Canon Inc. CAJ -2.74% announced it will start selling a “mirrorless” camera in September, marking the company’s much anticipated entry into the fast-growing segment of cameras that are small, like the point-and-shoot variety, while offering a bigger image sensor and the ability to change lenses like the single-lens-reflex — or SLR — models favored by serious photographers.
Canon is the last of the major digital camera manufacturers to offer a mirrorless model. The cameras are called mirrorless because they don’t have the conventional mirror-based viewfinders that reflect the image to the photographer’s eye. Instead, the cameras use digital viewfinders or go without them, allowing the body to be more compact.
The company will call the new camera EOS M, positioning it under the “EOS” brand reserved for its lineup of SLR cameras, instead of its PowerShot segment of high-end, point-and-shoot cameras. Canon spokesman Richard Berger said the high image quality of the EOS M made it a logical fit for the EOS label. With a separate lens mount, the mirrorless camera can also use lenses that fit Canon’s SLR models.
The Canon EOS M with a standard 22 millimeter lens will sell for $800 in the U.S. and it will carry a suggested retail price of ¥79,800 in Japan. Canon will also sell the same camera with a higher-magnification zoom lens as well as a kit with both the standard and zoom lenses.
Canon said it plans to initially produce 100,000 units a month. The camera will first go on sale in Japan in mid-September with overseas markets receiving shipments in the following months.
Mirrorless cameras are growing in popularity as consumers look for digital cameras that shoot better pictures than conventional point-and-shoot models, but without the heft of an SLR. Sony Corp., Panasonic Corp., and Olympus Corp. were quick to introduce cameras using the new digital technology, stealing a march on Canon Inc. and Nikon Corp., which have historically dominated the market for high-end SLR cameras.
Nikon introduced a mirrorless model late last year, while Canon said at the time it was waiting to see how the market would develop. When asked why Canon waited so long to enter the mirrorless market, Mr. Berger said the company felt it was only now that it had a product that can offer the high-image quality of an EOS camera in a compact and lightweight body.
Canon is the last of the major digital camera manufacturers to offer a mirrorless model. The cameras are called mirrorless because they don’t have the conventional mirror-based viewfinders that reflect the image to the photographer’s eye. Instead, the cameras use digital viewfinders or go without them, allowing the body to be more compact.
The company will call the new camera EOS M, positioning it under the “EOS” brand reserved for its lineup of SLR cameras, instead of its PowerShot segment of high-end, point-and-shoot cameras. Canon spokesman Richard Berger said the high image quality of the EOS M made it a logical fit for the EOS label. With a separate lens mount, the mirrorless camera can also use lenses that fit Canon’s SLR models.
The Canon EOS M with a standard 22 millimeter lens will sell for $800 in the U.S. and it will carry a suggested retail price of ¥79,800 in Japan. Canon will also sell the same camera with a higher-magnification zoom lens as well as a kit with both the standard and zoom lenses.
Canon said it plans to initially produce 100,000 units a month. The camera will first go on sale in Japan in mid-September with overseas markets receiving shipments in the following months.
Mirrorless cameras are growing in popularity as consumers look for digital cameras that shoot better pictures than conventional point-and-shoot models, but without the heft of an SLR. Sony Corp., Panasonic Corp., and Olympus Corp. were quick to introduce cameras using the new digital technology, stealing a march on Canon Inc. and Nikon Corp., which have historically dominated the market for high-end SLR cameras.
Nikon introduced a mirrorless model late last year, while Canon said at the time it was waiting to see how the market would develop. When asked why Canon waited so long to enter the mirrorless market, Mr. Berger said the company felt it was only now that it had a product that can offer the high-image quality of an EOS camera in a compact and lightweight body.
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