why have 2 separate incompatible Mounts when one works for both. No to mention different communication protocols between the RF Mount and the EF-M Mount.

Re: End of the Line for M Series, Finally?

Tronhard — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 17:00:20 GMT

I'm with you Rick as regards cell phones as cameras. I will use them for things like reaching into awkward spots to record a serial number on a fridge, or take a photo of something at the supermarket. However, as far as photography goes, I want to use my dedicated cameras.
I actually still have several M5 bodies and about four EF-M lenses that are unlikely to sell, but you know what, they still take good photos, so they will have a place in my reduced arsenal of gear. I have made the decision that, at this stage, I will not invest in R-series APS-C cameras, I will wait for a larger capacity FF body that will let me work in 1.6 crop mode and still give me a good size image file.

Re: End of the Line for M Series, Finally?

Tronhard — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 17:03:05 GMT

I agree that this has been coming for a long time, and makes total sense. Canon have been supporting 5 mounts: EF-M, EF, EF-S, RF and RF-S for a while and that is totally unsustainable in the shrinking ILC market. Next on the chopping block will be already shrinking range of DSLRs and their lenses, I wonder how long that will take...

Re: End of the Line for M Series, Finally?

Waddizzle — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 17:25:37 GMT

@rs-eos wrote:
The R-series line replaces it (EOS R50 and R100).

The R50 and R100 are both entry and beginner bodies, xxxxD and xxxD bodies, with feature sets comparable to the Rebel DSLRs. The M Series had the M6, M50, M100, and M100. All of those M bodies had feature sets that were comparable to the xxxD and xxD DSLRs.

Re: End of the Line for M Series, Finally?

Waddizzle — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 17:31:48 GMT

@kvbarkley wrote:
"Wow, is Canon really discontinuing the M series without replacing it? That makes me stop and wonder about this news/rumor."
You make it sound like the market for interchangeable Lens cameras is growing and thriving. To survive you must be strongly differentiated from cell phone cameras and the M series was not that.

I did not suggest the camera markets are growing. I would disagree with that opinion of M Series bodies. The image quality rivals that of midrange DSLRs, if not better.

I do not know why M series are far more popular and widely accepted outside of the US. Rather, I do not know why M series are not more popular and widely accepted in the US.

The M series bodes match up well against the Sony A6xxx bodies, not cell phones. Nikon does not offer anything comparable. Is Canon just going to back out and let Sony own the entry level MILC market? That sounds crazy, to me.

Re: End of the Line for M Series, Finally?

Tronhard — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 17:41:32 GMT

Well, there is the R7, which I would equate roughly to the EOS 90D (I'm still waiting to see if they ever produce a 7D series replacement).
I would not equate the most of the bodies you quote, with the exception of the M50, to DSLRs - for the simple reason they didn't include integrated viewfinders. Most of the M-series were provided only with a rear LCD, which reduced the size and made them great for wider angle lenses used for social media and vlogging, but meant that using them for telephoto work was challenging as holding them at arms' length made them inherently unstable platforms for longer glass, and pretty unbalanced. That was not the case with DSLRs. The only two cameras with integrated EVFs were the M5 - which was the still photographers' camera, and the M50's which were more a hybrid vloggers' body. I still have the M5 units and prefer them over the M50 because of the EV compensation dial on the top, which is missing on the M50's. While there were adapters to add EVFs to some of the other bodies, they were clunky, fragile and negated any weather sealing statements of the modified units.
I saw the M series as the super compact travel, social and vlogging gear that offered significantly better sensors and potentially optics, over the PowerShot series which had taken a hammering at the expense of cell phones.

Re: End of the Line for M Series, Finally?

Waddizzle — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 17:41:21 GMT

“ While the M series did offer significant versatility, it has been somewhat eclipsed by mobile devices. “

The Sony A6xxx bodies are selling well. This is the direct competitor for the M series and probably the best reason I can see for why it is still around.

Re: End of the Line for M Series, Finally?

Tronhard — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 17:44:20 GMT

Agreed - but the question is why? Again, I put that down to the fact that the A6xxx series include an integrated EVF, so one can hold them to the eye for stills photography and for a more stable platform for telephoto lenses, making them much more flexible bodies. They also have killer optics and quite a few 3rd party lenses available.

Re: End of the Line for M Series, Finally?

Waddizzle — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 18:29:40 GMT

I agree. Canon has been supporting too many mounts, or it seems that way. Development for the EF/EF-S mount came to al halt with the release of the first RF lenses.

Production of EF/EF-S lenses has been winding down for a few years now. Just about all of the EF line has been discontinued. With the growing arsenal of RF-S lenses, I would expect the EF-S line to be completely discontinued pretty soon. Although it probably will not happen until the current stock of EF-S DSLRs has all but sold out.

I disagree with the comparisons to cell phones. The argument ibeing made s a valid one. Except, it should apply to all interchangeable lens cameras, not just the M series camera bodies.

There is still significant demand for Sony A6xxx bodies. If Canon were to completely discontinue the M series, then Canon would no longer have anything to offer to compete against it. Nikon has never had anything to compete in that demographic.’

The only current RF bodies that could compete are the R50 and R100. The R100 is crippled and the R50 is hobbled. They’re not good replacements for the M Series.

Re: End of the Line for M Series, Finally?

Waddizzle — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 18:41:15 GMT

@deebatman316 wrote:
With the advent of APS-C RF Mount cameras. There is no need for EF-M APS-C cameras anymore. Why have 2 separate incompatible Mounts when one works for both. No to mention different communication protocols between the RF Mount and the EF-M Mount.

One big selling point for the M Series bodies has been the compact size. The M Series bodies are arguably the same size as the M100. It is almost as if Canon put an RF mount on the next generation of M Series bodies.

That’s great, except for one problem. The R100 is not a full featured camera body like Sony A6xxx bodies. I think everyone drawing comparisons to smart phones are looking the wrong direction. The Sony A6xxx is still selling pretty strong, and the M Series sales are strong in all of those demographics, except for in the US.

Re: End of the Line for M Series, Finally?

Tronhard — Sat, 21 Oct 2023 16:45:36 GMT

I think much depends on what one wants to use these cameras for. As I suggested, I think there are several different markets for these bodies - the travel camera for both stills and video with an APS-C sensor and access to a range of interchangeable optics, and the video/vlogging market (which I suspect is now the greater) with smaller lighter bodies and access to a wide range of good wide-normal lenses.

As I also mentioned, to me (for my purposes as a compact stills camera) the vast majority of the M-series bodies were themselves limited by the lack of an integrated VF and, to a less significant extent, a missing EV compensation dial. But that is for my purposes. Certainly, I would say that the platform's demise will have different impacts for different user types. That said, one thing is clear. Canon have decided that the M platform market has shrunk sufficiently, and the offerings on their R-series bodies, now offering both FF and APS-C sensors with much more advanced features, light bodies and in some cases quite small form factors, as well as a burgeoning array of equivalent optics that they are prepared to shut up shop on the manufacturing investment.

It may well be that some folks will then move to Sony, there are lots of people who have been threating that since the R platform came out, but with Canon's market dominance, I suspect that will not deter them.

Re: End of the Line for M Series, Finally?

deebatman316 — Sat, 21 Oct 2023 12:30:13 GMT

Yes that is true the EOS M series cameras are small. So is Sony E Mount (NEX now Alpha). But the Sony E Mount was only an experiment. It wasn't originally intended to be Full Frame. Infact it was only meant to be experimental for APS-C. Sony's E Mount is infact smaller than the Minolta A Mount which was released in 1985. Which they purchased to be in the camera market. Most content creators aren't using phones or tablets to make videos. My coworker that does video work on the side uses Sony E Mount. Most content creators think Sony for video work. Not that Canon, Nikon, Panasonic and Fuji aren't around. But Sony markets there E Mount cameras to content creators more. While every other manufacturer is pushing the stills side of the camera. But there's been more of a push on the video specs now. I don't do video work only stills. So video features in a camera aren't important to me. So It won't matter if a camera can shoot 1080p vs 8K. That's a feature that I wouldn't be using anyway. I would be looking at sensor dynamic range, megapixels, AF system, dual card slots, lens selection & fps.

Re: End of the Line for M Series, Finally?

deebatman316 — Sat, 21 Oct 2023 22:50:25 GMT

I see Canon dropping support for the APS-C EF-S Mount first before the Full Frame EF Mount. Since the Full Frame EF Mount works for both camera types. Where as EF-S WILL ONLY mount on APS-C camera. Then technically RF-S isn't a lens mount. It's just an RF Mount lens with an APS-C image circle.

Re: End of the Line for M Series, Finally?

Doormat — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 16:33:25 GMT

Sorry I’m late to the party

I’ve just purchased the M200 and that completes my canon M inventory

I now have all 11 models

plus all ef-m lenses, plus the sigma 1.4 trio, plus a dozen or so Chinese primes plus all the other bits I could find, cages, leather cases etc etc

For me the canon M system is/was perfect. I used to shoot the heavy FF 5diii and a whole host of L glass, but it all became too much. The M system was such a welcome, I hoped canon would have continued.. more fast primes, a M7 following the footsteps of the 7d/7dii series. Maybe they could have recreated a Leica clone built on the M6ii chassis, forget the pop up flash and hot shoe and instead fit a built in EVF a’la lLeica m6 configuration??

But No, instead they dump the whole system and try to force the R upon us m, all that’s done is made me dig my heels in and vow to keep using my M stuff until it all dies.. then if I’m still around (and care) I’ll be off to Fuji land.

I’ve handled the R100, R10, R50 didn’t care for any thought they were a huge step backwards from the M idea.. but we know those R models above are just low hanging fruit, canon wants you to buy, become frustrated at the poor lens offerings and subsequently move up to FF R models.

Nope, ain’t gonna happen.
Canon, you’ve just lost a loyal canon user of 30yrs, nothing in your current line up will tempt me back. Luckily my 5diii’s and dozen L’s are all sat patiently by.

Biggest and most stupidest move ever by canon.

Adios

Re: End of the Line for M Series, Finally?

PPorro — Sun, 18 Jan 2026 18:30:58 GMT

I got the first M because of the size and with a fair sized pocket, it is an APS-C pocket camera with interchangeable lenses. I got the M-6 because of the improvements and it's my second camera now, the one that rides with me, everywhere. It's a travel camera, and in a tiny bag, about 7x5x6 tall, two lenses, a macro and short zoom, EFM 55-200 mounted, with a polarizing filter, a charger and spare batteries. Also a M to EF adapter. It's unobtrusive and takes wonderful images.

I understand how the R has replaced the M, and the reality of the M being an early version of pretty much the same camera. I'm disappointed that the useful and versatile small camera, has left the market. I'll probably be collecting until I get one of each lens and each version of the camera. 😎