Canon engineers held back by marketing department's "megapixel race"

Tech Digest via Yahoo ^ | 9.17.2008 | Duncan Geere

[libh8er]

Canon engineers are being held back from developing new sensor technology by marketing departments in a "race for megapixels", claims an employee of the Japanese photography company. (Advertisement)

The employee told Tech Digest that Canon have the technology to "blow the competition away" in terms of image sensors, but are instead being asked to focus on headline figures like the number of megapixels a camera has. When asked for his opinion on the Canon EOS 5D Mark II, which we covered this morning, the employee said:

"I am hugely disappointed because once again Canon engineers are dictated by their marketing department and had to keep up with the megapixel race. They have the technology to blow the competition away by adapting the new 50D sensor tech in a full frame format and just easing off a little on the megapixels. Although no formal testing has been done on the new model yet, judging by the spec and technology used, it just seems to be as good or as bad as the competition - not beating them by a mile (which we used to)."

The employee was keen to point out though that he wasn't wholly disappointed by the new model though:

"The image quality on the 5d1 was so good that it's still as good as the new NikonD700 even though the Nikon is 3 years younger. I was hoping (...) for two new cameras. One would be a 'reheated' 5D1 with a same megapixel count but a slight redesign in sensor combined with new processor and all the gadgets like micro autofocus adjustments, vignetting control, dust reduction, better weather seals and an upgrade to the autofocus."

"The other one would be a 'revolution' 5d, with a completely new sensor design (so it can actually take a lot more megapixels)

[TheWasteLand]

Ah, marketing vs. engineering. The age old debate.

I think a lot of engineers would put aside their grievances if some of the hot marketing chicks would go out with them, but that never seems to happen.

[Red Badger]

[Red Badger]

[weegee]

The marketing department wants consumers to be stupid.

[RedCell]

Random musings from the empty corner of my head:

1. Marketing usually always wins... especially over Engineering

2. If they improved the image sensors, perhaps they wouldn’t sell as many cameras to “repeat” buyers (kinda goes along with my conspiracy theory that they could make a tire that lasts for at least 100,000 miles)

3. Maybe Marketing has determined through their research that most consumers of these devices only look skin deep when wondering what camera to buy and pixel count seems to be what everyone else is focused on (get it? focused? sorry).

[Red Badger]

[Hegemony Cricket]

"I think a lot of engineers would put aside their grievances if some of the hot marketing chicks would go out with them..."

Where is their team spirit, huh?

[ThomasThomas]

There has been many better products that never made it because of poor marketing.

[ConservativeMind]

Both of those are great!

[MeanWestTexan]

“Marketing usually always wins... especially over Engineering”

Given that the goal of the company is to make money, this makes sense.

I say that as an engineer — who has had to sell things.

Yes, product and quality are important.

So is getting drunk and going to a titty bar with the guy who buys your stuff.

[The Great RJ]

Some 40+ years ago when transistor radios were first being marketed, the market hype was the number of transistors in the radio. I had a friend know legible about electronics who examined some of these radios and found that in some cases “extra” transistors were simply soldered to the board and where in no way were connected to anything.

[SlowBoat407]

The problem is, the more megapixels you cram into a sensor of the size required by standard lenses, the smaller the pixels have to be, and the less voltage you can accumulate in each pixel. That means that we’re approaching a point where we’ll lose dynamic range but have a really sharp picture.

When hi-tech solutions become brute force, it’s time to step back and let some new technology come in.

[libh8er]

“extra” transistors were simply soldered to the board and where in no way were connected to anything.

Lol. Talk about fraud !

[wally_bert]

My first and right now only DSLR is a Canon 20D and it has been a very good camera. For what I do, mainly virtual tour, stock submissions, some model development, and sometimes events, it does very well. It helps to be coupled to a good lens.

I hope to upgrade to maybe a 40D next year. Money is just too tight right now.

[AnnaZ]

Pingaling.

[TXnMA]

"Megapixel count" -- reminds me of the early days of semiconductors -- when, "Made in Japan" was a big joke...

The Japanese got into a "transistor count" marketing race. Then folks discovered that a "nine Transistor" Japanese radio only had a couple of functional transistors -- and the rest were merely empty "cans" to up the count...

[libh8er]

I have a 20D too.. it rocks(!) except for the loud shutter. But if you are going to upgrade, I suggest you skip the 40d and go straight to the 50d. Price will substantially come down next year.

[xDGx]

“anonymous engineer” source - what BS. This is marketing generated. Guaranteed.

Actually the Foveon sensor (Fuji) is better than anything Canon or Nikon has on a pixel per pixel basis, but is hampered by other things.

This is a cheap marketing trick to trash Nikon. Shame is, both Nikon & Canon make good cameras. This sort of crap is no better than election mudslinging.

[El Sordo]

My marketing lead is a pudgy middle aged guy.

So I don't get that option.

Anyways...

You've all heard how necessity is the mother of invention?

What they don't tell you is that she was knocked up by a salesman.