Update: Canon CEO confirms 1DX Mark III will be company’s last flagship DSLR: Digital Photography Review

Update (Tuesday, December 28): Canon provided a statement to DPReview regarding Fujio Mitarai’s comment. We added it at the end of the article.

In one interview with Yomiuri Shimbun, a major newspaper in Japan, CEO, Chairman and President of Canon, Fujio Mitarai, has confirmed the EOS-1D X Mark III will be the company’s last flagship DSLR as the company continues its transition to mirrorless systems.

The interview, first discovered by YMCinema Magazine, which is part of a longer article on the overall state of the camera market and its rapid transition to mirrorless technology, is buried in the second page of the story. But in it, we get a pretty clear look at Canon’s current thinking about switching to mirrorless cameras. Based on Yomiuri Shimbun, ‘[Mitarai] revealed that the company will end development and production of its flagship digital SLR models in the next few years and “focus on mirrorless cameras”.

Mitarai was later quoted as saying that ‘the market’s demand is shifting towards mirrorless cameras at an increasingly rapid rate. […] and we are moving more and more people to meet this trend’, regarding the Canon camera system development roadmap. Yomiuri Shimbun also said Mitarai ‘expressed an intention to release a more premium model with higher performance.’

Image of the EOS-1, Canon’s flagship professional film camera, released in 1989. Photo by Morio used according to CC BY-SA 4.0

The story of the EOS-1 SLR series begins in 1989 with the original EOS-1. Five years later, Canon continued to release the EOS-1N, followed by the updated EOS-1V six years later. From there, Canon went digital, with its first DSLR being the EOS-1D, which was essentially the EOS-1V with a 4.1MP APS-H CCD sensor inside. Since then, Canon has released 11 other EOS-1 digital camera systems, with the latest being the EOS-1D X Mark III, announced on January 7, 2020.

While Canon’s EOS-1 line of cameras will likely continue in some form with mirrorless cameras, the mirrored days of the historic lineup seem to be over so far as Canon fears. . It looks to a mirrorless future. As for smaller DSLRs, Mitarai doesn’t specifically mention whether we can expect *new* DSLRs, but says ‘Demand for entry-level and mid-tier SLRs is strong in overseas, so we plan to continue developing and manufacturing during this time. ‘

Canon has provided DPReview with the following statement regarding the comment from Fujio Mitarai:

‘The extensive details of Mr. Mitarai’s interview as described in the article are true. However, although it is estimated to be “in a few years”, an exact date has not been confirmed for the end of development/end of production for a flagship DSLR. ‘