The "battle without honor" of high-end compact digital cameras

2019.07.29 06:00

On July 9, Canon announced the early August release of the PowerShot G5 X Mark II and PowerShot G7 X Mark III, two new high-end PowerShot G series compact digital cameras with 1-inch sensors.

In response, on August 26, Sony announced the August 30 release of the RX100 VII, a new high-end compact digital camera in the RX100 series featuring a 1-inch sensor. The flagship full-size mirrorless camera "delivers the same high speed and AF performance as the 'α9. It's "insanity."

In recent years, the significantly improved performance of the cameras in smartphones has eliminated most of the low-spec compact digital cameras, leaving only high-end compact digital cameras and special compact digital cameras that can take pictures that cannot be taken with a smartphone camera.

The first compact digital camera to become popular was the revolutionary "QV-10" released by Casio Computer Co. in 1995. Compact digital cameras had existed before the QV-10, but they lacked a rear LCD panel, making it impossible to check photos taken on the spot. Although the specifications of the QV-10 were lousy, it was highly regarded for its affordability and its ability to check images immediately after shooting, something that was not possible with film cameras.

After seeing the success of the QV-10, camera and consumer electronics manufacturers quickly entered this market, and it quickly became a red ocean.

In 2005, Kyocera, which had been doing well under the CONTAX brand, withdrew from the digital camera market due to intensifying competition; in 2006, Konica Minolta announced its withdrawal from the camera business in general and transferred its SLR division to Sony.

Casio Computer, creator of the famous QV-10, which was recognized as an Important Historical Materials of Science and Technology (Heritage of Future Technology) by the National Museum of Nature and Science, officially announced its withdrawal from the unprofitable compact digital camera market on May 9, 2018. Although the company introduced new products based on its original ideas at the end of the period, it could not resist the shrinking market.

Now, in the past, high-end compact digital cameras were equipped with image sensors larger than 1/1.8 inch. The size of the sensor was larger than that of cheaper compact digital cameras, and the descriptive power was superior. The first high-end compact digital camera I was introduced to was the GR DIGITAL, released by Ricoh in 2005, which used a 1/1.8-inch sensor. It was a digital version of the GR1, a high-end compact camera I had used in my film days, and was a good, simple camera.

The next camera I introduced was Canon's high-end compact digital camera "PowerShot G9" (with a 1/1.7-inch sensor), which was released in 2007. Unlike the "GR DIGITAL," which had a single focal length lens, this camera had a zoom lens, which made it extremely easy to use.

Since then, I have continued to use high-end compact digital cameras with a 1/1.7-inch sensor until the Canon "PowerShot G15" released in October 2012, but at that time, there was a significant "tectonic shift" in the high-end digital camera market.

In June 2012, Sony launched the RX100 (first generation), a high-end compact digital camera with a newly developed 1-inch sensor. 1-inch sensors have an area about four times larger than the 1/2.3-inch sensors often used in cheaper compact digital cameras. 1/1.7-inch sensor, which is considerably larger (about 2.76 times larger). The pixel count is 20 MP, which is more than sufficient for general use. It can also withstand cropping.

Since then, new models have been added to the RX100 series, with the second generation RX100 II in 2013 and the third generation RX100 III in 2014 The seventh generation is the RX100 VII, scheduled for release on August 30.

Canon had used a 1/1.7-inch sensor until the PowerShot G16, released in 2013, but in 2014, Canon was able to launch the PowerShot G7 X (first generation), the first high-end compact digital camera to use a 1-inch sensor. I was so impressed by the high performance and ease of use of the second generation PowerShot G7 X Mark II (released in April 2016) that it did not need the pillow word "for a compact digital camera," that I introduced it and have used it to this day. I have published many photos taken with this camera in the Railway Hobby Das "Today's Photo" section.

Unlike cameras with interchangeable lenses, compact digital cameras do not have interchangeable lenses, but I think it is fair to say that we now live in an era in which interchangeable lens cameras are no longer necessary, as long as the range of the 24mm-100mm (35mm full size equivalent) lens can be handled.

The PowerShot G7 X Mark II is a well-known camera that has been strongly supported by the market. However, its higher-end model, the PowerShot G5 X, did not seem to sell well. It has an EVF (electronic viewfinder) as well as a rear LCD, and looks like a miniature SLR camera. This has the advantage that the optical axis of the lens is not aligned with the EVF, allowing the photographer to take natural-looking pictures, but because the EVF portion protrudes, portability is inevitably sacrificed.

On the other hand, Sony has adopted a pop-up EVF for the RX100 III and later models. Contrary to the PowerShot G5 X, the optical axis of the lens is not aligned with the EVF, but the EVF can be retracted, making it highly portable. The market favored the pop-up type.

As a result, the PowerShot G5 X Mark II, which will be released simultaneously with the PowerShot G7 X Mark III, seems to have seriously come to crush the RX100 series by abandoning the bulky SLR-style EVF of its predecessor and adopting Canon's first pop-up type EVF.

As we wrote in a previous article, in 2017, Nikon withdrew its entry into the high-end compact digital camera market with a 1-inch sensor. As a result, the high-end compact digital camera market has become an epic "battleground" where the two strongest players, Canon and Sony, are engaged in a fierce war, although Panasonic and others have their own.

Sony continues to seriously wage war not only in the SLR camera market but also in the high-end compact digital camera market against Canon, which has reigned as the king of the camera world for many years. Can the two giants continue to survive in this "battlefield" where even Nikon, a camera manufacturer with a long history, has fled? We will continue to monitor the course of this "battle without honor and humanity.

first appearance : AGORA