How Panasonic and Sony let Canon steal the mirrorless camera lead

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

Thoughts on the impressive Fuji X-H2S

Most mirrorless cameras aimed at filmmakers are so much alike these days, so does the X-H2S stand out?

The X-H2S assumes flagship status over the X-T4 for both stills and video users. It remains to be seen whether there will be an 8K resolution X-H2R later, for the high resolution stills and video crowd.

I’d love to see progress with the long list of features that matter more than higher numbers on a specs sheet, but the X-H2S floats my boat in many ways. Open Gate Anamorphic. 4K at 120fps. Internal ProRes. It is like a GH6 with a larger sensor (albeit $500 more expensive). Unfortunately there is no internal e-ND filter, and of course no compressed RAW video format for internal recording due to RED’s patent. The ergonomic concept is still rather stills-orientated too.

Let’s take a closer look at the X-H2S’s cinematic abilities.

Read moreThoughts on the impressive Fuji X-H2S

Canon officially confirms – 8K EOS R is in our roadmap

[pullquote]

Yesterday all sorts of rumours started flying around about an EOS R5 with unbelievable video specs. A dream camera. I didn’t believe it. However, further digging by users of the EOSHD Forum, reveal Canon are officially on the record – an 8K EOS R is coming. As well as this, there are some interesting technical aspects in the alleged “leak” which – despite the unbelievably high specs – do actually add-up.

Read moreCanon officially confirms – 8K EOS R is in our roadmap

Fuji X-T3 announced with INCREDIBLE codec – 10bit 4K 60p 400Mbit ALL-I H.265

Video on the new X-T3 is quite a surprise and shows how seriously Fuji are taking filmmaking, even on their most photographer-orientated cameras. Film Simulation goes 10bit for the first time on the X-T3, along with F-LOG (internal) and a future firmware update later in the year will add Hybrid LOG Gamma and BT.2020 colour.

There are big improvements to the sensor, to speed up the rolling shutter to 17ms in 4K/60p which puts it in the realm of dedicated pro movie cameras.

Read moreFuji X-T3 announced with INCREDIBLE codec – 10bit 4K 60p 400Mbit ALL-I H.265

4 way battle – rating the chances of Panasonic vs Canon vs Nikon vs Sony full frame mirrorless systems

Now some of the dust has settled in the 2018 full frame mirrorless game, we can start to get a clearer picture about what’s on offer.

Read more4 way battle – rating the chances of Panasonic vs Canon vs Nikon vs Sony full frame mirrorless systems