Is Camera Innovation Dead? The Truth Revealed

Is innovation dead in the camera industry? We have a good reason why we’re asking this question.

Over the course of the last few weeks, both Fujifilm and Sony have released very expensive cameras. But neither of them includes in-body image stabilization (or IBIS), and in the case of Sony’s new camera, some features were taken away from the camera: The tilting screen was removed. So, when David Schloss, editor in chief of Imaging Resource, produced a video and product review about that Sony camera, we got in a lot of comments like, "Oh, Sony used to be the leader, and now they're not doing innovation.”

Is this true? Have Sony and the other camera companies given up on innovation?

David’s Take On Whether Or Not Camera Innovation Is Dead In The Camera Industry.

We didn’t feel that was exactly the case.

In YouTube video (see above), Schloss has a powerful overview regarding what the camera companies have been up to over the past 15 to 20 years regarding innovation, including the growth of mirrorless cameras and what happened to Digital SLRs.

Check out the video to see why he says that “mirrorless cameras at first were so far behind DSLRs that companies like Nikon and Canon said pretty much that they were never going to stop making DSLRs” and why, later on, he says about mirrorless cameras and video: “The thing to remember about that is that there was so much headroom for this technology that every generation felt so much bigger. So, you went from HD video to 4K video to 8K video…. The technologies kept getting better and better. The sensors got better. They introduced backside illuminated sensors, which are really much better in low light. They introduced a global shutter on the Sony A9 III. The camera technology did have some very big leaps to it.”