Canon to release interchangeable lens camera in 2012?

Canon is the only major photographic manufacturer that hasn't announced its entry into the interchangeable lens camera market. A new interview suggests that 2012 is the year.

The interview, which originally appeared on Japanese website DCWatch, provides some insights into the possible mirrorless — or interchangeable lens camera — system that we could see in 2012.

Masaya Maeda, the managing director and chief executive of the Image Communication Products Operation at Canon Inc, explains that the Japanese earthquake and Thailand floods in 2011 caused delays in new products. There are no exact specifications of the camera mentioned in the article, though there are hints about what Canon is aiming to produce.

The rough translation provided by Google Translate suggests that picture quality and small camera size is the priority. "Even with compact machine with interchangeable lenses, the priority of this need is constant. This is the same with a video camera, indeed any photographic equipment can be worn smaller, more portable and can be taken to any scene at any time."

Maeda continues on to discuss the EOS range of digital SLRs and hints at making current EF mount cameras smaller. "Miniaturisation of a SLR camera with the EF mount is in progress with the entire line as well as the EOS Kiss. Including top model now, we will promote more and more miniaturisation." The hypothetical interchangeable lens camera would be compatible with EF lenses using an adapter.

One of the biggest discussion points surrounding interchangeable lens cameras is the size of the image sensor. Panasonic and Olympus are Micro Four Thirds cameras, using a Four Thirds sensor, which is physically smaller than the APS-C sensor appearing in consumer-level digital SLRs. Nikon chose to go with a sensor that is physically smaller than both APS-C and Four Thirds, branding it CX. Maeda does not mention where the Canon camera's image sensor size would fit in the current landscape, but suggests that image sensor performance will improve and that building a small system you would want to use in the future is important. He also mentions that "the future era will come down sizing the image sensor".

Without mentioning any other manufacturers by name, Maeda says that despite the large number of lenses available for other interchangeable lens systems in the world, consumers aren't changing lenses often. The key to make changing lenses more appealing is to consider the overall size of the system and lenses, he says. Maeda suggests that there should be unique lenses for video functionality, stating that "high-performance video for the masses requires AF".

Despite the rough translation, the timing does seem ripe for Canon to announce something in the interchangeable lens space. The 2012 time frame sounds plausible, with one of the largest photographic expos, Photokina, scheduled for September this year.