Editorial

Does Canon, Like Kodak Did, Run The Risk Of Becoming Irrelevant?

Oh please, how in the world can you say such a thing — even think of it? After all, Canon DSLRs are used by professionals around the world. People make a living using one. Their cameras consistently earn awards. Movies are filmed using their DSLRs. No way. Uh-uh. Not happening.

Canon is the only major manufacturer still clinging to the traditional mirrored DSLR model. Even Nikon recognized the rising popularity — though not the inevitability — of the mirrorless DSLRs. With their 1 Series compact mirrorless, Nikon made a timid foray into the arena, staying well to the perimeter, and may not quite believe in it themselves.

But Canon, ah, Canon doggedly refuses to acknowledge the mirrorless DSLRs are a danger at all. In fact, it’s answer is the large (larger than Four Thirds, smaller than APS-C) sensor G1 X, a point-and-shoot with prosumer ambitions. If you’ve been reading the G1 X reviews we’ve linked to today and the past few days, you’re by now becoming very aware that the G1 X just does not cut it. How do you make a camera in this day and age that is so sluggish that it is good only for landscape photography? How do you justify the sticker price you slap on it so it competes with the compact mirrorless with interchangeable lenses and high resolution EVF? Someone at Canon obviously is suffering from the same “Hold the fort” mentality so prevalent at Kodak as digital gnawed away at their film business.

My money is on the table that Canon will introduce its compact mirrorless sooner than later and, if the minds that brought the EOS revolution still resides there, we may well see a mirrorless revolution at Canon too. Or maybe, we won’t.