04-19-2012, 01:49 PM
[quote name='Klaus' timestamp='1334842033' post='17602']
It's a bit surprising that Canon failed to impress during the recent years. They are surely delivering solid products but not exciting ones.
I'm sort of wondering whether they are preparing for a big bang (thus a mirrorless system) which consumes all their development and innovation resources.
[/quote]
If I understand this correctly, Canon makes their own sensors, while Nikon gets Sony sensors. Is that correct?
I think camera development and sensor/semiconductor development are two different branches. You develop sensors irrespective into which bodies they go. If Canon does develop it's own sensors, they may start to hit limitations now. Sony probably has a much bigger semiconductor development section.
Also, until know, it probably was easier to improve sensors - it sort of was like the early days of CPU development.
If we compare with the CPU race, fewer and fewer companies are in it, with ever bigger resources, and presently, there is a bottle neck with the speed of a single CPU (core, around 3GHz). So now all Intel and co. do is add more cores (CPUs) on the same chip, or develop chips for specific purposes, e.g. GPU) to increase apparent speed for the user.
So, I suspect we are getting closer to the point - unless some new technological breaks come - where improvements in a sensor are smaller and smaller and require more and more effort. It is also possible that there are patents on some key tweaks on the technology that may limited what Canon can easily implement - unless they license it. Like IBM and Apple, who eventually had to drop their PowerPC architecture and switch to intel, perhaps one day Canon has to to with Sony chips.
It's a bit surprising that Canon failed to impress during the recent years. They are surely delivering solid products but not exciting ones.
I'm sort of wondering whether they are preparing for a big bang (thus a mirrorless system) which consumes all their development and innovation resources.
[/quote]
If I understand this correctly, Canon makes their own sensors, while Nikon gets Sony sensors. Is that correct?
I think camera development and sensor/semiconductor development are two different branches. You develop sensors irrespective into which bodies they go. If Canon does develop it's own sensors, they may start to hit limitations now. Sony probably has a much bigger semiconductor development section.
Also, until know, it probably was easier to improve sensors - it sort of was like the early days of CPU development.
If we compare with the CPU race, fewer and fewer companies are in it, with ever bigger resources, and presently, there is a bottle neck with the speed of a single CPU (core, around 3GHz). So now all Intel and co. do is add more cores (CPUs) on the same chip, or develop chips for specific purposes, e.g. GPU) to increase apparent speed for the user.
So, I suspect we are getting closer to the point - unless some new technological breaks come - where improvements in a sensor are smaller and smaller and require more and more effort. It is also possible that there are patents on some key tweaks on the technology that may limited what Canon can easily implement - unless they license it. Like IBM and Apple, who eventually had to drop their PowerPC architecture and switch to intel, perhaps one day Canon has to to with Sony chips.