How Panasonic and Sony let Canon steal the mirrorless camera lead

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Panasonic pioneered mirrorless cameras 15 years ago and Sony made the first affordable full frame mirrorless camera.

It wasn’t until 2018 with the Canon EOS R that the market leader had an answer. Fast forward to 2023, and why is it that Panasonic and Sony have squandered their lead in mirrorless cameras to Canon?

Both companies had a massive head start. Panasonic got to the market 10 years ahead of the EOS R launch, and Sony came up with the first a7 E-mount camera in 2013, a full 5 years earlier than EOS R mount came into existence.

During this time Canon only had the entry level EOS M series, and DSLRs. Now DSLRs are dead, EOS M is gone, yet there’s a familiar name at the top of the sales chart.

Read moreHow Panasonic and Sony let Canon steal the mirrorless camera lead

Hannibal Lumix. Why Panasonic have lost the plot over Micro Four Thirds

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Panasonic GH1 - classic Micro Four Thirds

The designer’s intent for Micro Four Thirds has been so badly distorted by marketing, the system no longer makes any sense.

In the days of the Panasonic GH1, there would be never any question of simply sneaking a small sensor into the body of a full frame camera and calling it a day. This was never the ethos of Micro Four Thirds. Yet that is exactly what Panasonic have done with the G9 II.

In fact you can trace back the system’s decline all the way to the GH3.

Read moreHannibal Lumix. Why Panasonic have lost the plot over Micro Four Thirds

Oppenheimer: Why Christopher Nolan uses a flip-phone

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As Oppenheimer opens around the world, director Christopher Nolan has been speaking to the media about his creative process. In the meantime, Hollywood is vehemently on strike to fight the twin technological threat of the streaming giants and the threat to livelihoods of AI.

Whilst not a “luddite”, Nolan admits he’s taken a very large step back from technology in his work life – no smartphone, no social media. The director doesn’t use email personally, and delivers scripts to lead actors by hand. In the process of screenwriting he uses a computer with no internet connection.

I have an opinion on that…

Read moreOppenheimer: Why Christopher Nolan uses a flip-phone

What’s still missing from Sony’s mirrorless camera range…

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Sony a1 firmware update

When it comes to firmware updates Sony has had a lot of upset from users in recent months, and rightly so because they don’t give you anywhere near as many interesting updates as the competition. The Sony a1 was a rare exception in that it got a significant bump in image quality with a new 8K 500Mbit 4:2:2 10bit mode. Other cameras such as one of my personal favourites, the RX1R II full frame compact have never had a single firmware update. Not one!

Sony is likely going to have to change this, and I have some suggestions for what they should add.

Read moreWhat’s still missing from Sony’s mirrorless camera range…

RED and Nikon settle N-RAW dispute court battle – But how?

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The Nikon Z9 court battle is no more, and it was a quite predictable ending. The two companies, RED and Nikon, came to an out of court settlement recently. This week the case was dismissed on request of both parties.

This means there has was a behind the scenes agreement, most likely a technology transfer deal, or patent licensing which enables Nikon to continue to offer internal RAW recording on their cameras, to the satisfaction of RED. This could be done in a similar way to the agreement between RED and Canon that’s already in place. The details of which is also a secret. Canon have been offering internal C-RAW recording for a while, with RED in return also using certain Canon technologies – such as RF mount on the Komodo.

Read moreRED and Nikon settle N-RAW dispute court battle – But how?