Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Very interesting article discussing why Canon is not always first but when they do come out it is not like Sony where the first 4-5 iterations are garbage and full of flaws and needing corrections.

Canon does have firsts as well like use of CMOS and the incredible EF mount that left ALL others in the dust for nearly 30 years. It discusses that the R mount was in development for a long time as well.

RedShark Editor in Chief, David Shapton, sits down with Yuichi Ishizuka, President and CEO of Canon Europe, Ltd and Managing Executive Officer - Canon Inc.
When you think about it, we have a strange relationship with a lot of companies. We know their names so well that they could almost be part of our families. We know their products because we have probably grown up with them and seen them grow through multiple generations. We may even have met staff from the company at trade shows, and met other end users, especially if we’re professionals.
But how well do we really know the company itself? My guess is not very well.
But all of that changed for me in the space of half an hour, when I sat down to interview Mr Yuichi Ishizuka, President and CEO of Canon Europe, Ltd and Managing Executive Officer - Canon Inc.
Mr Ishizuka is a cultured and thoughtful person. He’s also steeped in the history of his company. That’s important, because a recurring theme is that Canon’s heritage - which stretches back over seven decades - is an essential part of the modern company. When you have that sort of history, it’s going to be much, much harder to make products that aren’t good.
Of course, in 30 minutes, we were only able to scratch the surface. We are going to follow up this interview with a much more in-depth one as soon as we can. But here’s what I learned, just to give you a flavour - in the order that follows, simply because the course taken by our conversation.
R system
While this is a very new lens mount system, the planning behind it went back a long way: hardly surprising when you consider that its predecessor lasted over thirty years. The new system needed more bandwidth - physically manifested as more pins on the mount.
The R system is NOT just for mirrorless cameras. It is relevant to all of Canon’s camera types - including video
Speed to market
Canon has three fundamental technologies that are world-leading: Optics (lenses), sensors and processors. Because it makes these, it has full control over them. So it’s not surprising that Canon wants them all to work together to their full potential. That’s not easy. They’re working at such a high level of performance that any discrepancy could seriously affect the performance of all three elements in this technology stack.
So Canon prefers to wait until everything is just right before launching a product. There’s obviously much more to it than this but this is the essence of it.
Mirrorless vs SLR
Even though mirrorless can create incredible images, there are still some areas where DSLRs are better. Currently Autofocus is better with DSLRs, and some photographers prefer to have zero latency in a viewfinder - although viewfinders are improving. So it might be between three to five years until mirrorless cameras are better in every way than DSLRs.
Co-operation
Canon is very open to working with other manufacturers where to do so might speed up the availability of a product. Working with Atomos is an example.
R&D
An astonishing 8% of Canon’s revenue (note: revenue, not profit) is spent on R&D. It’s a never-ending quest. Some of this research goes back a long time. Canon was the first company to put a CMOS sensor in a camera. The first product was in 2003, but CMOS had been in R&D since 1985!

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

There are Pioneers and Settlers. Pioneers take most of the arrows or bullets and settlers take the land. A few overlap...

catchlight.. Loc: Wisconsin USA- Halden Norway

... the point?

Technology is fed to the public in stages. Much like the auto industry, or things like cell phones or televisions. The best is yet to come, but to keep the public wanting more... that may be slower than you think.

Some day the the apple 225 will come out with 4 billion megapixels and 50 megabites of RAM... but not until the other 224 versions have been exhaustively outdated...

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Clueless?

catchlight.. Loc: Wisconsin USA- Halden Norway

I am clueless then myself on what you are saying,

Your point to why Canon is so good and then so bad? ... and the idea that Sony is inept when it comes to what they feed to us first?

maybe post the link.

(information you paste from a website is best quoted).

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

This just might generate some discussion.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Right! And I find that very annoying. Despite what companies might say, they keep some features in reserve for the next version of their product, and they keep raising the price.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Humm... seems like there are three political parties at work here... Canon, Nikon, and Sony... who will win the next innovation of the year award???

SonyBug

Your post shows that you really are a "fan-boy" for Canon. Every manufacturer that provides value to the consumer deserves to, and will live for the future. But for you to categorize Sony's first iterations as "garbage" shows your lack of depth and insight.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

khorinek

I'm not sure how this article will make us all better photographers, but at the risk of being admonished I will give my opinion. I believe Nikon and Canon are the world leaders in Photography equipment and in the development of that equipment. Sony, Pentax, Fuji and others are close but not at the scale of Nikon and Canon. My experience with Nikon and Canon shooters goes like this, Nikon does an excellent job in the studio and I believe that is the place Nikon has put there efforts. Canon has built rugged outdoor equipment that can withstand the harsh outdoor environments and do well with sports and wildlife, etc. I'm not bashing Nikon, just that there are fundamental differences in the way the two companies have designed their equipment. With that being said, both companies are on the edge of new technology every day. When one company come out with a new product, the other is not far behind and usually with a far better product than the other. Look at mirrorless cameras, Nikon has had a mirrorless camera out for awhile, even though it hasn't had great reviews. Canon came out with the EOS R system this year and even though it still needs some improvements, was far better than the Nikon Mirrorless. In a few years Nikon will come out with a better mirrorless system than Canon and so and so on. It's called free enterprise competition. The Japanese are the best at it. Back in the 80's Ford, GM and Chrysler had to make better cars to keep up with Toyota. You have to keep up or you get left behind. Now that I've digressed, how does this article make us better photographers?

gwh1bass

Can’t agree with much here, except maybe the 80’s car statement

BebuLamar

I don't care who win the award. I want to know who will make good cameras. Award winning cameras are not good cameras.

Canisdirus

Not sure why anyone would expect a Canon Rep to say anything different.
Best spin possible ... at all times.

Is he going to say ... hey, we were complacent about the market. We underestimated the innovation of an electronic company (Sony) in every way possible. We should have bought Minolta up. We should have been more responsive to the changes companies like Sony, Pan & Fuji were bringing to the market.

He's not going to say that ..... now is he.

gwh1bass

If Award winning cameras are not good cameras, award winning cameras must be BAD cameras. Award winning means bad. I’m concerned with that statement.