It's funny that you mention this, Derrick. I'm about about halfway through this week's Petapixel podcast, which Jaron leads, and it is one of the most uncomfortable conversations I've ever listened to. It's not because Jaron, Chris, and Jordan are afraid to be candid; they are sometimes brutally honest, and I think they operate with exceptional integrity. But I also sense that they're trying not to rain on Canon's parade here, because they want them to succeed; they want the R1 to be the home run Canon so badly needs right now.
I'm hearing things like,"to be fair, this is beta firmware", "the focus tracking worked well once you did A, B, and C", and "we only had the cameras for a few minutes." But it doesn't take much reading between the lines to discern that the R1 and its firmware as they sit today are not only not ready for something like the Olympics; they're not even ready to hand over to reviewers for preliminary evaluations to build the excitement Canon wants and needs ahead of this release.
Part of my job as Marketing Director of Content for my company is to help product managers and their teams prepare for new product releases. We routinely have to say "no" to showing products at trade shows or releasing software or firmware updates because we can't risk embarassing ourselves with products that aren't ready for prime time just to show it off in the booth or feature it in a trade publication. The stakes are too high.
That's where Canon is with the R1. It's several years too late and it's still not ready, but they're getting panicky as they watch Nikon with the Z9, the Z8, the Zf, and now the Z6III. No, the R1 isn't going to be their bread-and-butter enthusiast camera, but it's a critically important product for the professionals who make their living with their products and who cannot afford to risk their careers or their reputations with their customers with a science experiment. Once a manufacturer loses that trust with their core customers, it's difficult if not impossible to get back.
It's funny that you mention this, Derrick. I'm about about halfway through this week's Petapixel podcast, which Jaron leads, and it is one of the most uncomfortable conversations I've ever listened to. It's not because Jaron, Chris, and Jordan are afraid to be candid; they are sometimes brutally honest, and I think they operate with exceptional integrity. But I also sense that they're trying not to rain on Canon's parade here, because they want them to succeed; they want the R1 to be the home run Canon so badly needs right now.
I'm hearing things like,"to be fair, this is beta firmware", "the focus tracking worked well once you did A, B, and C", and "we only had the cameras for a few minutes." But it doesn't take much reading between the lines to discern that the R1 and its firmware as they sit today are not only not ready for something like the Olympics; they're not even ready to hand over to reviewers for preliminary evaluations to build the excitement Canon wants and needs ahead of this release.
Part of my job as Marketing Director of Content for my company is to help product managers and their teams prepare for new product releases. We routinely have to say "no" to showing products at trade shows or releasing software or firmware updates because we can't risk embarassing ourselves with products that aren't ready for prime time just to show it off in the booth or feature it in a trade publication. The stakes are too high.
That's where Canon is with the R1. It's several years too late and it's still not ready, but they're getting panicky as they watch Nikon with the Z9, the Z8, the Zf, and now the Z6III. No, the R1 isn't going to be their bread-and-butter enthusiast camera, but it's a critically important product for the professionals who make their living with their products and who cannot afford to risk their careers or their reputations with their customers with a science experiment. Once a manufacturer loses that trust with their core customers, it's difficult if not impossible to get back.
Amen!
Good points.