Last week, I wrote about how Sony should build an A7 camera with a Canon EF mount. The premise behind the post was about Sony gaining market share and continuing to make bold moves. It’s a bit of a pipe dream but, holy crap, would that shake up the market.
What really needs to happen though is Canon should build a full frame mirrorless camera on par with the features we see in the Sony A7 series and that accepts EF lenses.
What we’ve seen from Canon in the mirrorless department thus far has been full of disappointment. Everything I said in last week’s article is actually what Canon should build. But, the thing is, we all know Canon won’t.
A camera like the A7 series in Canon’s line-up threatens to fragment its EOS DSLR line. As mirrorless cameras are trending up though, DSLRs are trending down.
It seems like every time a Sony A7 camera is mentioned, it is compared to Canon as a litmus test. For more and more photographers, Sony’s full frame mirrorless cameras are passing the test. The recently-introduced Sony A7R II has been the mirrorless camera to raise the most eyebrows – and specifically in comparison to the Canon 5Ds and 5Ds R models.
You can hardly read a review or a forum post about the A7R II without some comparison to the Canon 5Ds models. Most of the conclusions match the two up closely across the board – with Canon winning some areas and Sony winning others.
The big limitation for Sony A7 models right now is the lack of lenses in Sony’s full frame E-mount line-up (or ‘FE’ lenses). And that’s what drove me to suggest that Sony should build an A7 camera with a Canon EF mount. But really, what all of us Canon shooters want is for Canon to come through with a killer mirrorless camera that beats the pants off Sony’s A7 models and allows us to use our bags full of EF lenses.
Surely Canon has heard this cry from its customers. But there was no sign of the killer Canon mirrorless camera at the Canon Expo last month . . . just the EOS M3, which has fewer native lens options than Sony and is limited to an APS-C sensor.
Canon was happy to show off a 120MP DSLR. As awesome as the geek in me wants to think that is, who really wants to deal with thousands of RAW files that are each 210MB+ in size? If that’s not enough, Canon also showed us a 250MP prototype camera, which we really don’t need in a DSLR right now, along with an admittedly killer 8K Cinema EOS camera.
If Canon is developing cameras like these, why can’t it at least produce a mirrorless camera that is not DOA when announced?
Actually, we know that Canon is able to make the mirrorless camera of our dreams to rival, or even best, Sony. But for whatever reason, Canon won’t.
It’s almost like they don’t want mirrorless to succeed… And maybe if their mirrorless line doesn’t succeed, no one else will be successful in the market either.
Coming back full circle though, I think that most of us who have a bag of Canon glass and are fans of what Sony is doing truly want Canon to make a great mirrorless camera. And I think if Canon simply took a rebadged A7R II or A7S II with a Canon label and EF mount on it, most of us would be jumping for joy saying, “Shut up and take my money.”
Of course, we know that Canon can’t make the exact form factor thanks to the longer flange distance of Canon EF mount as compared to Sony E-mount, which is around 40% of the distance. But there are some smart dudes engineering these things for Canon. They can think of some creative ways to mask that difference in the flange distance for the final body.
And unless you can make an adapter that provides identical support as native lenses, I don’t even want to talk about it. And if you can build that adapter, why not just build it into the camera because it’s going to stay on the camera most of the time anyway?
What we don’t need is another mount for a full frame mirrorless Canon camera to add to EF, EF-S and EF-M mounts. I can live with a little extra bulk too. We just don’t need all the extra bulk and weight for the mirror assembly and pentaprism. There are also over 110 million EF lenses floating around out there. The owner of each one is a potential customer for the Canon EOS A7…. Let’s stretch this amazing system out for a while longer.
Listen, I’m not down on DSLRs. I’m really not. Canon has some great cameras and I’ll probably stick with them for at least another body or two (and that’s 10-20 years for me), but getting real about mirrorless cameras would help my wondering eyes a bit.
And before someone calls me out about Nikon, just about every bit of what I said above can apply to Nikon as well. In fact, I may give an even bigger eye roll to the Nikon 1 system than the EOS M. However, Nikon has at least shown dedication to the Nikon 1, which is more than we can say for Canon on the EOS M.
I agree, Canon needs to build a full frame mirrorless like the Sony A7r II and A7s II but I think they prefer to milk the DSLR for now since they want to protect their Cinema line were they are making big profits. The C100 II 1080p cinema camera sells for $5,499 at B&H compared to the 4K 2160p Sony PXW-FS5 XDCAM Super 35 cinema camera for $5,599.
Completely agree! Sony is doing so many amazing things with mirrorless systems, while Canon and Nikon seem oblivious.
I would LOVE for Canon to step up and compete with Sony, for a change. But if Sony released a mirrorless body that accepted Canon lenses, I’d be all over it.
If Sony made a Canon-lens-compatible body, it would be nice if it also used Canon’s flash system. There are many wireless trigger systems that are Canon/Nikon specific (including ProFoto), but not so much for Sony.
Very good point on the flash system Jared. That’s another big advantage for Canon. It has a very mature flash system and, of course, as you point out, there are plenty of third party TTL options.
I still can’t help but feel that comparing the A7r ii to the 5DSr is an apple and oranges thing. Obviously as an all rounder, the A7r ii is the best camera to own if you want great dynamic range, 4k video capability, a mirrorless form factor with a stabilised sensor and a mount that can take any lens you can adapt to it, all in an overall compact package.
The 5Ds/r on the other hand, when it comes right down to it, is a pure photographic tool that has video tacked onto it. The body is tank tough, the AF system is still ahead of Sony (even if Sony claims that Canon glass performance has improved), you don’t need adapters to use Canon’s EXTENSIVE range of glass and no manufacturer (apart from Nikon) has a TTL system that rivals Canon’s.
As a portrait photographer, I would pick the 5DSr because of the flash system and lower base ISO. As a landscape photographer, a 5DSr for the higher megapixel count. Sports? The edge would go to Canon. Street photography would definitely benefit from an A7r. Video, well the A7Sii, metabones adapter and an Atomos Ninja Assassin would be a better combo, which might push the cost to what you might otherwise spend on an FS5.
The A7rii is an overall great camera, I’m just not sure it has as wide of an appeal outside of the hobbyist videographer and photographer as Sony might suggest.
BTW the Canon EOS 7r mirrorless would still need a spacer between the camera and EF lens unless you want Canon to build it like the K-mount Pentax K-01 APS-C mirrorless that looks like a brick.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/726/21975061115_d34fc71f48_b.jpg
I completely agree that Sony should do an A7 with a native Canon EF mount. It’s a completely brilliant idea. I love Canon lenses but the Canon bodies leave me cold, whereas I love Sony A7 bodies but a lot is to be desired regarding their lens choice and price. Sony really have a weakness when it comes to lenses and have done so for years. This is an obvious solution, providing that the AF performance is a whole lot better than it is with the various aftermarket EF to FE adapters.
Canon need´s to match Sony’s low noise at hig ISO, in camera stabilisation, better codec and 4K video, the form factor is not that important, a 5D in video mode is a “mirrorless” camera. And DSLR makes a lot of sense for daylight photography.
The 5D is not a mirrorless camera in video mode. A mirrorless 4K camera like the Sony A7r II, A7s II, Samsung NX1, Panasonic GH4 etc have an EVF to view what you are shooting in video mode and could use any DSLR lens using low cost adapters. Mirrorless cameras make a lot of sense for daylight photography also. The flipping mirror and OVF on DSLRs are worthless in video mode and limit the fps in stills mode.
This would be an outstanding camera, but it is disturbing to realize that a company would cripple its cameras in order to provide greater market stratification. We would be so far into the future of imaging if manufacturers didn’t feel a need to protect outmoded technology.
If “the customer is always right,” where are the mirror less Canon professional cameras?
I think the views expressed in the main article and comments are spot on. My first SLR was a used Practina circa 1958 which I bought years later when I worked part-time at the original Willoughby’s Camera on 32nd Street in NYC. When I graduated to the Canon system, I stuck with Canon through the 40D and switched once and for all to mirrorless. These days with the exception of buying the first model “M” I have standardized on m4/3. I have watched the development of digicams through my Leica 109 (Lumix LX100) which demonstrates how far a camera company can go if it really cares about the consumers it services. I believe that this is the main problem with Canon. IT DOESN’T CARE ABOUT WHAT IT’S CUSTOMERS WANT. It will without question lose in the end.