 |
| Hitch hiking on the mirrorless bandwagon ? |
Three weeks ago I posted some wild guesses about Panasonic’s Lumix brand entry into the hotly contested full frame mirrorless ILC market.
Well their planned entry anyway. In fact they made an announcement of intent to make an announcement about actual products next year.
Presumably this early pre-announcement was to give potential Lumix buyers pause about buying a Sony, Nikon or Canon product.
My post was really a wish-list of features I wanted the new full frame Lumix system to have.
The reality, or at least pre-announced probability was considerably less interesting.
I hoped to see:
1. 8K video, not because I think anyone actually needs 8K video but because it could potentially close the gap between stills and video allowing an output which could be used for either purpose.
Anyway it appears they are aiming for 8K in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games.
So I was right but a bit premature on the 8K thing.
2. There is no multi aspect ratio sensor. The working prototypes on show had bog-standard, 100 year old 24x36mm sensors. Boo.
3. No global shutter either. Boo again. All the MILCs still have focal plane shutters. I hate these things. They are noisy, they sound like little jack hammers in burst mode, they slow down the response of the camera to pressing the shutter button and they carry the potential risk of shutter shock.
4. They chose the established Leica L Mount. I understand the logic of this but now we have M43 and L mount each with a flangeback distance of 20mm making it impossible to fit an adapter from one to the other.
5. The prototypes on display had monitors of the swing-up-swing-down-swing-up at 90 degrees type, just like some other cameras including current Fuji models. Boo, double boo.
Having used just about every type of articulating monitor there is I am firmly of the view that the fully articulating type as seen on the Canon EOS-R and various others including the Lumix G9 and GH5 is the most satisfactory over all and the best for vlogging.
I am well aware that some camera users do not share this view. So be it.
6. I really wanted Panasonic to think out of the box and produce a category creator product. Sadly this has not been the case.
Instead we have just another me-too trying to jump onto the ever shrinking bandwagon of full frame mirrorless.
I think I understand what they are trying to do. History shows that the brand(s) which get control of the high ground of professional photography also get the lion’s share of the consumer market. The reason for this is simple. Buyers look at what brand(s) professionals use and say to themselves “I will get one of those”. This makes perfect sense to the consumer bewildered by all the confusing claims being made by competing manufacturers.
For many years Canon and Nikon have commanded the professional market.
Many others have tried but failed to break in to that market and in due course their sales have dwindled, in some cases to the point of extinction.
A further problem is that the number of professional photographers is declining as news media come to rely on multiple alternative sources for their images.
So I think Sony and Panasonic have an uphill battle ahead of them with Panasonic having the hardest task coming in last to the FF MILC market.
That is why I still think they need to come up with products which are outstandingly better in every way to those from the market leaders.
I wish Panasonic well with the Lumix S venture but I have difficulty imagining why a Sony, Canon or Nikon user would jump ship based on products and support levels currently announced.
My intentions ?
I do not care for any of the full frame digital cameras, mirrorless or DSLR. Cameras with one of the smaller formats have plenty of image quality and capability for my needs and are smaller, lighter and less expensive.
Why buy a bus when a compact car will do the job just fine ?