davidc wrote:How many of those sales are existing Sony people going from the A7R to the A7RII though?
The year end sales charts showed Canon still hugely ahead of the rest, although Sony had taken over Nikon as #2.
We are only discussing one segment of the market and most sales will be of cameras with APS-C sensors* where, arguably, Canikon have a better offering when it comes to the overall system. Sony simply do not have that many lenses, their own or 3rd party, and those that are available tend to be more expensive than the competition.
davidc wrote:I do question the mindset that takes a £400 adaptor for lenses when there is no guarantee it will work with future cameras. Like 3rd party lenses on a Canon body, my Tamrons had issues with the 5DS/R but in that case at least all my other lenses worked.
That £400 adapter takes some of the pain of transitioning to a new system by allowing existing lenses to be used. The problem of full compatibility has always existed with 3rd party lenses, but those made by Canon should work without problems.
Sony cameras are also being used with older manual focus lenses, partly due to the use focus peaking. Those lenses are frequently as good as their modern counterparts, are more solidly constructed and have their own character. They are often preferred by video makers as well as there is no noise from the AF motor and they are using manual focus anyway. Moreover, the lenses tend to be relatively inexpensive on the used market.
Kirk Tuck recently wrote an article about the virtues of older lenses and I will post that in a separate thread.
davidc wrote:Right now I think the two systems are pretty much neck and neck (Canon-Sony I mean), it will be the next generation that is exciting. Will Sony continue to pull ahead or have they "caught up" and will they be in a similar position to Canon? Will be fun finding out.
Like most, I have always thought that Canikon will have to switch to mirrorless systems at some point, but as the incumbents have the issues of legacy. If you force existing customers to switch, especially when sales are still relatively high compared to the competition, there is no guarantee that they will choose your cameras again. They might even be sufficiently annoyed to want to go elsewhere regardless if there is no easy upgrade option. It might be different if the market were expanding, rather than contracting, which adds to Canikon's difficulties.
* Horrible as they might be.
