Canon's Mirrorless Camera Emerges, but Why Should We Care?

It's been rumored for awhile, but images have finally appeared that show the new Canon mirrorless camera in all its glory. With pictures like this surfacing, there's a good chance that an announcement is not far away. The new Canon mirrorless mount lenses will use the name EF-M, and it seems they will also be video-optimized lenses based on the STM lettering. Those lenses were first introduced with the new Canon T4i, but they aren't completely silent as we might have first imagined. With so many other mirrorless stills cameras out there (with the GH2 featuring the best video quality), what makes this one special?

The Verge had this to say about the photos that appeared on a Japanese site:

The sensor size remains unclear. Canon Watch's sources claim the EOS M will employ an APS-C sensor, but it's possible that Canon could reuse the slightly smaller 1.5-inch chip found in the G1 X. Otherwise it looks to be a small, simple, and accessible camera — there's no mode dial or viewfinder in sight, and the design is decidedly closer to the Nikon J1 or Panasonic GF5 than the enthusiast-focused Sony NEX-7 or Fujifilm X-Pro1.

CanonPriceWatch expects the announcement next Monday, but it is not confirmed just yet. It's possible that the camera will deliver video quality as good as the Canon DSLRs, but its form factor and possible native support for Canon lenses would be a bigger draw. The 18-55mm lens in the picture below would seem to indicate that the camera will have a rather large sensor, as it makes sense that Canon would want to release a wide to telephoto lens as the kit lens. Either way, to me, this camera isn't all that exciting for video. What is exciting, however, is the possibility that this mount will make its way into the cinema cameras from Canon. This would open up an entirely new world for lenses that we've never seen before on a Canon product. I've said multiple times that Canon is missing a huge potential audience for users between $5,000 and $10,000, and this mount would be far better than a standard EF mount (or PL mount, for that matter).

The GH2 and FS100 are both easily adaptable to virtually any lens out there, and this is part of the reason for their popularity. People don't mind adapters. An unchangeable native mount is not the end of the world, but it limits you to a certain selection of lenses. With a mirrorless mount like the one Canon is creating, we should be able to mount almost any lens out there with relative ease.

It might be wishful thinking, but Canon would be well-served to include this mount on their next entry level digital cinema camera.

What do you guys think? Is this camera interesting for video? Would you like to see Canon use this mount on their next digital cinema camera?

[via The Verge & Digicame & CanonPriceWatch]