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CANON - The Great Innovator (was: CANON – The Great Pretender)



 
 
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  #1  
Old August 20th 04, 04:28 AM
Steven M. Scharf
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Default CANON - The Great Innovator (was: CANON – The Great Pretender)

"nikonpro" wrote in message
...

Canons stroke of genius also became its achilles heel. By throwing
away the FD mount they alienated many followers, but the AF was fast,
smooth and USM with sharp "L" glass mounted on EOS-1's became
familiar everywhere.


Canon did what they had to do, regarding lens mounts. It was not genius,
nor was it an Achilles’ heel. Canon changed from the FD mount to the
EOS mount, because the FD mount was not capable of taking them where
they wanted to go in terms of lenses, and in terms of ending Nikon’s
dominance in the professional segment. Canon succeeded beyond their
wildest dreams.

Canon did not alienate many followers, since there were (and still are)
adapters available to use FD lenses on the EOS mount. And Canon didn’t
have much of the pro market to alienate--they were mainly in the amateur
market with the popular AE series.

The Canon FD mount cameras did not become unusable when the EOS mount
was introduced. Most people (at least knowledgeable people) understood
why Canon did what they did, and accept that manufacturers do sometimes
have to make revolutionary, rather than evolutionary, changes to their
products. You wouldn't see all the BWLs at sporting events if not for
the EOS mount.

Nikon also desperately wanted to update from their F mount, but they
were absolutely terrified of what their customers would do, fearing that
it would give the pros an excuse to defect to Canon’s superior new
mount. This was a valid concern, but as it turns out, many pros defected
to Canon anyway, since they couldn't get the lenses they wanted on the
Nikon mount. Nikon could have gone the same route as Canon, and enabled
owners of old mount lenses to use them on bodies with a newer, more
capable mount.

You can read a good account of the Canon EOS story at:
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography...eos/eoscamera/

Nikon's decline, among both professionals and amateurs, and in both film
and digital, is only partially related to their antiquated F mount with
the small diameter. Their failure in the professional digital SLR space
is due to their lack of a full frame, or even a 1.3 crop factor, high
resolution sensor. Interestingly, one of the reasons that Nikon is
unenthusiastic about full frame is because their lens mount is not well
suited to digital full frame.

The Kodak full frame digital, with a Fill Factory 14 megapixel sensor,
and a Nikon lens mount, has flopped due to the noisy sensor, but it
would have flopped no matter what because full frame won’t work well
with the small lens mount and the tendency for CA at the edges of the
glass, which is especially pronounced with digital.

Nikon has, in effect, ceded the entire professional digital market to
Canon. As of today, Nikon has nothing to compete with the Canon EOS-1Ds
or the EOS-1D Mark II.

Nikon does have a good offering for the amateur, in the D70, though the
D70 isn’t as good as the Canon 10D, it’s more comparable the Canon 300D.

Nikon has another problem caused by their lagging of Canon in digital.
Once a professional buys an expensive Canon professional digital body
such as the EOS-1Ds or EOS-1D Mark II, and a few lenses, they may as
well pick up a Canon film body to go with it (the cost of the film body
is lost in the noise of the cost of a 1Ds or 1D Mark II), and sell their
Nikon gear.

Amusingly, while Nikon has retained the F mount, and touted that they
won’t “abandon” their existing customer base, there are all sorts of
compatibility issues that need to be addressed. See:
http://www.aiconversions.com/compatibilitytable.htm

As more professionals go the digital route, Nikon will lose more and
more market share. They need to bite the bullet and update their lens
mount. There have been rumors for years (actually for more than a
decade) that such a change is imminent. Last year there was a more
credible rumor than most, that they’d have a larger lens mount, but only
for their next generation of professional digital cameras. But they are
losing market share to Canon every day, and once someone starts
acquiring EOS mount lenses, they are not going to switch back to Nikon.
Of course the other problem Nikon has is that they have no high
resolution sensors with small crop factors. Canon completely dominates
Nikon in terms of sensors. It is a real shame for Nikon that the Foveon
sensor didn’t deliver as promised, since they then would have had a
sensor to use.

Personally, when I bought my first SLR it was very close between the
Canon EOS-5QD and the Nikon 8008S. You can even see my 1994 post on
Usenet asking for advice about which to get:
"http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&edition=us&selm=1994Jun9.162306.24802%40berlioz. nsc.com"

I’m very glad I chose Canon, just because of how far Canon has leapt
ahead of Nikon. At the time I mainly chose Canon because Nikon lacked a
28-105 lens! I think that everyone has been surprised at how quickly
Canon has gone so far ahead of Nikon, both in film and digital bodies,
and lenses. Nikon had an early lead in point and shoot digital cameras,
but Canon has since gone from very little market share in digital, to
the number 1 spot in digital (in the space of less than five years!).
Well technically Sanyo ships more digital cameras than Canon, but as a
contract manufacturer.

Someday soon we’ll be reading Harvard Business School studies of how
Nikon blew their dominance in SLRs and lenses.

It’s quite sad to see the decline of Nikon. But blame Nikon for failing
to keep up, don’t blame Canon for innovating.

  #2  
Old August 20th 04, 07:30 AM
John
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On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 03:28:57 GMT, "Steven M. Scharf"
wrote:

This was a valid concern, but as it turns out, many pros defected
to Canon anyway, since they couldn't get the lenses they wanted on the
Nikon mount.


Pro's don't use 35mm.

RB67SD. Get back to quality and stop playing with toys.

Regards,

John S. Douglas, Photographer - http://www.darkroompro.com
Please remove the "_" when replying via email
  #3  
Old August 20th 04, 07:30 AM
John
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 03:28:57 GMT, "Steven M. Scharf"
wrote:

This was a valid concern, but as it turns out, many pros defected
to Canon anyway, since they couldn't get the lenses they wanted on the
Nikon mount.


Pro's don't use 35mm.

RB67SD. Get back to quality and stop playing with toys.

Regards,

John S. Douglas, Photographer - http://www.darkroompro.com
Please remove the "_" when replying via email
  #4  
Old August 20th 04, 07:46 AM
Tony Spadaro
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

SFB Douglas is still trolling around! And apparently the dweeb is still
calling that pathetic site of his "dorkroompro". What a banana.
Hey John - have you learned how to use your enlarger yet or is is still
propping up your Yugo?
We're still waiting for your groovy new usenet forum. What was it going to
be?? rec.photo.all_the_stuff_john_cant_do.digital_35mm_ and_take_good_pichers
can't wait for a chance to post there, boyo, me lad. Sounds like a whinner.

--
http://www.chapelhillnoir.com
home of The Camera-ist's Manifesto
The Improved Links Pages are at
http://www.chapelhillnoir.com/links/mlinks00.html
A sample chapter from my novel "Haight-Ashbury" is at
http://www.chapelhillnoir.com/writ/hait/hatitl.html
"John" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 03:28:57 GMT, "Steven M. Scharf"
wrote:

This was a valid concern, but as it turns out, many pros defected
to Canon anyway, since they couldn't get the lenses they wanted on the
Nikon mount.


Pro's don't use 35mm.

RB67SD. Get back to quality and stop playing with toys.

Regards,

John S. Douglas, Photographer - http://www.darkroompro.com
Please remove the "_" when replying via email



  #5  
Old August 20th 04, 07:46 AM
Tony Spadaro
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

SFB Douglas is still trolling around! And apparently the dweeb is still
calling that pathetic site of his "dorkroompro". What a banana.
Hey John - have you learned how to use your enlarger yet or is is still
propping up your Yugo?
We're still waiting for your groovy new usenet forum. What was it going to
be?? rec.photo.all_the_stuff_john_cant_do.digital_35mm_ and_take_good_pichers
can't wait for a chance to post there, boyo, me lad. Sounds like a whinner.

--
http://www.chapelhillnoir.com
home of The Camera-ist's Manifesto
The Improved Links Pages are at
http://www.chapelhillnoir.com/links/mlinks00.html
A sample chapter from my novel "Haight-Ashbury" is at
http://www.chapelhillnoir.com/writ/hait/hatitl.html
"John" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 03:28:57 GMT, "Steven M. Scharf"
wrote:

This was a valid concern, but as it turns out, many pros defected
to Canon anyway, since they couldn't get the lenses they wanted on the
Nikon mount.


Pro's don't use 35mm.

RB67SD. Get back to quality and stop playing with toys.

Regards,

John S. Douglas, Photographer - http://www.darkroompro.com
Please remove the "_" when replying via email



  #6  
Old August 20th 04, 12:34 PM
Pål Jensen
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Posts: n/a
Default


"Steven M. Scharf" skrev i melding
news:ZdeVc.28366

I’m very glad I chose Canon, just because of how far Canon has leapt
ahead of Nikon. At the time I mainly chose Canon because Nikon lacked a
28-105 lens! I think that everyone has been surprised at how quickly
Canon has gone so far ahead of Nikon, both in film and digital bodies,
and lenses.


Canon hasn't leaped ahead of Nikon. They have always been ahead of Nikon.
The reason Nikon is loosing marketshare is the change from conservative
products to innovative cameras for pro use. When I stared shooting in the
mid 70's Nikon bodies where 5-10 years behind ALL the competition being late
in introducing any feature. This was how pros wanted it in those days. In
1979 Nikons pro offering was based on early 60's technology.
With the acceptance of electronics and power dependence a company more into
electronic wizzardry (Canon) was in a much better position than the most
conservative slr manufacturer of them all (Nikon). In fact, Nikon has spend
the last 20+ years in reinventing themselves and are no closer to Canon than
ever. In this respect Nikon has been hugely sucessful. If it wasn't for
Nikon pro base (due to a historical "accident") Nikon would have shared fate
with Topcon and Miranda.


  #7  
Old August 20th 04, 12:34 PM
Pål Jensen
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"Steven M. Scharf" skrev i melding
news:ZdeVc.28366

I’m very glad I chose Canon, just because of how far Canon has leapt
ahead of Nikon. At the time I mainly chose Canon because Nikon lacked a
28-105 lens! I think that everyone has been surprised at how quickly
Canon has gone so far ahead of Nikon, both in film and digital bodies,
and lenses.


Canon hasn't leaped ahead of Nikon. They have always been ahead of Nikon.
The reason Nikon is loosing marketshare is the change from conservative
products to innovative cameras for pro use. When I stared shooting in the
mid 70's Nikon bodies where 5-10 years behind ALL the competition being late
in introducing any feature. This was how pros wanted it in those days. In
1979 Nikons pro offering was based on early 60's technology.
With the acceptance of electronics and power dependence a company more into
electronic wizzardry (Canon) was in a much better position than the most
conservative slr manufacturer of them all (Nikon). In fact, Nikon has spend
the last 20+ years in reinventing themselves and are no closer to Canon than
ever. In this respect Nikon has been hugely sucessful. If it wasn't for
Nikon pro base (due to a historical "accident") Nikon would have shared fate
with Topcon and Miranda.


  #8  
Old August 20th 04, 01:06 PM
YoYo
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

John what are you a PRO at? ignorance?


"John" wrote
in message
...
On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 03:28:57 GMT,

"Steven M. Scharf"
wrote:

This was a valid concern, but as it

turns out, many pros defected
to Canon anyway, since they couldn't

get the lenses they wanted on the
Nikon mount.


Pro's don't use 35mm.

RB67SD. Get back to quality and stop

playing with toys.

Regards,

John S. Douglas, Photographer -

http://www.darkroompro.com
Please remove the "_"

when replying via email


  #9  
Old August 20th 04, 01:06 PM
YoYo
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

John what are you a PRO at? ignorance?


"John" wrote
in message
...
On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 03:28:57 GMT,

"Steven M. Scharf"
wrote:

This was a valid concern, but as it

turns out, many pros defected
to Canon anyway, since they couldn't

get the lenses they wanted on the
Nikon mount.


Pro's don't use 35mm.

RB67SD. Get back to quality and stop

playing with toys.

Regards,

John S. Douglas, Photographer -

http://www.darkroompro.com
Please remove the "_"

when replying via email


  #10  
Old August 20th 04, 01:39 PM
John
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 08:06:29 -0400, "YoYo"
your.business.com wrote:

John what are you a PRO at? ignorance?


Your name is perfect I see !


Regards,

John S. Douglas, Photographer - http://www.darkroompro.com
Please remove the "_" when replying via email
 




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