I was glad to find David B's post here...I was going to do it myself but didn't quite know where to put it. Canon General is a good place.
I've posted more than once about Canon's 'free' software that enables many of their top tier cameras (going back decades) to be used as simple webcams.
This 'freeware' has worked well for my wife, enabling the repurposing of an old 40D EF-S/10-18 combo that has found use as a webcam for yoga class instruction from home (via Zoom).
[Note added for clarity: the op here has written about the subscription version of this software...]
I mentioned this previously in the context of a previous CR thread about Canon setting up subscription payments for cropping guides:
Now we need to wait until they offer some really useful paid features by demand but not this crap. For example, I'd pay extra to enable mechanical or at least EFCS for focus bracketing mode on my R6m2. You’re in luck. The DYOC Program also includes firmware changes, though Canon may have left...
www.canonrumors.com
One additional post in the same thread:
Post #s 75-77 in this thread are quite informative, and sprinkled with personal experience and expertise. I learned some things by reading them. Posts such as these are why I peruse CR. In the end, the marketplace will decide...as it should. As it always does. I hope Canon's execs make wise...
www.canonrumors.com
...and quoting from my own post here:
In the end, the marketplace will decide...as it should. As it always does.
I hope Canon's execs make wise decisions.
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I was first made aware of the Roman Zipp post (op in this thread) here:
Just because it’s a good rig doesn’t mean you can use it on Zoom.
arstechnica.com
I daresay that arstechnica (one of my favorite sites...along with CR!) has readership numbers that dwarf those of Mr. Zipp and his posts (good as they are).
In fact, I think arstechnica is that rare science and technology webzine that is profitable. Highly profitable.
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One of the life's pleasures (fire away!) is reading arstechnica comment sections (smart people)...and the comment section here does not disappoint.
At least one of you reading this right now was, I think, introduced to the word 'enshittification' in a Canon subscription-related post on CR.
In the ars comment section to the article linked above, as well as a very lengthy and more-than-occasionally off-topic-as-usual reddit concerned with Mr. Zipp's original post...the word 'enshittification' is used dozens of times...enough to convince me (I think, for the purposes of discussion)...
...that Canon is deciding poorly when trying to set up a subscription model for their fully-featured webcam software.
Their decision here has set off a firestorm of publicity and criticism, from tech-types that Canon should want as customers.
In other words, the marketplace will decide.
This kerfuffle is not quite a Streisand Effect (not at all, actually), but sort of (in a way).
And for those of you who are unfamiliar with the
Streisand Effect, well...in the process of setting up this post, I learned something completely new:
The Cobra Effect!
In 2003, Barbera Streisand became very alarmed when an aerial photograph of her Malibu beach home was published on an internet website. Subsequently she unsuccessfully attempted to sue Kenneth Adel…
www.hastingsindependentpress.co.uk
"During the British reign in India there was growing concern about the incidence of cobra bites in Delhi. The governor there decided to offer a bounty for every dead cobra submitted to him. At first this worked well and a large number of snakes were killed for the reward. Gradually though business-minded people began to breed cobras for the income. Once it became apparent that this was happening the same Governor abandoned the reward scheme. This caused the cobra breeders to set all their now worthless snakes free. Thus the frequency of bites rose. So the Cobra Effect happens when a proposed solution to a problem has exactly the opposite impact to that intended."
...fascinating stuff (whether true or not it is a great read
).
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Finally, I wonder if the decision-makers at Canon are aware of The Streisand Effect (and things like it). If they are not, then that is part of the problem here.
EDIT: worth a
look. Definitely worth a look.
