|
This is a translation of an interview with Mr. Iwashita of Canon. The original interview was posted in Japanese here. I have translated this to the best of my ability, but I am not a professional translater! There are almost certainly mistakes in this translation, some of them could be serious. I provide this translation for your entertainment only, any actions or decsions you base on this information is solely your own responsiblity. You are of course welcome to link to this translation, but please do not cut and paste it onto your own page. I will probably make corrections to this over the next while as I (and hopefully others) notice errors in my work. If you have any questions, comments, or corrections, please contact me at feedback -at- hobday -dot- net. Now, onto the translation! Presently Canon's DSLR lineup is split into the professional level EOS-1D/1Ds Mark II, the mid-range EOS 20D, and the entry level EOS Kiss Digital. How do you see this lineup progressing from now? At Canon we consider creating our DSLR product line to be like building a pyramid -- the top of the pyramid being our high-end bodies, and the bottom being our entry-level bodies. We are working to increase the overall size of the DSLR market, thus also increasing the size of our DSLR pyramid. In order to make our pyramid larger we have to work to make each layer of the pyramid larger. We feel there must be clear differences between the products in each layer to make sure that each layer is clearly separated from the others. The result of this is that when we introduce a new product, we have to be very sure that it will not affect the other products that we offer. For example, the 1D Mark II and the 20D. There is enough separation between these two products that they are not affecting each other in the marketplace. If we can continue to work in this way we can make our pyramid grow. Okay, we understand your pyramid example and about making it larger. At this time do you have any plans to increase the size of your product pyramid by adding any new layers to it? Currently we feel we have excellent market separation between our various DSLR products. At the current time we do not see any merit in creating a 4th product layer in our pyramid. Personally I also feel that we have a very powerful lineup as things stand now. Our strategy at the moment is to continue with our current 3-layer pyramid, growing the market in this way. We see Canon's in-house development of sensors as being a very strong competitive advantage. How does Canon feel about this? We always want to use the best sensors available. Presently we feel that our in-house developed CMOS sensors are the best available. In the future if there is a much better choice available, we would likely go that route instead. If the conditions were correct, it is not impossible for a Canon DSLR to again use a CCD sensor. CMOS has certain very good characteristics such as lower power consumption and faster read performance off the sensor. On the other hand, it can be said that CMOS has higher noise. However, we feel that we have solved the CMOS noise problems, thus removing the only substantial problem with CMOS technology. This leaves CMOS with only strong points, and at the present time there is no reason for us to use a non-CMOS based sensor. Finally, using CMOS censors gives us better control over development and supply. At the present time Canon has 35mm full frame sensors, 1.3x sensors, and 1.6x sensors, a lineup of 3 different sizes. End users have various complaints about this such as lenses behaving differently depending on the body, and difficulty switching between high-end and low-end bodies. Do you have any plans to consolidate your sensor offerings into either 1 or 2 sizes? We feel that the ability to use different sensor sizes is a strong point of digital cameras. Rather than consolidating into fewer sensor sizes, we feel that different sensor sizes offer various strong points to different users. For users who wish to make use of the full range of their EF lenses, full frame sensors are best. For those searching for the fastest frame rates, 1.3x is best. For the most cost-sensitive users, the APS-C 1.6x size is ideal. Many users are saying that they want a compact version of the 1D series. Are there any plans for such a camera? This is a difficult question. If I told you that we are not considering such a camera it would be a lie. However, if you ask "Do you have plans for such a camera at the current time?" then the answer would be "No." With regards to size and weight, some people would like a lighter body than is currently available. For example, some people are not satisfied with the EOS 20D body. Is Canon thinking of making a body that can accept EF and EF-S lenses (1.6x sensor), but is lighter and of a truly professional build quality? For professional use high ISOs are essential. For example, at the recent Athens Olympics most shooters were using ISO 800 or ISO 1600. Even for those outside of sports photography high ISOs give users the flexibility to deal with various conditions. We feel that with current technology a 1.6x sensor is not good enough for professional-level ISO 1600 use. Do you have any plans to improve interoperability between your mid-level (20D/10D) and professional-level (1D lineage) DSLRs? For example, harmonizing the camera interface? Or the use of software such as "Digital Photo Professional" across both levels of camera? How about any other areas? There are many differences between the cameras you mention. The physical size, the battery size, and the overall layout of the camera are all different. So, while I feel it is possible to harmonize the computer-side software, harmonizing the hardware is not possible. Our way of thinking is also that mid-level users and pro-level users have different priorities. With this in mind we design our cameras to best meet the needs of their target user. How does Canon predict the demand for the DSLRs that you produce? To be honest, such predictions are extremely difficult to do accurately. However we do of course have our past sales data. In the days of film, SLR cameras occupied about 10% of the overall market. However, even with the recent explosive growth in the DSLR market, DSLR cameras only command about 4% of the digital camera market. It is said that the yearly digital camera market is about 60,000,000 units. Extrapolating from the days of film we can see that we have a potential market size of 6,000,000 DSLRs yearly. I think we still have a lot of room for growth. Why do you think that DSLRs do not yet hold 10% of the digital camera market? And what do you think the key element is to again attain that 10% number? I think one key point is that there are now so many different types of compact digital cameras available. The availability of so many different types of compact digital cameras will also help that market grow further. I think we will see things move from a state of one camera per house to one camera per person, and the number of people with several compact cameras for use in different situations increasing. In such a setting I think it may be difficult to attain that same 10% level that we had with film. One way we can work to increase the number of DSLRs towards 10% is with cameras such as the EOS-1Ds. The 1Ds can be used in situations where only a medium format camera could be used previously. I think it is extremely important for us to extend and expand the ways and situations in which a DSLR can be used. Recently Adobe announced their new Digital Negative (DNG) format. What does Canon feel about this new format? Our RAW format is our own proprietary format and therefore we can accommodate any information that a Canon camera is designed to produce. On the other hand, there are certainly benefits to using a standard. It is good for ease of use with various types of application software, for example. But it would also make it more difficult for us to distinguish our products and to evolve them in the way we wish. For example, even if it is obvious to us what improvements we need, we would have to move one step at a time along with all other involved parties. With our RAW format though, we have complete control over the specification and can improve it at any time. Of course I have no problem with Adobe working towards a standard format. However at this time Canon has no plans to move away from our RAW format. Mr. Iwashita, you are also in charge of the sales of compact cameras. Currently the standard ISO for compacts is ISO50, and the pixel count is increasing for these cameras. Considering the typical compact camera user, isn't high quality between ISO100 and 400 the most important thing to offer? Canon was the company who brought in ISO50 as the standard. I think what you want to ask is if we are increasing pixel count while sacrificing overall image quality, right? In business we have to consider what our target users are requesting. Right now that is higher pixel counts. Naturally instead of a one-sided specification relying on pixel counts, we would prefer to build cameras of a more balanced nature. But with the market trends the way they are it is difficult to change at the moment. Over time I feel that the market will start to look at more than just pixel count and at that time I think you will see better-balanced products. It seems that the compact digital camera market in Japan is peaking. At this time, how do you see the future of the compact digital camera market? Yes, looking at the current data can be seen that the rate of sales is not increasing as much as before. However, if we can develop breakthroughs in this area, we feel the market will again grow. In order to develop such breakthroughs we must be innovative. In functions, size, abilities, or any other area, new innovations are critical to maintaining continuous growth in this market. Until now in the digital camera market new innovations and developments have appeared one after another. Progress has been very fast, almost like pouring gasoline on a fire. However, it seems like that gasoline might be almost used up. But to keep the fires of innovation burning, more fuel is needed. At the present time does Canon have the fuel to do this? Unfortunately I don't have any magic element I can present to you to say that we can certainly keep current growth levels in this market. However, we are searching in earnest for such an element. It is also very difficult to match innovations to user demands. For example, only about 1 in 10 products that we expect to do well in the marketplace actually becomes a large scale hit. Therefore we need large numbers of innovations to put into our products to satisfy consumers. [The interview finishes at this point.] Canon Japan's homepage: http://canon.jp Original Japanese article location: http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/other/2004/10/01/187.html Minor spelling and grammar corrections: 2004-10-20 23:57 Tables added to improve readability: 2004-10-20 23:42 Original article date: 2004-10-01 17:04 Translation date: 2004-10-05 20:44 Translation version: 1.0 |