EX series Speedlites work on multifunction hotshoe (pics)

Sittatunga wrote:

Kharan wrote:

But they offer a much more advanced connector in the hotshoe, and use a unique piece (so far) for the R50. As far as I understand industrial economics, that's not synonymous with 'lower cost', rather the opposite.

I think that shoe is more for vlogger's microphones or lighting panels than for people wanting to put a flashgun on a bottom-of-the line camera with a built-in flash.

Sure, but then why add the special connectors to it? If the goal is maximal cost reduction with maximum ROI, then the “smart-only” hot shoe of the SL3 is ideal. I suspect that Canon are looking to “future-proof” the R50, but in their quest to do that they let their bean counters get away with murder.

The shoe isn't really unique, its front edge connectors came with the M6 six years ago. The only thing unique about it is that Canon removed five contacts that are duplicated at the front edge.

Erm, no. The M6/II has a shoe with connectors for the EVF-DC1/2, which isn’t compatible with the R50. And the Tascam 4-channel device can’t talk to the M6.

Right, but I do wonder how many people are going to put the Tascam four-channel adapter in that shoe versus a speedlite. Because right now the only thing that "hot" shoe is any good for is the audio adapter, and that device ain't cheap not simple to use.

I think it's only the vloggers who are going to use it at all.

I highly doubt that. If we go by BCN numbers, the vlogger market is still much smaller than “general photographers”, whatever it is that they do.

The EVF makes it too big a camera to substitute for my EOS M cameras and for similar money I'd rather have the R10 with its vibrator and AF/M switch, but that's too big for me to bother with too.

Okay, but that’s basically you, and it doesn’t necessarily represent anyone else. Market trends show that low-end ILC customers aren’t scared of a little volume/weight. Otherwise, cameras like the Sony RX100VI would dominate the market.

But as I said, the shoe on the R50, right now, is only good for a single accessory... oh, wait, and also the newest EL series speedlite. If it had been up to me, I'd have put the SL3/M50II shoe on the camera instead.

But that would have put up the price.

How!? I really mean this.

I'm more put off by the cost-cutting lack of automatic sensor cleaning and an AF/M switch.

But those things do cost more money, and won’t be necessarily enjoyed by everyone, or even most users.

It will. Sony introduced a similar concept in 2012 and they're using it to this day.

I was thinking more of this one. It wasn't on the original 7000, but was on their Vectis cameras.

That was a bad idea. However, I must say that I expect Canon to be semi-successful with their awful gamble, as users will likely either upgrade or stay away from speedlites in this scenario. Canon do know how to stick it to us, after all.