Clear DSLR Breakthroughs for Canon in 2010
The last 10 years have seen DSLR’s take over the market from sophisticated SLR cameras. I remember spending fortunes on film and developing and looking forward to the 10MP announcement.
It was reminiscent of the CD revolution. Some diehards remained loyal to analogue (film) technology in the belief that Digital will never make it.They were soon proved wrong The last few years have seen the MP race bounding into the teens and even 20+MP’s. Film was overtaken at the consumer level, long before the 10MP mark was reached.
In the beginning high MP’s were at a premium and cost a bundle, but these days you find mega-MP’s in Cell phones and pocket cameras.
This meant that the serious DSLR players had to come up with something (or a few things) greater. MP’s are no longer a distinguishing factor. Great photography at the DSLR level is about more than MP’s. The bragging rights now lie in:
Very fast and powerful micro processors and extensive software to boot. Lenses – Speed, light magic, autofocus and anti vibration, or stabilisation. The architecture behind the lenses, including the lens electronics vs the camera electronics and where to house the function such as image stailisation. Sensor architecture… sizes, aspect ratios, lens interaction. Architecture – Lenses, sensors, processor, storage. In-camera artificial intelligence, like light recognition, scene detection, face detect, blink detect, light and colour analysis.
The list is supremely impressive and the remaining contenders in the DSLR race have proven that they can utilize an array of technology, including optics, micro electronics and micro mechanics like no other industry can.
In this scenario, among the DSLR players Canon and Nikon stand out with around 40% market share each, Nikon leading by a slender margin. In a vast market, Sony, Minolta, Pentax and others make their fortunes off the remaining 20%.
What then makes for a winner if everyone has access to or has developed leading edge technology?
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.
Canon has led Nikon in the MP race for some time, while Nikon’s APS-C sensor is a fraction larger than Canon’s and Nikon has also managed to include pentaprism viewfinders much lower in the range than Canon without it seemingly affecting weight or price. Ergonomics… in other words ‘user friendliness’ is a strong claim by both contenders.
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.
The focus for DSLR’s in 2010 went beyond the MP race into other functions. The rapid invasion of DSLR’s into the Video market proved to be a good wave to ride. DSLRs bcame infested with video features, at first modest, but rising rapidly in sophistication. Video features were crammed into DSLR relentlessly:
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:
- Very user friendly interfaces
- HD Autofocus
- Yet again higher pixel Sensor(18MP)
- True live view
- Full HD movie functionality, with an array of recording options.
With these two cameras, Canon hit the sweet spot in the DSLR market in 2010. Can they follow this up in 2011? Canon’s release of the T3i early in 2011 seemed to continue the trend, but the market is still to respond. The T2i and D60 at either end of the T3i seems to leave it in the shade.
Watch Nikon and Sony this year. We can expect an exciting come back from both of them. 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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