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What next for Canon?

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shadowblade:
With the D850 announced, it becomes pertinent to ask what Canon has prepared in response.

In the D850, Nikon has a camera with the AF to track fast action with the best of them, the frame rate to not miss the moment, lots of pixels for cropping and enough resolution to do a good job with landscapes (although it may be eclipsed in the latter role sooner rather than later).

Canon has no obvious answer on the horizon. The 5D4, while being the most similar body, is way behind in capability while being around the same price, and would likely be matched by an updated D750 at a far lower price point. The 5D5 isn't due for two more years and would require a huge leap in capability just to match it. The 5Ds is in a different category altogether - it's a slow studio camera that's not great at high ISO (and has limited DR at low ISO) - and any replacement, even if they were to make it a balanced body like the D850, would still have the price issue. Too expensive and the D850 will undercut it, likely by USD1000 or more. Price it competitively and the 5D4 would be pointless, unless they also dropped its price by USD1000.

Will Canon launch a new line (3D)? Elevate the 5D to a higher standard, to match the Nikon? Or will they continue to ignore the competition and live off the momentum and brand loyalty they created 10 years ago and have done little to maintain since? They lost many non-action shooters with the D800 and A7r. The D850 may well do the same for action shooters, if Canon doesn't answer.

hogloff:
Be interesting to watch what Canon does. Will it try to match Nikon's all in one camera or will it still deliver multiple cameras focussed on different needs. On the one hand, delivering an all in one camera might just limit their revenue as people migrate to a one camera system...away from multiple cameras for each niche.

I'm not sure Canon is at the same financial stage that Nikon is at. Nikon needed to deliver a home run...or it would have been in big financial trouble...Canon not so much. So I think Canon will continue it's progress like it always has as it has worked nicely these last few years gaining market share over Nikon. I see them focusing on a high speed 1DX line and a high res 5d line as their main pro quality cameras as it's been working for them. Nikon had no choice but to mix things up...their status quo was not working for them.

BernardLanguillier:
The thing is that Nikon has had a signigicantly superior offering for many years in the high end segment. The 3 years old D810 was still competitive against the 5DIV on photographic skills. The D850 now creates a very large gap but the 5DIV is a good body in absolute terms and most Canon users will stay happy with it.

The relative financial troubles of Nikon (they have been profitable all along) have mostly come from poor marketing towards the lower end.

So rather than direct impact, the key value of the D850 may IMHO be in its ability to spread the word that the best DSLRs, by far, are in Nikon line up. That may have important trickle down effects.

Canon will probably not be able to beat the D850, their best play is probably to sweeten the deals in the mass market segment.

Cheers,
Bernard

shadowblade:

--- Quote from: hogloff on August 24, 2017, 10:37:49 pm ---Be interesting to watch what Canon does. Will it try to match Nikon's all in one camera or will it still deliver multiple cameras focussed on different needs. On the one hand, delivering an all in one camera might just limit their revenue as people migrate to a one camera system...away from multiple cameras for each niche.

I'm not sure Canon is at the same financial stage that Nikon is at. Nikon needed to deliver a home run...or it would have been in big financial trouble...Canon not so much. So I think Canon will continue it's progress like it always has as it has worked nicely these last few years gaining market share over Nikon. I see them focusing on a high speed 1DX line and a high res 5d line as their main pro quality cameras as it's been working for them. Nikon had no choice but to mix things up...their status quo was not working for them.

--- End quote ---

The D850 isn't just a do-it-all camera - it also fulfils a key niche that, up until now, has been poorly-filled.

For the first time, it offers a camera with enough resolution for cropping, having as high a pixel density as crop cameras of the day (e.g. the 20MP D500) while having a high enough frame rate and top-tier AF system to track and capture fast action. This makes it uniquely suited for long telephoto use when shooting wildlife and field sports, as well as for other action where cropping is expected for compositional reasons.

The 1Dx2 doesn't do it - it lacks resolution for cropping. The 5Ds doesn't do it - it's too slow in several different ways. The 5D4 does it poorly, not really having enough resolution (13MP when cropped to 1.5x), a slower frame rate and AF that doesn't quite keeo up with the top tier. Just having a 1Dx2 and 5Ds doesn't fill the role, since resolution and speed/AF are required in the same camera.

stever:
With Sony's enormous cell phone sensor business and the R&D and production facilities it supports - it's Canon's big problem, not Nikon.  Nikon's advantage on Canon now is Sony's one year old sensor technology - Canon lags Sony sensor technology by 2 years +.  So far, Sony has enough usability issues to prevent mass defection from Canon and Nikon, but these issues decrease with every generation of Sony camera (and Sony's generations last about half Canon's).

Canon needs to make some big leaps to catch up or decide that they can ultimately afford to lose the camera business.

disclosure - i'm a Canon user and will be for at least a while longer.

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