Camera Random Neural Firings addendum: Something new and Canon

Recently created a post that spoke to the recent Nikon full-frame mirrorless news.  Conveniently for me, I can mostly recycle much of the last post with additional notes. See below. New text in italics.

New and Nikon Canon:

You may have heard that Nikon Canon made an announcement this week. Not like it has received much press.

I do think Nikon has a leg up on Canon in this. Canon has more on the line with their new mirrrorless in my humble opinion. Due to there being at least 2 serviceable Canon EF to Sony E AF adapters I personally know of a few people who have already jumped the Canon ship for Sony. The last I heard the one AF Nikon to Sony adapter on the market has been bricking Sony’s in some cases. I personally know of a few Nikon shooters who want to jump to Sony but are not because changing out all of their lenses for Sony would be prohibitively expensive. If Nikon creates their own viable adaptable full frame mirrorless before someone else finds the Nikon to Sony Rosetta Stone they could keep the mirrorless converts in-house. Anyhoo here is my take on this underground story.

1. I want Nikon (and later Canon) to be successful with their mirrorless endeavors.
2. Most of the specs are quite impressive. Been covered far and wide and I am glad.
3. Three things caused Sony to catch a lot of flack for Gen I and Gen II cameras. Poor battery life, one card slot, and slow focusing. All fixed in Gen III Sonys. Counting on Nikon to nail AF, but two things baffle me:
   • Battery life may be so-so. Have heard on the internets that shot count on a battery is 330. I can cope with carrying extra batteries, but for the sake of Nikon Canon I hope this is not true. If it is true I am not sure why Nikon Canon would let this happen after what Sony went through.
   • One card slot. Good gravy have I heard the drumbeat of grumbling DSLR adherents because Sony started with only one card slot. This one is true and I am not sure why Nikon Canon would let this happen after what Sony went through.

Deal breakers? Not for me (but there are some noted below). I bought into Gen I and Gen II Sony (among other things). If I was a Nikon Canon customer I would be all over this… maybe. The D850 5D Mark IV is awesome and I would possibly wait it out to see if there are any Nikon Canon bugs that need to be worked out first before taking the leap. And lastly, I hope Nikon can deliver actual cameras. According to the camera shop the D850 has been out for quite a while and they still are not easy to get a hold of. I am really pulling for them. The more viable alternatives, the better it is for the consumer.

Additional notes:

• While I like MP I do not know if I would be willing to pay an extra $300 over the asking price for an A7iii and the recently released Z6 for 6 extra MP. Would prefer 24MP and a lower price tag.
• The deal breaker. No IBIS. I would not buy a new camera without IBIS. Had it with Pentax, Sony, and Olympus and I would not be able to go back. Love it for vintage glass.
• While the lens specs impress their size, weight, and cost do not. Especially considering that the most impressively spec’d lenses do not have IS.
• I hear continuous Eye Focus will be added with firmware, but this not being included at launch gives pause. A risk to buy based on an untested future feature.
• Crop 4K. I rarely shoot video, but would not be interested in dealing with different fields of view for stills and video.
• Have no doubt that this camera will be a very capable device able to create wonderful images. But I do not see it as making a compelling case for itself given established and other new competitors.

All this being said I do wish both Nikon and Canon success in general and also for selfish reasons. Generally choice and competition benefits customers. Selfishly it is my hope that having two major players added to the full frame mirrorless market will increase the availability of quality 3rd party full frame mirrorless lenses for all. I wish them all success.

Well, that concludes this ramble-fest.

Happy shooting.

-ELW