Michael Pino: Photography & Design

Some Constructive Canon Criticisms

Marketing hype only goes so far. The proof is in the image and that’s what comes from good glass and sensor technology. Canon has the glass but some recent decisions have the company under the kind of attack that only Decepticons dish out in a crappy Michael Bay movie. Canon at one time was considered the king of the DSLR market, but after the follies of the EOS 1D mk III auto focus and increased image softness in the EOS 5D and the EOS 7D, Canon is in a corner with its pro base. So what can Canon do to save face and retake the throne of King of DSLR from Nikon?

Canon needs to bring down the hammer on its quality control people for letting quality control slide. Need proof? There are multiple posts on wedding photographer’s blogs and ads on Craigslist in which people are trying to off load their Canon equipment to jump ship to  Nikon. Several of these instances can be summed up from one person: Fake Chuck Westfall. This one blog is similar in tone to how Fake Steve Jobs is, but it is more critical of Canon and how they are seemingly destroying themselves internally. Cameras are producing softer images due to the sensors being used, ghosting is occurring during burst shooting, auto focus is not working correctly, with lenses are not focusing on the correct spot.

These are all quality control issues. If more time was spent looking at full resolution images, the product developers can see that their camera is producing sub-par image quality. Using the camera in consumer settings and taking multiple photos in an action burst would show ghosting. Using the auto focus as it is advertised would have shown that it wasn’t doing it job correctly. Looking at nighttime/dark images with bright lights in scene would have revealed black dots next to the highlights. The solution might be more expensive, but so a small production run — 300 to 1,000 cameras — and use the camera as intended, and use it as its not intended. That’s how QA in the game industry works, and while the industries are not the same, the testing methods seem very familiar. Sure, bugs will never be completely eradicated, but some major issues should never, ever leave the factory.

Canon should also listen to their customers, you might be surprised at the suggestions that your read. Some photographers provide a very good suggestions to what should be on a camera body and where the locations of buttons should be to feel comfortable and ergonomic. Case in point, the EOS 40D. I love it, it is my current main body and I use it everyday (not a lie, I am in the beginning of my photo-a-day project).

One of the few complaints I have with it is the direct-to-print button. For me, and anyone else who uses this camera as close to professionally as possible, that button is useless. Not once in my workflow have to gone from the shoot straight to print. It’s like putting a rear seat in a Porsche. Oh, wait they did do something that stupid. Now this was solved on the EOS 50D, but when it came time to purchase the camera, I choose the 40D based on the better image quality. It’s not just on the body where suggestions can be applied. Syl Arena, professional photographer and avid Canon user, posted a few suggestions on how Canon can improve their hot-shoe based Speedlite line. Some of his suggestions make sense and have been adopted by long-time competitor Nikon.

Suggestions from their regular consumers saw the Powershot G11 have a lower resolution than the earlier G10, but the drop in megapixels saw an increase in image quality and ISO performance. If the same logic were applied to their pro line, some of the issues that are occurring might be eradicated.

If Canon begins to improve upon their quality control issues and listens to the people who keep them alive as a company, they will take back the crown and they might even win some new customers and gain back the those who jumped ship to Nikon. If some of these issues are ignored, then Canon’s bottom line might sink down ever further, and you will only be able to blame the economy for so long.