DC.watch (Click here to read the translation) interviewed MR. Tian Rong Jin, Managing Director Canon Image Communication Business Division. He unveiled a couple of interesting things about their mirrorless plan. I don’t speak japanese and the google translation tool is not really 100% reliable. I ask my japanese readers to check if everything I understood is correct:
1) Canon will release a mirrorless system within 2012
2) First comes the image quality and than the downsizing. There should be a perception that the new mirrorless camera is a clear step towards from a classic compact camera. That statement clearly goes against Nikon’s decision to offer a mirrorless system camera with a smaller than m43 sensor (Click here to see the nIkon 1 system).
3) The lenses for the new mirrorless system need to be small.
It’s quite a surprise to see Canon talk that openly about mirrorless. And there is definitely a reason why they are now talking about it. I guess they want to warn the market by saying: “Hey don’t buy Sony, m43 or Fuji…wait for us!“. TO me it sounds like they will launch a new APS-C mirrorless system with a bunch of nice compact lenses. Photokina could be the right place for that.
One thing is sure: 2012 will be the year of mirrorless cameras. And I am here to give you every small bits of news and rumors I can get! Starting from the next post when I will talk about the exact Fuji X Pro 1 launch date and hour ;)