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Friday rant: The future of Canon RF and 3rd party lenses

Started 4 weeks ago | Discussions thread
sportyaccordy Forum Pro • Posts: 20,562
Re: Friday rant: The future of Canon RF and 3rd party lenses
2

Myles Baker wrote:

Do you not think that a reduction in market size from 20 million to 6 million is significant or may influence the decisions of camera manufacturers?

Obviously.

If the same amount of lenses are being sold in 2022 as 2010 & you suggest that 3rd parties have gained market share (do you have any data on that?) then the OEM's are fighting over a smaller share of the pie. Why would Canon want to give away even more of that share?

Like I said, the number of 3rd party brands, lenses and significantly higher lens prices (a $2000+ 3rd party lens would have been unheard of back then) speaks to 3rd party brands being much stronger today than they were 10 years ago.

Canon has also done the math and feel their approach is better. Do you have any numbers that suggest they are wrong & Nikon is right?

No. Can you offer anything besides knee jerk deference to Canon's decision making? Do companies always make perfect decisions?

You are right that allowing other companies to poach your sales isn't wise. Which is why Canon's penny wise pound foolish approach to 3rd party lenses is so confusing. They have the market base and pricing power to easily leverage licensing, enabling them to profit handsomely from every 3rd party sale for minimum effort and investment. As well as focus the lens releases that benefit them the most, rather than having to try to do it all.

Again, in the end, who wins? Certainly not the consumer. Its bizarre to me to see so many people defending a company leveraging their brand's power to the consumer's disadvantages. How exactly does Canon limiting lens choices for their gain benefit you as a customer and photographer?

The consumer has a choice not to use Canon. No-one is forcing them to choose the R system. Canon, for their own reasons have chosen to enforce their patent protections. Is that a bad thing for a company to do, or should they allow a free for all? They have also, at this time, not licensed any 3rd parties to make af lenses for the RF mount. That decision would have been taken based on their data and what they feel is best for the company. If you, as a consumer, don't like that decision, then buy another brand. If sufficient people do that, then the financial calculations will change & maybe Canon will license 3rd parties.

Complaining about it on a camera forum wont change what Canon is doing, only sales, or lack thereof will.

I'm not so delusional to think that a discussion on a forum is going to change Canon's mind. We are just having a discussion and exchanging viewpoints. The key question for me is why people are so eager to defend a business decision that robs them of choice. It seems RF's strongest calling card is its ability to continue to use EF lenses............

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