I was more than a little surprised when some of the major manufacturers
began offering bodies with plastic lens mounts. I remember the good old
days, when my Nikon and Olympus cameras had big, solid mounts. I even saw
some positives in the Canon breechmount. Now, they began to look like
something made by Mattel.
Then, I read the story. The market research people, in their never ending
quest to better products the world over, had made a striking discovery:
since the advent of wide range zooms, the owners of low end models never
bought any additional lenses, so they had what were, effectively, fixed lens
cameras. Their motivation for purchasing interchangable lens SLR's were
along two lines, either they thought they would get better photos, because
that's what pros use, or they were looking for some additional snob value,
but were too cheap or poorly educated to get more upmarket models. In any
event, why spend a few extra pennies per unit when the lens would never be
removed?
The sad thing is this: people never got the point of the IS series. Great
cameras with great lenses. Probably better all in all in like situations.
Too bad!
Bill Pearce
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