More R5 info

[John_SD]

Hopefully this won't get deleted, but Tech Radar interviewed David Parry of Canon (a product marketing specialist) and asked several questions about the R5. Some interesting stuff. I look forward to the camera's release. The last time I posted some info about the R5, in which a Canon source confirmed specs, our crackerjack mods deleted it almost immediately. 

[wq9nsc]

I am with Ernie on this one.  Canon (the competition also) hasn't created a compelling reason for me to go mirrorless.  I don't want a lighter body because I like the way the heft of the 1 series provides a counterbalance to the heavy glass.  Battery life is important to me because I will shoot a lot of images at a sports event.  But most critically, an EVF is inferior to an optical viewfinder for fast action sports.

I will happily adopt new technology when there is a compelling reason to do so but mirrorless of itself doesn't yet provide a better total platform compared to a DSLR.  AF performance is incredible with the 1DX series and at 10 minutes or less to calibrate a lens I am happy to stay with the excellent AF system in those bodies. If mirrorless provided noise and sharpness performance at ISO 25,600 equivalent to ISO 1,000 I would jump on it in a heartbeat.  But just because it doesn't have a mirror isn't sufficient reason to get a lot of us to switch.  So count me out of the evangelical mirrorless movement for now 🙂

Rodger

[Waddizzle]

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not about to jump ship to the EOS R system, either.  I doubt if I will, because I am too old and too invested in the EF mount.  If I had to recommendation a path for someone just starting out, I would not encourage them to rule the RF mount.  

[wq9nsc]

I agree Wadidizzle with the caveat to make sure it is the right system for them regardless of design/technology. 

Photography beyond the phone type is fighting an uphill battle for a large part of the consumer market because so many are happy with the convenience of the camera that always goes everywhere with them and is already mirrorless.  For that group, the larger mirrorless body with the required larger lens which provide the additional capabilities are still huge and heavy compared to their phone. 

A natural for mirrorless design is at the compact, integrated lens, low price end of the market to provide a step up above typical smartphone capability.  But a mirrorless in the same size range as traditional "35 mm style" bodies probably won't be any more succesful than the various digital/HD radio systems have been in keeping a large segment of the younger generations listening to broadcast radio because they prefer the other alternatives and attempts to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear fail. 

To be sucessful, companies will have to hit on a product that does something that the target market really values and does it well and investment in developing mirrorless and a new line of lenses optimized to it is likely to provide a ROI that causes companies to refocus resources on product lines with a better rate of return.  Corporations are cold and logical beasts because they have to be and if money invested in still imaging products doesn't appear likely to offer equal or better returns than other lines then they will be subject to pruning.  Most of us have spent most of our lives in a time when video wasn't nearly as convenient or practical to shoot and view as it is now and instead of "pixel peeping" for high quality stills the mass market craves entertaining video and given the popularity of "reality TV" and the "amazing fails" genre on Youtube, neither technical nor content quality is held to a high standard.  Many local news stations happily run video shot with smartphones from their viewers in a sign that content is far more important than quality currently.  At one point, the home entertainment market at the better end focused upon creating realistic reproduction of the source material but the home entertainment industry has strayed very far from that concept and the idea of highly realistic capture of events in photography has similarly moved heavily into "artistic" edits of captured reality. 

Rodger

[ebiggs1]

"And do you seriously think you can resist trying out the R-mount version ..."

Yes!    No interest at all.

[ebiggs1]

"I do not subscribe to the belief that one is too old or has had too many cameras ..."

John you are simply not old enough or you don't have "too many cameras/lenses" to know!   I am and I do.

[ebiggs1]

" I am too old and too invested in the EF mount."

Bingo!  Been there done that!  Canon got me once to the tune of many zeros behind the $.  It AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN again.

One big reason now is old age.   I didn't have it then but I do now.

[John_SD]

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@ebiggs1 wrote:

"I do not subscribe to the belief that one is too old or has had too many cameras ..."

John you are simply not old enough or you don't have "too many cameras/lenses" to know!   I am and I do.

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You have it right on both counts! Not a problem, though, as you older DSLR gents will leave more space for us in the pre-order queue. 🙂

[RobertTheFat]

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@John_SD wrote:

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@ebiggs1 wrote:

"I do not subscribe to the belief that one is too old or has had too many cameras ..."

John you are simply not old enough or you don't have "too many cameras/lenses" to know!   I am and I do.

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You have it right on both counts! Not a problem, though, as you older DSLR gents will leave more space for us in the pre-order queue. 🙂

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Maybe this time, but don't count on it for the future.  For example, I'm older than Ernie, but I'm not ready to promise not to buy another camera. And if I do, it will be a mirrorless. They're the future of serious photography, whether one likes it or not.

[John_SD]

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@RobertTheFat wrote:

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Maybe this time, but don't count on it for the future.  For example, I'm older than Ernie, but I'm not ready to promise not to buy another camera. And if I do, it will be a mirrorless. They're the future of serious photography, whether one likes it or not.

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You are correct. Mirrorless is not only the future of serious photography, (and increasingly, casual photography) but pros all over the world are also starting the make the switch. For all practical purposes, the day of the DSLR is coming to a close, whether one acknowledges it or not. Doesn't mean that the DSLR will not continue to function, it just means that they will soon be relics of the past. 

[Waddizzle]

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@John_SD wrote:

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@RobertTheFat wrote:

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Maybe this time, but don't count on it for the future.  For example, I'm older than Ernie, but I'm not ready to promise not to buy another camera. And if I do, it will be a mirrorless. They're the future of serious photography, whether one likes it or not.

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You are correct. Mirrorless is not only the future of serious photography, (and increasingly, casual photography) but pros all over the world are also starting the make the switch. For all practical purposes, the day of the DSLR is coming to a close, whether one acknowledges it or not. Doesn't mean that the DSLR will not continue to function, it just means that they will soon be relics of the past. 

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I agree.  I forgot the caveat that I am not inclined to heavily invest in RF glass because of my EF glass.  If I had to buy a new camera, it would almost certainly be a Canon mirrorless.  The horrific buffering in the Sony bodies makes all of them complete non-starters.