Sony has been pushing hard in the field of mirrorless cameras for about seven years, and they have certainly made great strides both in terms of technology and market share. Still, Canon and Nikon have a huge advantage over Sony that, if leveraged correctly, can help them significantly in the long run.
Adapters
I have been primarily a Canon shooter all my life. I recorded on Canon film cameras as I grew up and ended up in its digital ecosystem by pure chance when I found a good deal for Black Friday and kept growing from there. The geek in me was certainly tempted by Sony when it exploded onto the scene with rapidly advancing technology. So in 2017 I found a used a7R II body. There was only one problem: Canon made all my glass.
However, one of the great promises of mirrorless when it first hit the market was the ability to adapt lenses. Due to the shorter flange distances due to the lack of a mirror case, the promise was that almost any DSLR lens could fit a Sony mirrorless camera and that would change the way many photographers thought and worked with their equipment. . I certainly took advantage of that hype by buying a Metabones adapter. At first, it looked great: My notoriously delicate 85mm f / 1.2L lens focused perfectly on my big toe when I first tried the adapter sitting on my bed. However, the limitations were quickly focused: the autofocus speed of the adapters was often very slow and sometimes failed entirely depending on the attached lens. It became clear that he couldn’t be trusted for crucial work and certainly not for anything that required continuous, fast, or slow autofocus. The adapters were great for VCRs or anyone who wanted to experiment with vintage glass, but the promise of a system with universal compatibility was not everything we hoped for.
2010
It is important to remember that a decade ago, the landscape of photography looked very different. DSLRs ruled the land, and Canon and Nikon ruled DSLRs. In fact, in 2010, Canon had 44.5 percent of the market share for interchangeable lens cameras, with Nikon at 29.8 percent and Sony with 11.9 percent. Additionally, Canon and Nikon had (and continue to have) deep lens libraries, with many professionals deeply involved in those systems.
This created a considerable amount of interest for many photographers in terms of equipment. Rebranding is tedious and often costly, and even if another brand offers clear advantages, a photographer will often stick with their original brand due to the depth of their investment in that system. Nonetheless, Sony managed to win over many users by aggressively pushing mirrorless technology (as Fuji did), a testament to how exciting their cameras have been and a symptom of Canon and Nikon’s hesitation to dive seriously mirrorless.
The Canon and Nikon Advantage
However, things are different now. Both Canon and Nikon have recognized the mirrorless future and entered the market seriously. And while they’ve released lenses for their respective mirrorless frames (Canon in particular has aggressively developed their RF glass), their advantage lies in those deep lens libraries and Newton’s First Law. Photographers are generally reluctant to rebrand, and the more they invest in equipment for a specific company, the deeper the inertia.
Over time, the industry will completely switch to the mirrorless realm, and over time, most photographers will have to follow it. If first-party adapters (for example, a Canon adapter to fit a Canon DSLR lens to a Canon mirrorless camera) did not maintain the full performance of the lens (like my Metabones experience), this would level the playing field quite a bit, as a The photographer would have an opportunity to reevaluate their brand investment when the time came to switch to mirrorless. However, working with your own adapter is a very different experience.
Reviews of Canon’s EF to RF Adapters and Nikon’s FTZ Adapter have almost universally praised autofocus performance, indicating that there is no loss in autofocus speed and, most importantly, accuracy and precision. equivalent (or even greater) due to the fact that mirrorless cameras don’t have separate autofocus sensors and therefore don’t need autofocus micro-adjustments. This is huge, as it means photographers who have already invested in Canon or Nikon DSLR lenses can buy a mirrorless body and complete the transition to mirrorless at their own pace or even just stick with their DSLR lenses indefinitely.
Of course, Canon and Nikon want people to buy their new mirrorless lenses, and Canon in particular is doing a fantastic job of creating stunning lenses that deliver performance and features that outperform their already excellent next-generation EF lenses and Thus, giving reason and temptation for photographers to upgrade, but before a photographer decides to buy new lenses, the company must convince them to buy their specific lenses. Having your own adapters that make the mirrorless transition so smooth helps lock users in yet another brand and take advantage of that aforementioned inertia.
Additional benefits
Canon is doing a great job of taking advantage of this key benefit. While the Nikon Z 6 and Z 7 and Canon R5 and Canon R6 have body image stabilization, Canon is innovating with its adapters. There’s the standard adapter for $ 99, which allows you to fit EF lenses and keep all the standard functionality. There’s the EF-EOS R Control Ring Mount Adapter for $ 199, which adds the control ring found on all RF lenses that allows one to control parameters like ISO using a dial on the lens.
Then there is the EF-EOS R Insertion Filter Mount Adapter with Circular Polarizing Filter ($ 299) and the EF-EOS R Insertion Filter Mount Adapter with Variable ND Filter ($ 399). These are especially interesting for a few reasons. First, they can be fantastic options for landscape photographers, as they save money and volume by obviating the need to carry filters of different sizes and make it especially easy to work with lenses with bulbous front elements like many ultra wide options. This gives photographers an easy and inexpensive way to maintain the compatibility of their lens libraries or to explore more exciting options that allow for new ways to capture.
conclusion
10 years ago, Canon and Nikon ruled the DSLR world, and there are literally hundreds of millions of their lenses in photographic libraries around the world. Combined with the fact that their proprietary adapters provide a seamless experience and significantly ease the financial pressure of the transition to mirrorless, Canon and Nikon have the opportunity to significantly leverage their previous DSLR market shares as we move into the mirrorless future. .
