For several years Canon had a love hate relationship with mirrorless technology. They did not want to hurt their DSLR sales so they did not release anything good. On the other hand, they could not avoid the future. This led to the weird M line, which was better as an aesthetic piece than as a camera (especially competing with Fuji and Sony who have awesome mirrorless systems). This is changing today with the introduction of Canon’s EOS M5. This new mirrorless will make its debut in photokina next week (we will share constant photokina updates here). Unlike the previous Canon M’s the EOS M5 feels like a real jump into the mirrorless wars. (And Canon had 4 preceding models so far, which no one tool seriously). The camera will start selling in November and price shall be $979.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0If-yw2AOI
So, why do we think that this is a real camera and not just another stockholders pleaser? Because Canon made the specs extremely similar to their latest prosumer DSLR, the 80D. This means that Canon is ready to cannibalize DSLR sales in favor of mirrorless sales. It means that Canon understand that mirrorless is the future. But let’s dive in, shall we…
Sensor-wise, the M5 has the same sensor as the 80D, this means 24.2MP APS-C CMOS Sensor with dual pixel CMOS autofocus. But the processor is digic 7 (as opposed to digic 6 on the 80D).Canon finally (FINALLY!) adds 5 axis sensor stabilization. They use a hybrid of both optical and sensor shift to offer that feature.List of impressive features to match up to other mirrorless systems: LCD as touchpad when using the viewfinder, bluetooth, wifi, NFC and Bluetooth Smart, ISO 25600
So, how does this camera compare to its eco system? I think there are several obvious competitors: Canon’s 80D which the M5 may cannibalize, Sony A6300 which is Sony’s offering in this range, and the M3 to see how far it advanced. Here is the comparison from DP review: What do you think? Is Canon finally getting serious with mirrorless?
