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The original EOS-M was significantly smaller than the DSLRs Canon was selling back at its launch in 2012. Photo: Andy Westlake |
Well, the writing has been on the wall for a while, but Canon’s Japanese website has finally confirmed the end of the EF-M system. Or, at least, is describing all the EOS-M camera models as being discontinued.
Canon USA told PetaPixel, “At present, sales of EOS M series cameras and EF-M lenses vary from region to region depending on user needs,” but the confirmation that sales have stopped in Canon’s home market, where the EOS-M models sold particularly well, tells a fairly clear story.
The EF-M system, Canon’s first foray into mirrorless cameras, was a compact APS-C mirrorless system that could use EF and EF-S DSLR lenses via adapter, but its own lenses could only be used on EF-M bodies.
The range extended from some of Canon’s smallest, most affordable beginner-friendly ILCs up to the enthusiast-focused M5 and M6 models. The relatively small lens range reflected this focus, with a handful of variable aperture zooms supplemented by three relatively compact primes.
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Canon has made an RF-S version of the EF-M 18-150mm F3.5-6.3 IS STM but there are no RF-mount equivalents of the EF-M 22mm F2, 32mm F1.4 or 28mm F3.5 Macro, let alone Sigma’s 16, 30 and 56mm F1.4 DC DN trio. Photo: Carey Rose |
But beyond Canon’s own efforts, Sigma offered a trio of DC DN autofocus primes and there was a selection of manual focus primes from other third-party manufacturers, which could be used to create some powerful, compact kits.
However, the inability to use EF-M lenses on other bodies is likely to have discouraged large-scale investment in the system by enthusiasts. The belief in full-frame as an inevitable end-point (heavily promoted by the manufacturers) prompts some enthusiast photographers to focus on the full-frame camera they might buy, rather than the APS-C camera they actually have, which can dent the appeal of a system without the promise of such an ‘upgrade path.’
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The arrival of models such as the EOS R50 and EOS R100 (which shares its sensor and processor with the EOS M50 II) spelled the end for the EOS-M line, even if the new cameras give up some of the EF-M system’s compactness. Photo: Richard Butler |
The arrival of the RF mount undermined confidence in the future of the system and the launch of APS-C RF models essentially spelled the end for EF-M. The R cameras sacrifice some of the compactness of EOS-M modes and currently have fewer APS-C (and APS-C appropriate) lens options, but give buyers the confidence that Canon is committed to the lens system. To some degree, anyway: Canon doesn’t have a great history of fleshing out its APS-C systems, perhaps in the hope of up-selling people to its full-frame cameras and, unlike with EF-M, has been actively blocking third parties from doing so.
But, regardless of where we stand or how we got here, it seems that, after eleven years, Canon has turned a page on the first chapter of its mirrorless camera story.
