Clear Winners for Canon in 2010
DSLR Technology has come a long way since breaking the 2MP barrier just 15 years ago. The days when film and develpment ate away at photography budgets are long gone.
It was reminiscent of the CD revolution. Diehards hung on to analogue (film) technology in the belief that Digital still had a long way to go.It did not take long for them to be proved wrong The last few years have seen the MP race bounding into the teens and even 20+MP’s. Film suffered a blow from the start of the Digital camera revolution.
Digital technology has sparked a massive increase in casual photography and 4 to 16 MP’s are common even in point and shoots.
DSLR manufacturers are being challenged to excell in other areas to claim elite status. MP’s are no longer a distinguishing factor. The features that provide DSLR’s with the ability to provide great imaging has changed to:
Very fast and powerful micro processors and extensive software to boot. The complimentary Optics technology we find in lenses. The architecture behind the lenses, including the lens electronics vs the camera electronics and where to house the function such as image stailisation. Sensor sizes. 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.
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%.
What then makes for a winner if everyone has access to or has developed leading edge technology?
As always, marketing plays a big role. Brand recognition will carry a product over some rough patches, but if everybody excells you need to be innovative, imaginative and hit the market’s soft spots or get into their hearts, whatever the case may be.
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. 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 60d Review.
Canon maintained the lead in the MP department but also grabbed top honours in other DSLR trends. 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:
- Live autofocus.
- Very user friendly interfaces
- Full HD movie functionality, with an array of recording options.
- Yet more in-camera sophistication
- A 3″ High Definition LCD with and anti-smudge coating.)
With these two cameras, Canon hit the sweet spot in the DSLR market in 2010. Can Canon 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. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
