It’s not exactly news that Sony and Fujifilm are progressing by leaps

and bounds with their mirrorless offerings, while many are staring at

Canon and Nikon, waiting for a response. A Sony executive recently

predicted that just such a response is coming soon, and Canon confirmed

it.

DPReview recently sat down with Kenji Tanaka, Senior

General Manager of the Digital Imaging Business Group at Sony,

during which he predicted that by CP+ 2019 (likely held in early March),

both Canon and Nikon will have entered the full-frame mirrorless

market. As I write this, both companies are likely trying to address the

issue of flange distance and if this means they’ll have to abandon the

huge lead they hold in lens libraries or embrace larger mirrorless

models or adapters. Nonetheless, I think few will argue that regardless

of what they decide, they need to enter the market sooner rather than

later.

For their part, Canon has been increasingly adamant that they’re

taking mirrorless seriously and putting significant resources toward

research and development. At a recent corporate conference, CEO

Fujio Mitarai said that Canon will “go on the offensive” to take a

bigger share of the mirrorless market, with the overall goal of a 50

percent share of the total ILC market. Altogether, it looks like the

next year will be a very interesting one for photographers.