After originally being announced earlier this year for elsewhere in the world, the company's latest stab at the mirrorless market is going to come to the US in early October 2015. While they've had some false starts in terms of trying to match what companies like Panasonic, Sony, and Olympus are doing, the new $680 M3 is at the very least a better camera than their earlier offerings — though it's certainly not going to blow anyone away. They also announced a few new mirrorless lenses, the EF-M 11-22mm f/4-5.6 IS STM ($400), EF-M 22mm f/2 STM ($250), and EF-M 55-200mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM ($350).
Here's B&H with all of the Canon announcements from the day:
Some clips from Canon with a making-of:
And the specs for the M3, which will come in a few different packages:
- 24.2MP APS-C CMOS Sensor (6000 x 4000)
- DIGIC 6 Image Processor
- 3.0" 1,040k-Dot Touchscreen Tilting LCD
- 1920 x 1080: 24 fps, 25 fps, 30 fps
- 1280 x 720: 60 fps, 50 fps
- 640 x 480: 30 fps, 25 fps
- Built-In Wi-Fi Connectivity with NFC
- Hybrid CMOS AF System with 49 AF Points
- ISO 100-12800, Expandable to 25600
- Hot Shoe and Built-In Flash
- 3.5mm Stereo Mic Input
- Full Manual Control
- Availability: October 2015
- Price: $680 Body Only, $800 with 18-55, $1,050 with 18-55 and 55-200
This is likely the same sensor being used in the Canon T6s and T6i cameras, so don't expect video image quality to be very different from those consumer models. Canon is still taking the cautious approach when it comes to mirrorless, which is kind of strange considering they are getting killed in this market by companies like Sony, who have been making full-frame mirrorless cameras for a while now, not to mention APS-C models for longer.
The other issue is that Canon doesn't have a wide range of small, mirrorless lenses for the EF-M mount. Yes you can adapt full-size EF lenses to the camera, but it starts to defeat the purpose of having a small camera when the lens weighs twice as much as the body. Other manufacturers like Panasonic are certainly taking notice, especially as they've been doubling down on mirrorless cameras and lenses for years:
Either way this is a step up from their previous models — hopefully we see something with 4K and/or higher frame rates at some point. This lens mount would be great for adapting all sorts of lenses to a real cinema camera in a small body, but I'm doubting we will see a product from the company like that anytime soon. The market is there for Canon if they want to produce a truly high-end mirrorless camera.
Source: Canon
