Canon wants to be number one in the overall ILC market

DPreview’s recent interview with Go Tokura and Yoshiyuki Mizoguchi from Canon at CP+ in Japan reveals certain interesting insights into the company’s overall direction for the future. Perhaps most interesting would be the fact that they haven’t placed a time frame on when a professional-level EOS M model will be released, which leads us to think they still aren’t quite ready to consider mirrorless cameras as a viable professional option.

Here are some of the more interesting quotes from the interview, and you can read the entire piece here.

On whether they see mirrorless eating into demand for their regular series cameras like the Rebel DSLRs:

“We’re letting the customer, market and demand tell us how we should go about approaching different regions. Because if you’re looking at a market with a high level of mirrorless penetration, we would obviously look to push forward with the EOS M series in that region. And we will watch and see: are Rebel users moving on to the EOS M? Frankly, if that becomes inevitable, it is something we will support. Having said that, overall we are looking to simply be number one the combined SLR and mirrorless market, offering a total package.”

On the potential for Dual IS in Canon mirrorless cameras:

“We do get customers saying they want more and better IS. However, in the mirrorless market for us, it's all about satisfying the desire for a small, light-weight camera. In terms of introducing sensor-based stabilization into our EOS-M series, I think it will add weight, which might deter some of our mirrorless customers. Which is why we think optical IS is the way to go for us.

That said, we are aware that our competitors have already introduced this style of sensor-based stabilization. And we do see the merits of having optical and sensor based IS working together. What we’re looking at is trying to evolve ourselves in terms of developing technology so that we can downsize and reduce the weight of a sensor-based IS system.”

On whether Canon foresees mirrorless cameras at major sporting events:

“It's difficult to project into the future. Looking at mirrorless and its current state at the moment, and the timeframe between now and 2020, I don’t think I can envisage mirrorless at the Olympic games.

People [like Reuters, AP etc.] who come as press to something like the Olympics and bring their own gear, obviously they can’t make mistakes - its a once in lifetime opportunity. So my guess is the majority will still be using the cameras they are used to for the time being. In other words, DSLRs.”

Source: DPreview

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