Big Sensors, No Mirrors
The “world’s leading trade fair for imaging” – photokina – is happening later this month in Germany and that means lots of rumors and product announcements are flying around. The trend this year seems to be full frame mirrorless cameras, with Nikon and Canon announcing new systems. There are rumblings that Sony, Panasonic, and even lens manufacturer Zeiss will trot out new full frame mirrorless cameras in the coming weeks as well.
This is actually a pretty big deal. The first mirrorless cameras used the smaller Four Thirds image sensor and that size has been the standard ever since. Sony have been very successful with mirrorless full frame (and APS-C) cameras for a few years now, but Nikon and Canon have continued to use the older DSLR design for their full frame cameras. These announcements seem to signal that mirrorless cameras have really replaced DSLRs as the serious photographer’s tool of choice.
Nikon and Canon have announced a new line of lenses for these cameras as well. Again, this is bigger than it first sounds: Canon have been using the same lens mount for something like 30 years and Nikon’s current mount has been in use since 1959. These two companies dominated the photography industry for decades, but their apparent unwillingness to evolve has allowed Sony, Panasonic, Fuji, BlackMagic, and others to chip away at their share of the market. How will photographers and video professionals react to these new cameras? Only time will tell.