Re-read our exchanges, there has been plenty of perfectly reasonnable refutation. You are not listening because you base your argument on some unfounded dogma about supposed Nikon inabilties.
I regard every manufacturer as 'unable' until they demonstrate the ability to do something.
So far, Canon and Sony have demonstrated numerous mirrorless-related technologies - dual-pixel technology, fast on-sensor PDAF, lag-free EVFs, etc. These have gotten better with every generation, whether implemented in mirrorless cameras or as part of the live view or video functions in SLRs or video cameras. Nikon hasn't demonstrated any for years.
I'll regard Nikon as being able to do it when they actually demonstrate that capability.
And no, I don't love Nikon to death, I just think they design the best DSLRs today and facts appear to support this belief pretty well.
Yes, they make the best SLRs. Twenty years ago, Kodak was a top film producer. And, at one stage, someone probably made better horse-drawn buggies than anyone else. They all became irrelevant when they were superseded by new technology.
I'm interested in future developments, not past ones. The end of the road is in sight for SLRs. I have no interest in investing in a system which may not make that transition smoothly. No good buying a full set of lenses now, only to have to replace them in a few years time because they won't let mirrorless bodies work to the best of their ability.
Regarding my Nikon mirrorless forecast... it doesn't derive from brand love, it derives from factual evidence such as patents, Nikon's own public comments, the current under usage of their main high end production facility in Japan and their past achievements in terms of AF and mirrorless technology. Add to this informed comments from people like Thom Hogan and it is 90% sure that we will see interesting things from Nikon in mirrorless soon.
There is little overlap between SLR and mirrorless focusing methods. Mirrorless cameras can take advantage of a lot of things not available to SLRs, due to the through-the-sensor composition and focusing (such as a lot of AI-based focusing), while some methods are available to SLRs but inapplicable to mirrorless cameras (since the AF system and the imaging system must use the same sensor). So proficiency in one system doesn't mean proficiency in the other.
Any company involved in R&D will produce a lot of patents. Most of them don't mean very much and will never see the light of day - they're registered for intellectual property reasons more than anything else. Someone even patented an automated butt-kicker - I doubt anyone's actually built one.
It's a fact that Nikon cannot make sensors - they rely on others to do so. In a mirrorless camera, the sensor is a lot more central to function than it ever was in an SLR - whereas in an SLR it merely takes the place of film, in a mirrorless camera, it's responsible for almost every function of the camera. That is, the sensor almost defines the camera. The inability to make sensors leaves Nikon at the mercy of everyone else, which isn't a great position to be in.
They could do very well as an optics specialist, producing lenses to go on Canon, Sony and other cameras. They have the production facilities and engineering credentials for that. But I doubt they will.
I love diversity and have only praise for what Sony has been doing. I have a lot less respect for Canon because in my view they have not been serving the market as well as they could/should have. But this has nothing to do with me using Nikon gear in the DSLR segment.
Canon is sitting on its laurels, which it earned in the early days of DSLRs.
But it has a lot of latent potential - financial, infrastructure and human. It has much more money than Nikon, more manufacturing capacity (sensors, electronics and optics) and just as many talented engineers. At the moment, I get the sense they're mostly sitting back, trickling out products as the market demands, while building up an arsenal of unreleased technologies that can be released in the future, rather like a military force in peacetime. All it takes is management will, or a looming threat to the company's bottom line, and it can easily kick into action again and release game-changing products.
