How will Canon compete with 4/3 sensor cameras??

[marcfs]

Hi Bob,

Have you had any experience with the 4/3 sensor cameras?
How do you think Canon will respond to the success of Panasonic and Olympus in this segment and when?
What is your guess for the attributes of a Canon 4/3 sensor camera?

Three things I have read about and find appealing in these cameras are:
•   Light weight
•   Improved IQ
•   Growing assortment of lenses at lower prices versus larger camera lenses


Marc

[Bob Atkins]

I've looked at a couple of the Olympus cameras. The image quality was good but overall I'm not particularly impressed with the 4/3 system and not really convinced it has any advantages over APS-C. It doesn't make the cameras significantly smaller and the lenses certainly aren't significantly cheaper, so I'm not really sure I see the point. The improved IQ is also not 100% clear since you need to enlarge the image twice as much as with a full frame sensor (and 1.25x as much as with APS-C) - hence it would need to be better to start with to compete with APS-C and Full frame at large print sizes.

Now the micro 4/3 system has something going for it. In that case the cameras and lenses can be quite a lot smaller.

I simply don't see Canon getting into the standard 4/3 sensor game. They have a very strong position in APS-C and Full frame and I suspect that is where they will put their development effort. I don't think they need to push 4/3, while Olympus have no other choice. They're fully commited toa 4/3.

It's possible though that Canon will do something along the lines of micro 4/3, i.e. cameras with no reflex mirror which are smaller and lighter. I don't know what their plans are and I haven't heard any credible rumors. If they did have plans I suspect that the Tsunami earlier this year may have delayed them since I'd assume that most of their efforts in the past few months (and right now) are focused on getting production and distribution back on track.

Pentax have their ("Q" system ) which puts interchangable lenses on a camera with a standard 1/2.3" P&S sensor. That's another approach though I think making the sensor so small is probably a mistake. It does make the camera and lenses somewhat smaller, but the improvement in image quality over a high end P&S is questionable. You can't get decent high ISO performance out of such a small sensor.

Speakling purely personally, I'm pretty happy with the size, weight and image quality of the better P&S cameras for casual work (and even some more serious work). They're generally smaller, lighter and more versatile than any interchangable lens cameras - and a lot cheaper. If I want something better than I'll go with APS-C. I'm very happy with the Canon EOS 7D  at the moment.

If i was Canon I might just consider looking at a fixed lens P&S type camera, but with a significantly larger sensor than that of today's generation of P&S cameras and a better lens. The issue with going 4/3 or micro 4/3 is that there isn't much point unless you develop a whole new line of smaller, lighter (and hopefully cheaper) lenses and that sounds like a big investment when you already have a class leading line of APS-C and FF bodies and lenses.

[marcfs]

Hi Bob,

A couple of friends who are serious amateurs have purchased the micro 4/3 camera.  They like the light weight, ease in travel, and are OK with the IQ.  Another friend who primarily uses the 5d MII and has a G-12 is experiencing health (back) issues and expects to move in the direction of micro 4/3… sometime in the future.

I primarily use a 7D and 40D as backup, and I have a Panasonic LX-5 with a Leica Sumicron lens (IMHO IQ is excellent).  I’m finding when I am carrying a large lens and tripod the P/S is a really good alternative to a the 40D with wide angle (LX-5 lens is 24-90mm equivalent).  I really like the 24mm f/2.0, and its video capability is good.

I’m particularly concerned about the escalating price of lenses.  I own a 500mm, and the new 500mm  lens is about double.  I know we have unfavorable exchange rates, etc, but the price/value relationship of the new lens and IQ is not in sync.

I’m wondering if we will see camera manufacturers, hopefully Canon, but if not, Panasonic, Sony etc introduce software to enhance the IQ of less expensive lenses.  I would think is technically feasible.

Regards,

Marc

[Bob Atkins]

There's only so much you can do to improve IQ via software. You can correct distortion, vigneting and to some extent correct chromatic aberration - but many manufacturers (including Canon) already do that (or have it as an option) in their DSLRs.

You can't really increase resolution, and that's the limiation on many inexpensive lenses. You can't correct spherical aberration, coma, and astigmatism in software, at least not using current technology. The use of Plenoptic systems might at some point enable additional corrections (though possibly at the expense of introducing some new problems).

One thing that would be useful (and cost nothing) would be for P&S cameras to support RAW format. The high end P&S cameras do (e.g the Canon 'G" series), but there is really no reason (other than marketing) to leave it out of lower cost P&S cameras.

Prices are rising on high quality lenses, but that's pretty much inevitable. Cameras are a maturing technology and so prices have held steady or dropped (just like other electronics like computers or DVD/Blu-Ray players and recorders) but lens manufacturing has fixed or increasing cost since you're dealing with hardware that's a mature technology. Making and polishing glass and constructing lenses is an expensive process and will likely stay that way.

There's certainly some way to go in the development of smaller, lighter, high image quality cameras, but I doubt there will be anything that will replace a full frame or APS-C DSLR with a high quality (and high price) 500mm telephoto lens!

I suspect that things like better video, GPS and 3D imaging will probably be the focus of most camera manufacturers though. Adding more bells and whistles is likely to sell more cameras than an increase in image quality.