Robert Collins

Somehow, I think this thread is missing the point. Personally, I think that any camera company that brings out a FF mirrorless (or DSLR) for US$1399 has a whole lot of room for excuses that its functionality is crippled relative to higher end products. (and, lets face it, the EOS-RP isnt even aimed at the typical demographic of a forum like this (or even say DPReview.)) The REAL question is whether Canon can actually come out with a 'high end camera' with specs that are competitive with its competitors - or whether there is a REAL 'Grand Canyon sized gulf' in technologies here between Canon and the others. Personally, I simply dont believe that Canon can come out with a competitive high end product because its technology is so far behind (and falling further and further back.) The reason I say this is because Canon hasnt brought out a single competitive high end ILC in the last 5 years... Take a look at their flagships EOS-M5 7D mkii 5D mkiv (5DSR) EOS-R And while some 'might' consider these cameras competitive from a 'video' perspective (due to color science and DPAF) they certainly dont come close to being competitive from a stills perspective. I suspect Canon's strategy is simply to dominate the low end of ILCs through low prices, economies of scale, fully depreciated and low R&D - then leave its major competitors to fight over the high end.

Thought this video was pretty good....

I also suspect the A9 af benefits from the extremely fast sensor readout from its 'stacked' sensor (1/160th). The A7siii is rumored to use this same sensor tech.

This looks like a decent and sensible release by Canon. The smallest, lightest and cheapest FF mirrorless on the market - will probably sell really well. Bit confused what lenses you would put on this beyond the 24-105.

What strikes me about these numbers is how unimportant the A7s series is to the A7 line. And lets face it, if Sony sticks with the smallest mirrorless FF body approach to the A7 (which is one of the attractions of the A7iii) then it is really going to struggle to be the market leader in video specs. On the other hand if it comes out with a much bigger body for the A7s series, for more effective heat dissipation, it will be directly competing with its cinema line. And to the extent it can say squeeze in 4k 60p recording why not make it a stand out feature of an A7iv?

I think it is very clear the direction that Canon is taking. They have already indicated that they are not optimistic about the overall direction of the market (expecting ti to halve over the next few years.) So they are very unlikely to invest heavily in r&d for ILCs. Their strategy seems to be to use the business as a cash cow offering very competitively priced ILCs (ie relatively cheap compared to their competitors) but which tend to fall a little short in a specs comparison. And this seems to be working out well for them - consumers seem more price sensitive than spec sensitive. A good example would be the latest data out of Japan which shows that Canon is easily the market leader in 'mirrorless' despite being late into FF and offering relatively uninspired APSC product. https://petapixel.com/2019/01/15/canon-1-in-both-dslr-and-mirrorless-sales-in-japan-in-2018/

By the by, one of the obvious observations in photography - is that the many of the most famous photographers in history came from 'independently wealthy' families - meaning they never really needed to work for a living... Off hand, I am thinking of Ansel Adams, Cartier-Bresson, Diane Arbus, Sebastiao Salgardo, Richard Avedon but there are many more. It isnt really surprising I guess because it is far easier to create a body of interesting work if you have no pressure to earn your daily bread and butter through weddings, school pics and other commercial photography. I wonder if the same rule applies in film...

From what I recall the microlens approach was something that Leica used on their sensors in order for many of their legacy lenses (especially wide angle) to work effectively on digital sensors. (From what I recall many Leica lenses didnt work well when adapted to the Sony A7 series.) My guess is that has been carried on to the L mount. This article sort of explains (but this is all well above my knowledge base.) http://gmpphoto.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-future-of-sensor-technology-at-leica.html I am not sure the lack of BSI makes a huge difference with FFsensors (BSI makes a bigger difference with smaller sensors.) As I recall the Sony A7 moving to BSI added about 1/4 of a stop to lowlight.

Tony Northrup with a dose of cold water....

Difficult to see Panasonic surviving in the FF world....

I think it is a bit more complicated than this. I get the concept that if you are a 'video only' shooter then the GH5 (or its successor) makes more sense than FF. But FF for stills trumps M43 for stills any day of the week. So a 'video/stills' shooter will probably prefer an S1 over a GH5 for the improved stills capability even if the video doesnt quite match the capabilities of the GH5.

I am yet to really understand what Panasonic will bring to FF mirrorless that isnt offered by Nikon, Canon and Sony especially given the big three already have substantial lens line-ups in one form or other (as well as pdaf). I am just hoping it isnt 'hubris'...

I used to believe in living in multiple locations but it many ways it ties you down to those locations. Currently, I live in one location (Bangkok) but travel a lot.... Moved to Bangkok 20 years ago. Actually with the internet being universal, it is pretty easy to live anywhere you want nowadays...

Canon has maintained their market share of ILC near 50% for the last few years which is pretty remarkable considering their sensor tech is well behind. I think though, that this market share in units has been achieved by dominating the entry level cameras with eos-m and the Rebels. Seems to me they have ceded much of the FF high end to Sony (coming from a low base) and APSC high end to Fuji. Just got back fron a trip to Ethiopia with 11 Thais - just 2 x Canon (5D) and both of them had Sonys, 4-5 Sonys, 3-4 Nikon, 2 Fujis, 1 Leica, 1 Hasselblad. The problem for Canon at the lower end is that it is these cameras that are most vulnerable to erosion from Smartphones. The fact that they see a declining market also implies little investment. And as the world becomes mirrorless, I think Canon's market share is certain to decline.

Probably a bit dramatic but probably true. Olympus is forecasting a loss of US$120m on US$500m for its imaging division. Imaging has lost money 9 out of the last 10 years and revenues have fallen 85% from US$3bn to US$500m (that works out at US$300 loss for every camera they sell.). The new Olympus is an absurd product. Back to their 43 camera concept of small sensor big camera, which didnt work last time around and isnt going to this time. It is not a photography concept and while it might be a video one, it simply isnt a particularly good video camera. I would expect Olympus to shut up shop for cameras within 12 months...

I am surprised how negative Canon is on the market. Of course smartphones are catching up but isnt that already reflected in sales. Smartphones sold 1.6bn units last year that is over 100x the 11m ILC sales. Some of the market data seems almost optimistic about future sales. https://***URL removed***/news/7183637894/new-study-reveals-insights-of-first-time-interchangeable-lens-camera-owners 72% of future buyers of ILCs dont already own one. 33% of smartphone users considering buying a mirrorless.

Good suggestion (and yes I have a bunch of eye-fi cards gathering dust on my shelf for exactly the reason you mention.) Someone has just released an ios app for the A7 - Camrote - which claims to do RAW transfer via wifi (as well as provide an intervalometer.) Unfortunately it doesnt seem to work!

It is a new feature. The Sony announcement also mentions a 'new AWB algorithm' which results in 'better color reproduction'. Hopefully this will hold true as Sony's AWB isnt the best. One feature I would have liked to see added to the firmware update (that isnt) is the ability to send RAW stills to smart devices via wifi.

My 'guess' would be very little difference. Samsung has been interchanging image sensors between its own and Sony's on its Sx smartphone series for years without anyone really noticing or finding very much of a difference.

I use polar pro - well built,good quality, fit well and go on and off easily. Can’t say whether they are worth the premium price over pgytech. For the Mavic pro 2 - with its variable aperture - you really only need an nd8 equivalent to control your shutter speed and you can buy single nds at Polarpro.

DJI announced their ‘smart controller’ a couple of days ago to little fanfare and a very lukewarm reception. The chief complaint seems to be the price - @US$649. Seems not at all bad to me considering the 1000 nit 5.5inch CS screen. (Very useful here in Asia.) I guess if you don’t want that, there.is not much point.

My previous bag was a Lowepro protactic. Lowepro bags are extremely well made, good looking and comfortable. However, there was one major problem for me. The divider system was extremely fiddly and prone to falling apart. This was especially true in my case as I chop and change layouts quite a bit. My current backpack is the Peak Design 45L travel backpack which has by far the best divider system I have come across. Currently in Rajasthan with two Sony bodies, 8 lenses, a Mavic 2 Pro + stuff, ipad and laptop. I think it is well worth taking a look at - it is certainly high quality and pricey! But people tend to either love or hate Peak Design and I guess I am a bit of a fan boy (I have 2 of their everyday messenger bags.) There are plenty of youtube videos on the product..

Settings Gimbal pitch speed 12, smoothness 20 (makes gimbal movement smoother and less twitchy) Controller Expo settings .25, .10, .25 (makes yaw movement less twitchy)

Also the newer 19 9900k looks to be a nice upgrade over the 8700k if you are doing a new build. https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Premiere-Pro-CC-2018-Core-i7-9700K-i9-9900K-Performance-1254/

It would be sort of depressing if you did!!!