Ok. The Nikon V1/J1 hasn't been a terrible sales success. It hasn't be a failure, either, but it is far from setting the world alight like the Olympus E-M5 and Sony NEX cameras have. I think that it's philosophically wrong, but I suspect that another problem with the whole thing was the insane price.Apparently, Canon thinks that the only problem with the V1/J1 was, in fact, the sensor! Haha! Oh, silly me! And this whole time, I thought cameras followed basic laws of consumer economics. Man. I'm glad that Canon is around to tell me what's what.
The only detail that we didn't have previously was the price. It was, considering the shape, size, quality, and reports et al., safe to assume that it was going to be cheap — more in line with the Sony NEX C3 than the 5n or 7.
Ohh, how wrong we were to assume that. Canon has done what big companies do best and woefully misjudged the market. The new EOS M will cost eight-hundred dollars with the 22m pancake lens, $1,200 with the 18-55mm kit zoom, and $1,500 with both lenses (the last two numbers converted from GBP). To whom are they selling? The only people in this price range are enthusiasts and pros — the very people who don't give a crap about sleek yet accessible styling.
This. Is. Laughable. The Olympus E-M5 will eat its lunch. Sony will barely feel it. After the initial burst of sales that any company with a huge marketing and distribution budget can manage, this camera will fall off the map. Guaranteed. I will put money on it.
UPDATE:
EOSHD posted his thoughts on the EOS M's official specs and everything is summed up pretty well in this:
There is still a very small chance that Canon have put something useful in this thing… Like a better video processor, or more resolution in 1080p, or…
No, I’m dreaming.
This is Canon.
that's odd i can get the eos-m and 18-55mm for around 850 from canada .. perhaps it's a little early to judge prices with so little real research?
ReplyDeleteMy research was completely real. I based it on the info available at DPReview.
DeleteAlso, the 18-55mm kit does not appear available in the US, which is why I chose to use the prices quoted for the UK.
To be fair to Canon, at least as regards North America, the prices here are likely to be lower. Lots of people online are complaining that the UK and Europe are getting absolutely screwed.
But then my criticism still applies, just everywhere but North America. Canon is still insane.
All cameras cost about 50% more in Europe than in USA. Yes, that is insane, but not limited to Canon.
ReplyDeleteVery good point. Thank you. Not all cameras (for example, Panasonic is very good in this regard), but certainly most of them. In my mind, though, the price point becomes all the more critical when that is taken into account.
DeleteCameras like the NEX-5n and 7 provided world-class images in a compact form to a semi-pro audience. That's the kind of thing for which people will pay. Pushing a "me-too" product, late, into a market that classically has very expensive products, is absolutely insane, specifically for Canon.