Above – Panasonic GH2 is ahead but for how long? High ISO test by Filippo Chiesa
Nikon and Panasonic have inched past Canon in the image quality battle in 2010 with two great updates.
The D7000 with it’s rather good sensor at high ISOs and improved video processing chip. The Panasonic GH2 making a big stride forward on it’s sensor in a short space of time and especially the image processor unit which hints at true genius within the Lumix digital imaging division. People often underestimate Lumix because of it being purely a consumer brand but Panasonic have their own image sensor fabrication plants and clearly some of the brightest engineers in the entire semi-conductors industry. As cameras get more and more electronically orientated, Panasonic as a electronics company are well placed. Of their direct competitors only Canon and Sony have the key differentiating factor of their own sensors. (Samsung are not quite there yet)
But despite all the excitement over Panasonic, my site remains ‘EOS’ HD for a reason. I made a guess at the start of the DSLR video movement that Canon would spend most of it on top.
Yes Canon have had a quiet 2010 but as I’ll reveal shortly, their strategy is the right one. It will explain why we’ve had such a long wait for the 5D Mark III, Canon mirrorless, Super 35mm XLH1 successor and no significant improvements to video quality on Canon DSLRs in ’09 and ’10.
Arms Race
Canon were involved in an expensive arms race.
I believe that to escape the distraction of pegging their product cycles to that of fierce competition at an ever increasing rate, Canon needed a new strategy.
They would lengthen their cycles on key differentiating technology like sensors, and it would give them three key advantages.
First, the longer time spent in R&D would enable them to leap ahead of the competition in the arms race, albeit with later product releases. In the meantime this would put consumers off adopting rival products if they assumed Canon would bring out something better just around the corner.
Second, it would give Canon a larger lead over competing products next time around since the better developed tech would take longer for competitors to catch up with. This would in turn allow Canon to spend longer in R&D yet again.
Third, the long delay between products would give Canon room to manoeuvre around competing product strategies, because by the time Canon’s technological masterpieces were ready to go to market, most if not all of their competitor’s cards would be on the table. In particular with mirrorless and interchangeable lens 35mm camcorders this has already happened.
In effect, the Panasonic GH1, and GF1 mirrorless, the Sony NEX system, their VG10 camcorder and the Panasonic AF100 are all mere guinea pigs and there is no point being first to the market any more.
This is what Jim Jannard meant when he said that of the Japanese manufacturers, nobody wants to jump first and it slows the industry down. But they are not sitting on their hands at the factories, even if they skip a year of updates Canon are full throttle on developing the next generation of gear behind closed doors.
Canon have been intently watching each product, which act like beacons for a ship approaching a coastline. In the case of mirrorless and the AF100, Panasonic jumped first with brave and aggressive pricing but Canon stayed deadly silent. Then Sony went to the mirrorless market to take on Panasonic, and Canon stayed silent. Nikon pulled ahead on high ISO performance with the D700 and D3S, and Canon did not respond (1D Mark IV was not full frame, and did not have the same high ISO performance as the D3S).
The performance of each of these products on the market is really good info for Canon. In effect they are letting their competitors research the market for them.
They can then combine this with key indicators from their own market research and product feedback and allows them to outmanoeuvre the competition.
It’s just right now that Panasonic have proven stronger than expected. I personally preferred using their hybrid video / stills cameras (GH1,GH2) over Canon’s more traditional DSLRs since I found it quite liberating, creatively. But it’s obvious to me that once Canon do finally release a mirrorless and a true second generation 2011 video DSLR (not the 60D, with a 2009 sensor and a 2008 image processor), they’re going to be killer.
Canon have spent far longer in the ‘off season’ developing the key ingredients.
