Canon’s Pair of Major DSLR Announcements in 2010
The last 10 years have seen DSLR’s take over the market from sophisticated SLR cameras. Remember waiting days or weeks to see the result of your pictures only once your film has been developed, far too late to retake bad shots?
Experts told me that the 10 MP mark was the point at which DLSR’s would be ready to compete with SLR’s.They were soon proved wrong Digital camera technology came up to scratch very quickly, with 2,6,10 and even 20MP’s Film was overtaken at the consumer level, long before the 10MP mark was reached.
Digital technology has sparked a massive increase in casual photography and 4 to 16 MP’s are common even in point and shoots.
The DSLR players like Canon, Nikon, Sony, Pentax and Minolta had to go beyond the MP’s to claim their status as serious cameras. MP’s are no longer a distinguishing factor. The elements that provide DSLR’s with the ability to provide great imaging has changed to:
Processers that can deliver high FPS and Great file sizes and store them in milliseconds. Lenses – Speed, light magic, autofocus and anti vibration, or stabilisation. Lens attachment technology and compatibility issues. APS-C vs 4/3 technology. A whole sub-technology in micro optics in Digital Sensor sizes. Architecture – Lenses, sensors, processor, storage. In-camera artificial intelligence, like light recognition, scene detection, face detect, blink detect, light and colour analysis.
Camera technology, especially DSLRs, have embraced a wide spectrum of leading edge scientific innovation, from micro electronics, micro mechanics, software and optics.
DSLR spend is heavily skewed in this market. Nikon and Canon claim close to 40% market share each. In a vast market, Sony, Minolta, Pentax and others make their fortunes off the remaining 20%.
Just how does each player compete in such a competitive high tech market?
Marketing obviously makes a difference. If everybody excells or can lay their hands on the technology, Brand reputation is a massive factor. A strong brand can even forgive bad technology, at least for a while.
In the race between Canon and Nikon, Canon has led with higher MP’s. Nikon has an edge with a slightly larger sensor and lower end pentaprism usage. Canon and Nikon each claim ergonomic advantages.
My own view is that Canon won the 2010 consumer DSLR round with the Canon T2i and Canon 60d See the reviews here: canon Rebel t2i and the Canon EOS 60d review.
Canon clearly understood the need and took a lead in focusing beyond the MP factors. The rapid invasion of DSLR’s into the Video market proved to be a good wave to ride. We saw a number of announcements claiming sophisticated Video technology but as newer cameras of all manufacturers were released they showed up weaknesses in the earlier models. The releases piled on the features:
Video and sound, HD video, Frames per second, True HD, live view, autofocus, live focus, in camera editing, better and better LCD technology and external sound. Not least was the spate of increases in pixel options from 640 to 1080, etc.
In this frantic race cluttered with constantly improving features, with each manufacturer trying to find just the right mix at the right price to capture more consumer spend, Canon’s EOS Rebel T2i and EOS 60D found two sweet spots, at the higher end of the Rebel range and in the middle of the very narrow Prosumer range.
Both Cameras were announced with an array of leading edge features that seemed to be right on the consumer Dollar target. The main features that made people take note and spend their well earned dollars were:
- Great ergonomics (again)
- An impressive 18MP Sensor
- True live view
- External sound Jack
- A huge array of improved in-camera functions
With these two cameras, Canon hit the sweet spot in the DSLR market in 2010. Can they follow this up in 2011? Canon’s Rebel T3i release early in 2011 seemed good on paper, but we still have to see if the market responds. The T2i and D60 at either end of the T3i seems to leave it in the shade.
Perhaps Nikon or Sony will give Canon a race this year. They are sure to respond in earnest. Nikon certainly roared back into life with the release of the D5100. Nikon and Sony are not resting on their lorals. The D5100 came out punching.
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