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Canon EOS R5 with RF 600mm f11. This lens brings excellent super-tele capability to the consumer level budget. Nothing like this has ever been offered in the M system, or indeed by any other camera maker at this time. |
The first digital mirrorless interchangeable lens camera (MILC) was the Panasonic G1 of 2008, soon followed by the Olympus Pen E-P1 of 2009. These used the micro four thirds sensor and mount.
In 2010 Sony entered the MILC market with the first of the APSC sensor NEX series introducing the E mount which is now used in all Sony’s MILCs both APSC and full frame.
NEX morphed into alpha and in 2014 the alpha, a, α (whatever) 6000 was released to considerable sales success. In fact you can still buy a new a 6000 today even though Sony has released many later iterations of the theme.
I have no inside knowledge about the decision making processes at Canon but I bet the success of the a6000 would have gotten their attention. The idea that MILC might prove to be a serious threat to the DSLR hegemony must have been quite a wake up call for any execs dozing in the Canon corridors of power.
I imagine the marketing people might have urged the product development group to do something to counter Sony’s MILC success ASAP.
In the event the EOS-M arrived in 2012, looking very much like a Sony NEX and presumably aimed at the same buyer demographic.
But the M system never got much love from Canon. Over the years a few incompletely developed bodies came out but none has evolved into a fully featured camera likely to appeal to an enthusiast user. They could have put together a really interesting camera using the best features from the M5, M50 and M6.2 but no such a model has appeared.
The last new M body appeared in 2019. I don’t count the M50 Mk2 as “new” as it represents little more than a firmware update to the original.
In 2021 there are still only seven Canon branded EF-M lenses available. Canon presented that many completely new RF lenses in 2020 alone and did so in the middle of the Covid 19 pandemic.
Only one new EF-M lens has appeared since 2016.
It is clear to me that the M system has always been a stop-gap and has been quietly starved of product development while most of the R&D now goes to the RF system.
We are already seeing full frame body/lens kits about the same size as an M kit and on the market at only a modest price premium.
Check out the comparison photo below:
Photo courtesy of camerasize.com.
The full frame kit on the right is no larger than the M kit on the left.
There is still a modest price advantage to the M kit but that is shrinking as RP prices fall.
What about EF and EF-S ?
Canon doesn’t want to alienate too many existing EF/EF-S DSLR users so I guess they will continue to provide some level of support for both these systems for a little while. They don’t want a repeat of the uproar which occurred in 1987 when they switched abruptly from the old FD mount to the then all new EF mount with no backwards compatibility.
However the new product release figures show clearly that EF and EF-S are no longer being developed. There are already reports of many EF lenses being discontinued.
Conclusion
It has become very clear that Canon is pushing full steam ahead with RF bodies and lenses. It is also clear enough that EF, EF-S and EF-M are being starved of R&D and will be quietly allowed to wither away. Already many EF lenses have been discontinued.
I had a full EF-M kit with 2 bodies and all the current Canon EF-M lenses but sold all this gear in favour of RF and have never regretted doing so.
We live in a world where you can buy a moderately priced smartphone with three cameras facing out, one with 108 Mpx, one wide angle, one normal and one telephoto and one camera facing in. All these cameras deliver high quality images.
There is no longer any place for traditional budget cameras, be they fixed lens or interchangeable lens.
The entire market for dedicated cameras has moved to the upper end of the price/capability spectrum.
In my view this leaves no place for the EF-M system at all.
Addendum: Will Canon put an APS-C sensor in an RF body ?
There are lots of quasi-rumors about this. I have difficulty grasping why they would. That would just add to the confusion which they are busy trying to clean up.
We shall see.