Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Canon has sold its last film camera

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 163 posts

Re: Canon has sold its last film camera

#11

Post by jonknee »

sofaofthedamned wrote: post #7

I don't understand why Google / MS / Amazon etc don't buy either of Nikon or Canon? It'd give them credibility and they'd immediately improve the DSLRs. Imagine a decent Nikon with the Google Photos processing? Decent wifi? Regular updates?

Google / MS / Amazon don't need any credibility and Nikon and Canon already have it? It's a niche business without a ton of growth potential?

Google already got into the pro photo market by buying Nik and decided it was not worth the effort.

https://petapixel.com/2017/05/30/google-abandons-nik-collect...

Re: Canon has sold its last film camera

#12

Post by gringoDan »

yesimahuman wrote: post #8
acomjean wrote: post #6

As someone who shot and developed a lot of film (I was a photo editor at a daily college paper..) I won’t miss it. Though printing black and white pictures was kinda fun, they often had dust and getting the exporsure and contrast right was tedious. I don’t miss film. Though there were a lot less pictures taken and shared before everyone had a camera on their phone. A different time in a lot of ways.

I think film is awesome, provided you have the right process and you actually enjoy that process (or you are fine spending $20/roll to have a lab develop and scan for you). Certainly has been going through a hipster revival of sorts lately.

I agree that there’s something magical about film cameras. I’m 25 years old now, so I’m probably one of the last people to ever experience working in a darkroom during photography class.

There is a sense of anticipation and discovery in having a limited number of photos on a roll of film and not knowing how they’ll turn out until you develop them yourself. Undoubtedly, the photos that you thought would be incredible turn out to be duds, but you’ll also find a gem or two in shots that you thought would be mediocre.

In an age of infinite options, limitless data, and constant connectivity, I’m drawn more and more to these examples of deliberate limitation / non-scalable craftsmanship.

Re: Canon has sold its last film camera

#13

Post by fetus8 »

sofaofthedamned wrote: post #7

I don't understand why Google / MS / Amazon etc don't buy either of Nikon or Canon? It'd give them credibility and they'd immediately improve the DSLRs. Imagine a decent Nikon with the Google Photos processing? Decent wifi? Regular updates?

What credibility are Nikon or Canon missing? Both companies have a level of brand recognition unrivaled in the Photography world...? Only in recent years has Sony and maybe Fujifilm developed more respect due to some of their advancements where Nikon and Canon have lacked.

Their DSLR's are market leaders still. Again, only in recent years have Mirrorless cameras have started to catch up with the DSLRs Nikon and Canon have been releasing. Based on current rumors, both Canon and Nikon are supposedly working on their first serious Mirrorless cameras to compete with the likes of Sony's A7 series...

EDIT: Personally, I would avoid any camera that had Google integration built in. Part of the reason I still carry around a DSLR today is because I like knowing that the photos on my camera, and then stored on a local HDD at my house. I don't think I'm alone in this thought either. Computational Photography is cool and all, but I don't need to provide all my photos into a server farm to be analyzed.

Re: Canon has sold its last film camera

#14

Post by jonknee »

vvanders wrote: post #10
jonknee wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well that and there is almost no market for new film cameras.

I'd argue there is for Medium/Large format, but that's a whole different ballgame compared to consumer SLRs. Last time I looked the digital back for a Hasselblad was ~$30k.

And in the scheme of things there is almost no market for medium / large format cameras (digital or otherwise).

Re: Canon has sold its last film camera

#15

Post by alex_duf »

jccalhoun wrote: post #3

"The model in question is the EOS-1V, which, incidentally, the company actually stopped making a full eight years ago. Since it has simply been selling out the rest of its stock, which, it seems, has finally depleted." That says a lot about how few they have been selling.

or how big their stock was?

Re: Canon has sold its last film camera

#16

Post by ghaff »

acomjean wrote: post #6

As someone who shot and developed a lot of film (I was a photo editor at a daily college paper..) I won’t miss it. Though printing black and white pictures was kinda fun, they often had dust and getting the exporsure and contrast right was tedious. I don’t miss film. Though there were a lot less pictures taken and shared before everyone had a camera on their phone. A different time in a lot of ways.

At one point I was probably spending 10s of hours a week doing B&W darkroom work so I have a certain nostalgia for it. I also spent lots of time playing with developer chemistry, etc.

But, no, I don't really miss it. It was an enjoyable hobby but it was also a pain to the degree that it was a process you had to go through in order to arrive at the final photograph.

And color slides were just always a finicky and fairly expensive way to take and show photos.

Re: Canon has sold its last film camera

#17

Post by bitL »

snowwrestler wrote: post #2

I'm not surprised; in SLRs at least, Canon was never the dominant film camera company with the biggest customer base. Their SLR business did not catch up to and pass Nikon until the digital era. Canon's decision to put the AF motor in the lens helped them in verticals that use huge telephotos (sports, mostly). But their film cameras lagged Nikon in the sophistication of their AF, their automated exposure control, and…

What lead are you talking about? Canon's sensors were a running joke in the past 5 years comparing to Nikon (that used modified Sony sensors), manufactured in 3 generation-older process than their competition. Seeing e.g. D750 vs 5D MkIII in low-light was an eye opener. The only selling point of Canon remained their unique "pleasant" color mapping (and photographers getting stuck with older Canon-only lenses/strobes etc.).

Re: Canon has sold its last film camera

#19

Post by ekianjo »

jonknee wrote: post #14
vvanders wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd argue there is for Medium/Large format, but that's a whole different ballgame compared to consumer SLRs. Last time I looked the digital back for a Hasselblad was ~$30k.

And in the scheme of things there is almost no market for medium / large format cameras (digital or otherwise).

Of course there is a market. Look at used cameras, they sell at very high prices. There is no "mass market", but there is definitely one with quite a few people willing to pay premium for high end film cameras.

Re: Canon has sold its last film camera

#20

Post by msbarnett »

sofaofthedamned wrote: post #7

I don't understand why Google / MS / Amazon etc don't buy either of Nikon or Canon? It'd give them credibility and they'd immediately improve the DSLRs. Imagine a decent Nikon with the Google Photos processing? Decent wifi? Regular updates?

The challenges of integrating with the very conservative and traditional Japanese corporate culture of a Nikon would be enormous. Google had enough trouble with Motorola.

Canon has all the same challenges and also about $47 Billion USD in equity. They're a huge multinational.

Post reply on HN