The Canon fight back begins - with a box

[OliKMIA]

Canon marketing at its best. How to re-brand and empty the inventory of previous generation camera. The 700D was probably the biggest joke of Canon these past few years. A 650D with 2 buttons changes.

[fuzzynormal]

but sometimes I have my doubts

​Well, that microphone looks kind of sweet.

[jax_rox]

Eh - I mean, who really cares? There are people who own RED cameras who have no clue how to expose an image, let alone light an interesting scene. There are people who started shooting on Super 8mm, or Hi-8 video who are now making quite good movies (even Hollywood ones!)

Whether or not someone is taken in by the marketing ploy or not - does it really matter? Sure none of the Canon cameras can really compete on a price vs spec level. But does that mean you can't get a great image out of them? I've seen 7D and 5D stuff blown up onto the big screen and intercut with Alexa footage. Does that mean my A7s couldn't give a better image than both of those cameras? Of course it can. So what? I like the way the A7s works, and I like the image I can get out of it. I love that I can use it as a B-cam for an F5, or Alexa or whatever. I prefer the ergonomics, the usability and the image to the Blackmagic pocket (and honestly, even the Blackmagic Cinema Cam). Many would think me stupid for having such an opinion ('haven't you seen the colours from the A7s?!!) and yet there are plenty professional filmmakers (even Hollywood filmmakers) using the camera day-to-day and producing beautiful images.

Yep - the lines of cameras they are trying to push are outdated, and outspecced by any of the current DSLMs. Doesn't mean one can't get a decent image out of it - and it doesn't mean you can't tell a good story with it. Look at Tangerine. While everyone here was busy arguing over which camera had the better dynamic range, or colour rendition, a bunch of filmmakers went out and shot a film on an iPhone, told a great story and got into Sundance, and is now opening in cinemas across the world.

And you laugh at someone who buys a 70D...

 

 

 

Maybe Canon are having their Kodak moment - though Kodak never had cinema cameras to bolster their line up... Pretty much every camera company uses this kind of marketing to push their cameras. You can laugh at the fact that their cameras are overpriced, but can you blame them for trying to push their product (which may or may not be declining in sales) as much as they possibly can?

[Andrew Reid]

Whether or not someone is taken in by the marketing ploy or not - does it really matter? Sure none of the Canon cameras can really compete on a price vs spec level.

​Of course it matters!

Are you seriously suggesting it doesn't matter that Canons are pegged at line skipped 1080p in 2015 while Sony is giving us 4K and 250fps 1080p with no moire IN A COMPACT CAMERA!?

[Andrew Reid]

And you laugh at someone who buys a 70D...

No sorry you miss the point of the article!

I own a 70D!

I am not laughing at people who use the cameras in the bundle deal... I am laughing satirically at the kind of people who might fall for the pathetic marketing ploy of an old camera in a new box with a very basic mic.

[richg101]

hahahahahaha.  great article.  That box is superb

[403K Films]

Chill out people. Seriously. 

[Astro]

I actually thought the article was brilliant and very funny, well written and very witty...jeez some people need to loosen up a little...honestly some people get so precious about this stuff.
 

 

 

 

[Eduardo Portas]

Sometimes small changes in marketing empower the consumer

to feel better about his purchase. These changes come in the box-art,

new font type, ad campaigns, etc.

I think that about sums this up: to Canon we are consumers and little else.

That's not bad in itself, but it is very traditional.

Other companies--at least that's the image they convey--actually try to produce communities.   

At the end, I think the latter is better for people with artistic tendencies, like most of the readers of this site.

For the other 99% that new Canon box will be soooo cooool ;]

[OliKMIA]

The point is that you either go for the best of what you can get in mid-2015 with this budget, which is not the the 700D + crappy 18-55 or you have a low budget and focus on creativity and you'll get a 550D on ebay for $200 that will give you the same 5 years old 1080p30. These two options are perfectly respectable but there is no good reason to buy this flashy bundle.

[Amro Othman]

Holy shit get a grip of yourself! If this is truly what you are willing to say and not just some misscarriage of a message written in a short period of anger, then YOU are whats wrong with a WHOLE lot of people on this planet.

Write all the opinion you want about products and companies and call them names and whatever, but please let other people decide on their own what to buy with THEIR money and dont call them names. How entitled do you have to feel to write shit like this!?

I really do enjoy some quality content from you Andrew and am willing to deal with some weird attitude to a lot of stuff from you, but this really takes the cake for biggest fuckup. Please stick to informing people about stuff and giving your opinion about gear/companies/weather/whatever, but NOT on consumers that buy stuff. Its everyones own decision for gods sake.

PS: I had a little vomit in my mouth when I read "If you buy this bundle you are not an artist and never will be, because you too do not care." Do you even read the stuff you wrote here?!

​

Oh lighten up. Canon deserve all the bashing in the world for selling such a POS package for that much money. As for the consumers... you can forgive some teenagers tugging at their dad's sleeve to buy this package based on the marketing. As for anybody else who isn't put off by the cheesy-ass box... 5 minutes of research on a smartphone will tell them to save their money and get a camera three times as good, a mic twice as good and still have money left over for a decent 64GB SD card...

[JeremyDulac]

Thank you so much for this, Andrew. I would also like to thank all of you who are offended by this or upset by it...it makes this article all the more wonderful. Stay up on that high horse, Andrew!!  

[Andy Zou]

​Erm! Ever heard of satire!?

​I like the article and agree with the points, but a good satire should be nearly indistinguishable from what it's critiquing, and this is a little too openly mean.  

I'm going to bet that the marketing will actually work quite well for its demographic (which is probably everyone else who isn't on a forum to talk about cameras.)

The optimist in me would love to see a dopey dad just buying this off the shelf because he figures his kid might like it and he doesn't have anymore time to spend at B&H, and who knows?  That kid may have the beginning of a new passion.

The real butts of the joke shouldn't be the consumers who don't know any better, it should be Canon, because they know what they're doing.  It'd be as if Hasbro tried marketing Easy Bake Ovens to chefs.  Canon's trying to toe the line of who they can market to, but joke's on them because an educated person isn't going to pick up their bundle and they have to resort to flashy marketing ploys.

A satire I'd like to see would be if Andrew wrote a Canon White Paper.

[JeremyDulac]

​I like the article and agree with the points, but a good satire should be nearly indistinguishable from what it's critiquing, and this is a little too openly mean.  

I'm going to bet that the marketing will actually work quite well for its demographic (which is probably everyone else who isn't on a forum to talk about cameras.)

The optimist in me would love to see a dopey dad just buying this off the shelf because he figures his kid might like it and he doesn't have anymore time to spend at B&H, and who knows?  That kid may have the beginning of a new passion.

The real butts of the joke shouldn't be the consumers who don't know any better, it should be Canon, because they know what they're doing.  It'd be as if Hasbro tried marketing Easy Bake Ovens to chefs.  Canon's trying to toe the line of who they can market to, but joke's on them because an educated person isn't going to pick up their bundle and they have to resort to flashy marketing ploys.

A satire I'd like to see would be if Andrew wrote a Canon White Paper.

I don't know how you can support ignorant spending. If you don't feel you should research your purchases to understand what you buying or that you are basically being robbed, then you certainly shouldn't mind being mocked for it..

[jax_rox]

Are you seriously suggesting it doesn't matter that Canons are pegged at line skipped 1080p in 2015 while Sony is giving us 4K and 250fps 1080p with no moire IN A COMPACT CAMERA!?

​I already addressed this - yes Canon cameras are outclasses by their competition and can't compete on a price vs spec basis in comparison to direct and non-direct competitors.

Does that mean they should just shut down their factories, recall all cameras from shelves and say 'welp, that's it for us?' 

Are their sales declining as much as we like to think they are?

Do you think it's ridiculous that Apple use marketing to sell their devices, when for the most part they tend to be out-specced by Androids?

they know what they're doing.  It'd be as if Hasbro tried marketing Easy Bake Ovens to chefs.  Canon's trying to toe the line of who they can market to, but joke's on them because an educated person isn't going to pick up their bundle and they have to resort to flashy marketing ploys.

​Not really. It'd be like putting together a pack with a portable gas burner, a pan and a couple of utensils and marketing it as a 'cook like a chef' pack.

Is a chef going to pick up that package and go 'yeah this is what I need'? No. They're not. But someone might pick that up and spark a new passion for cooking. They might pick it up and just use it for the occasional meal here and there because that's all they need. Should the company selling it to them be drawn and quartered for doing so?

I know we all love to hate Canon - I personally have never been a huge fan of Canon's cameras. But if you're going to attack Canon for this, you may as well attack any Alexa advertising that boasts the shows it's been used on because it's outspecced by RED.

[hmcindie]

Heh.

In the meantime, I shot my newest music video for a client with the 5dmarkIII, with the Sony A7s as b-cam because I hate the colors of the A7s. And damn the 5dmarkIII worked great. Things I missed after working with with a7s for three previous videos: Magic Lantern, great LCD (the colors and contrast on that back LCD kill the A7s.), colors, colors, colors. Yeah, it's soft, doesn't bother me and I have almost 20/20 eyesight! People look great, compared to oddly sick with the a7s. Actually working stabilization on the lenses (my a7s adaptor drops it occasionally), a body that a man can actually hold with his hands, record button placement, ability to use 25p PAL and 60p NTSC on the same card, pictures at the same time, just pressing a button etc.

Only things I missed from the A7s? Zooming into picture while recording, slog for those really bright sunlights. Sharp 60p. That's about it really.

[Orangenz]

Oh why can't you all LEAVE THE BOX ALONE!!!

lolo 

very good article

[roxics]

Why stop at their DSLRs? Why not complain that their point and shoot cameras aren't capable of ALEXA-like imagery?
At this point in time, anyone complaining about video on Canon DSLRs is pretty clueless. They've got an entire line of cinema cameras made for doing just what you want.
They solved this problem the right way years ago. Building actual video cameras for video use and then improving on them in the latest models.   
If you can't afford them, it's because you're not working hard enough to be the kind of person that is using them.
If you actually produced imaginative and interesting stuff that was marketable with even the cheapest DSLRs Canon offered, then you'd be getting the recognition and funding needed so that your next project could be made with these better C series cameras. 
If you're not producing work like that, then you really don't need anything more than what Canon is offering you in their DSLRs right now. You may think you need it. You may want it with every fiber of your being, but you don't really need it because what you're producing doesn't merit it.
I'm not saying it's bad stuff you're making. Just that it's obviously not important enough to other people for them to invest in you getting a better camera for it. Whether they are investing as a producer, client or consumer that you want to buy what you're making.  

What is needed is not some whizbang new toy from Canon that shoots super clean 4K raw for $800, but a reality check on your part. 
These video-centric DSLR packages are aimed at the startup filmmakers and hobbyists or even people with no technical knowhow that are looking to shoot some interviews for their organization/company/blog. 

Now I'm not saying Canon couldn't do better to compete on specs with their competitors. But they don't really need to. Their philosophy is different from Panasonic and Sony who are cramming every video-centric bell and whistle they can into their high end stills cameras. Canon already has a solid footing in the stills market. They don't need video bells and whistles to sell stills cameras to photographers who have been using their cameras and lenses for decades. Plus they have video cameras for video and cinema cameras for cinema. Everything neatly organized into the proper space.  

I'm not talking specifically about you Andrew, but anyone who thinks this way.  You're kind of an interesting guy because you can shoot with these C series cameras and yet you spend your time rabble rousing the masses over the video in Canon's cheaper DSLR offerings. I can only assume it's because you know that's where a lot of your readership is. Because once most people move up out of the low rent neighborhood into the good one, they don't typically care to revisit it, nor do they expect it to improve greatly because it is low rent afterall.    

[Mervyn]

Just keep the nice box and throw away the crappy overpriced camera.

Seriously though, what happened to the Kendy challenge?

[Jimmy]

​Hands down my favourite image at the moment is the Canon 1D C so I am not a brainless 'Canon basher'.

Yet you said you won't shoot on that once you have the new Sony... Which is why I find this article ironic.

You are the marketers wet dream... Chasing paper specs.