Canon's Other Mirrorless Line May Finally Be on Its Way Out

Canon's Other Mirrorless Line May Finally Be on Its Way Out

With all the fanfare and excitement surrounding Canon's RF mirrorless line, it can be easy to forget that the company actually has two separate mirrorless lines, with the second being the EOS M. That line's future has been in question since the introduction of the more advanced RF line, and it seems now that Canon may be getting ready to shutter the line.

Canon Rumors is reporting that the company will likely make 2021 the last year for the EOS M line. I discussed the issue in an article earlier this year, and I have had the sneaking suspicion for a while that Canon would eventually start to push such users toward the RF mount, especially with the introduction of more affordable bodies and lenses. 

It is likely that Canon plans to introduce two APS-C RF mount cameras. One of those is likely the R7, the analog to the 7D line and Canon's flagship APS-C body. I would surmise that the other would be a more budget-friendly body to help replace the hole left by the EOS-M line. With the EOS RP showing us that Canon can make a full frame mirrorless camera priced below $1,000, it will be interesting to see what sort of price level a crop sensor body could achieve.

Head over to Canon Rumors for more on the story. 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

Log in or register to post comments
13 Comments

Nice clickbait, thank you for posting. The CR guy was "predicting" it since the EOS R was out. I guess the next step is to get a sharpie and start changing Canon's official roadmap charts.

On the one hand, their EF-M lens roadmap seems dead while the lenses on offer are a mixed bag.

On the other hand, this range is apparently selling really well in Japan and perhaps other Far East countries. So why kill a successful product line?
Especially when your other product lines cannot match this product line on some key features such as size and weight.

Not to mention the m50ii is the best selling mirrorless camera of the year, as was the mk1 before it in previous years.

I wonder if that is the criterial of camera manufacturers though.

Canon need to do a lot of work to get the platform ready and enticing enough to to make M users migrate.

Not only do they need to build a competitively priced camera (compared to the M series), but they need to do so without compromising on features, and with more snd superior features and performance than the current M series.

They also need to cover all of the popular M series form factors, as mdd as my people like the pocketable M6 and M200 designs that do not have a built in evf.

Unless canon can offer an appealing cost effective upgrade to most M users before killing the format off, they will simply vote with their feet and look elsewhere.

Given the giant maw of the R mount, making small lenses competing with M mount is a tough challenge.

It would be a shame to kill the M line even if Canon offers APS-c EOS R at the similar price and size because the 18mm flange-focal distance of M lenses makes them un-adaptable to use on the RF cameras. On the other hand, I have two M series bodies and several native and adapted lenses that I can use for the foreseeable future.

No company is going to kill a line that brings in $.
Asian like buying smaller camera for travel purpose. no one like carrying around a big FF camera. M line may be weaker than R line, but it still serve a purpose. No one will drop a line and let competitors fill the gap especially it's not losing money on the M line. you might not like the m50 II, but the M6 II is good.

The M series are marketed to a completely different potential customer base than the R series. Those who Canon target with the M line are people who want a single small, light, and affordable camera with only a small, light and affordable lens or three. All M series lenses are 61mm in diameter. Those who complain about a lack of faster, premium lenses fail to understand the M series has never been for them.

This isn't news

Sony announced they are discontinuing the a6000, the #1 selling mirrorless camera on Amazon. While not abandoning the mount, clearly sales figures are only part of the equasion.

How many years has that rumor been going around now? Canon will not kill a camera line that makes $$$. The M line isn't aimed at enthusiasts or pros, and more often than not isn't for people who read canon rumors or fstoppers. It's for your everyday consumer who wants a "good camera" and doesn't want to spend a lot of money. Even though the RF cameras are getting more affordable there's a huge number of people who would think spending $1000 for the body alone is too much for them. Canon likely thinks the M line is good enough for now and will come back to it at some point later.

Well, I do think that the M line is also aimed at enthusiasts, with cameras like the M5, M6, and M6ii.

But not at pros, it doesn't offer the level of features and quality that a pro would be looking for.