Canon interview at Photokina 2014 - 7D Mark II - Magic Lantern - and moire

[rishio]

Thank you for a real interview. Most interviews I read are from sites afraid to ask the hard questions and they look more like cheerleaders working with the marketing department. I enjoyed the respectful push to get important questions answered.

[Quirky]

 

That was embarrassing. Painful even. 

What a couple of rubes!  (The Canon reps, I mean.) That was fucking pathetic!

 

How so?

That sounded like pretty typical and quite predictable stuff from the Canon reps on a business fair, I don't see anything to get all worked up about. Most of those answers were just fine, pretty standard stuff. More or less what one could realistically expect.

[Danyyyel]

Canon knows that on one side they have a large market inertia because of their lens system. A lot of people and pros don't go onto the web to inform themselves, just the name of Canon is enough for them and at worse when you try to discuss, the argument of Magic Lantern is the answer. They won't look that they can mos of these function already in some cameras or that you can get cheap screen with peaking/ false colour/zebras and even vectroscope. The last thing they will tell you is that they can get RAW, even if 99% of them have never used it or cannot because of the size and work-flow with the data.

 

On the second hand, a big bunch of the videographers who came to DSLR for large sensor camera because it was the only affordable solutions 4 years ago will or have happily moved back to dedicated video cameras and will pay the extra or rent as they used to do.

 

So don't expect too much from them for a while. They will be the last to implement 4k, high fps etc. Last year they still sold about 50% of DSLR and its more on the low end compact that sales are plunging. They will only change their stance if there are big market shift, but it will take much more time that we believe becuase of the market inertia.

[Danyyyel]

I forgot to add that when thy will give you 4k in their dslr it will look more like true 1080p than true 4k as they are doing with their dslr now with their 720 supose 1080p rez camera.

[johnnymossville]

Did you notice any tumbleweed rolling through the Canon booth when you stopped by?   I imagine it was pretty lonely out there. 

[bertzie]

Is the 7D Mark II predominantly a stills camera then?

 

 

The fact that this question was asked makes me very seriously question the intelligence of the consumer market, and I didn't have much confidence in their intelligence to begin with.

 

Major points for the rep not answering it with "No shit dumbass"

[tyger11]

Canon: The IBM of camera makers.

 

They may think their lens line will save them, but Sigma begs to differ, and Tokina sees the cine writing on the wall, too.  :)

 

Once Sigma starts making cine lenses, and Rokinon figures out AF, that'll be that for a lot of Canon videographers. I'm just glad I was able to hack my EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS to work with my SpeedBooster/BMPCC.

[someguy]

Canon will always put photographers first, once you realise this you will sleep easier. There are plenty of options out there for you to choose for video including their Cinema EOS line.

[leebrandt33]

There is NO WAY that Panasonic, Sony, or gh4 have better image quality than Blackmagic cinema and Pocket. And please don't bring up resolution, cause I don't care about that element. When it comes to color science and dynamic range, and subtleties of these images, Blackmagic is better.

[leeys]

The only meaningful answers are the ones you get from the top guys like Masaya Maeda, and as you can see in the dpreview interview, they are also mostly talking shit. 'Canon sensor is the best', right. 'Canon is and has been very serious in the mirrorless market' - uhuh!

That bit cracked me up:

 

We’ve actually been serious about it since the very beginning.

 

Cue the EOS M. If that's serious I don't know what half-hearted will look like.

[AaronChicago]

I always wonder what percentage of DSLR or mirrorless handheld cameras are used for majority video.

[tosvus]

Well...That was awkward.. Canon hasn't woken up yet apparently.

[Clayton Moore]

There is NO WAY that Panasonic, Sony, or gh4 have better image quality than Blackmagic cinema and Pocket. And please don't bring up resolution, cause I don't care about that element. When it comes to color science and dynamic range, and subtleties of these images, Blackmagic is better.

No question there is a great deal to like about the BMCC, I have used one quite a bit.  Fact is however its more then just how it looks per se.  Given the BMCC horrid ergonomics, if it were $8-10,000 it would not be such a big deal in the market place.  Its the dollar to image ratio that makes it a huge winner.  Having said that its economics and the lack of many features other cameras have, that make it vulnerable going forward if they don't evolve it more.

[tomekk]

I think similar but slightly modified (to the Cinema line vs competition) questions should be asked at a video related event. It was pointless from the beginning in here. 

[graphicnatured]

I agree, Clayton. There is so much to love about the image from BMCC and BMPCC. If I were planning out a commercial or short and had everything figured out ahead of time, I would go Blackmagic. I cannot afford RED or Arri. For everything else, and that is a lot, I'm going with a GH4 or A7s. It provides everything BMCs don't: ease of use, frame rates, A7s ISO, but ease of use, and as Clayton responded with ergonomics mean everything when I'm on a job, most of the time. I have enough to stress about (audio, talent, getting there, do I have all my stuff, backups of everything, cards, batteries, lighting, etc..) If my camera requires more than others on top of that, I'm simply not grabbing it. I LOVE the image out of the BMC cameras and would never dog it, just wish they were easier to use, as they would be perfect.

[graphicnatured]

Also, I'm not sure I buy that professionals and other don't do any research online. They must to even know what is available, really. I think people are just skewed toward familiarity. People will gladly sink with the ship knowing the board they cling to is the one they chiseled their initials into.

[Edward Zaee]

WTF? Lol, they have lost all my respect. Their arrogance is unbelievable.

 

Next...

[dafreaking]

I doubt Canon really cares what readers of this blog/forum think about their product. Guess they'll probably update the Cx00 line over the next couple of years but sadly I doubt they'll give us specs like the upcoming FS7. 

[mikegt]

In the DPreview interview of Mr. Maeda of Canon, when asked why the new $1,800 7D Mark II does not have WiFi (but the cheaper 70D does), he replied:
 

...we have a solution with the optional Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E7A.

 

I looked up the price of the "WFT-E7A", it's $850 !  You can get an Eye-Fi card for $50, so I am wondering how Canon can justify charging seventeen times the price for their solution.

 

Mike.

[Andrew Reid]

In that same DPReview interview Maeda San claimed WiFi wasn't possible because of the construction of the 7D Mark II's chassis. What's it made of, lead?

 

The D750 has a carbon fibre chassis and built in WiFi. More expensive to produce.

 

Excuses are bad enough, but if you have to lie to your customers in forming such excuses, it's doubly bad.

 

I was told by Canon when the 5D Mark III came out that it lacked full 1080p HDMI because the hardware wasn't capable of it, then along it came later in a firmware update, so I know they lie to their customers. I have seen it for myself.