Canon EXPO Paris 2015 presented a showcase of imaging technologies and concepts for the future. BroadcastPro ME was invited to the exclusive event to experience the brands latest offerings It was our first visit to Canon EXPO, which we are told is hosted every five years across different regions. The Paris edition was a true eye […]
Canon EXPO Paris 2015 presented a showcase of imaging technologies and concepts for the future. BroadcastPro ME was invited to the exclusive event to experience the brands latest offerings
It was our first visit to Canon EXPO, which we are told is hosted every five years across different regions. The Paris edition was a true eye opener into how the company has explored digital imaging techniques to help professionals in various fields improve life on earth.
Our knowledge of Canon and what it does has always been limited to its consumer and professional cameras as well as its printers. It was humbling to see how the company, under the leadership of its visionary CEO, Fujio Mitarai, had taken digital imaging to new heights.
Besides their fabulous cameras, 8K projection technology and industrial printing that had us all in awe, the availability of more intensive digital imaging techniques to do a mammogram that exposes a person to less radiation and surveillance cameras that accurately gauged our age as we walked by the stand and 3D technologies for construction were fascinating.
Canons most recently launched solutions were on display in real-life work-place scenarios, demonstrating how they are used by businesses today and what will be possible in the future.
In his keynote speech, Fujio Mitarai, Chairman and CEO of Canon, outlined Canons strategy in a connected world and highlighted his vision for the future to a packed EXPO audience.
I am delighted to welcome our valued partners and customers to Paris today and to explain my vision for a future Canon, where both regional independence and international collaboration is put into practice, said Mitarai.
Over the next five years, I dream to have a Canon Management System, where each local market will have its own R&D. In the new network of companies, each regional headquarters will manage local R&D and manufacturing, as well as service and support customised to its market.
He went on to speak about how the Internet of Things (IoT) is opening up new worlds of online image sharing and will support communications from system to system. In the future, nearly everything will be connected through smart devices. These rely on built-in cameras or sensors and the data they generate. As a result, Canon predicts that IoT will largely depend on the Imaging of Things.
It is to deliver these new possibilities in the world of imaging that Canon is looking to build its Network of Canon Companies, an ecosystem designed to harness innovation and creative talent from across the regions.
Europe will focus on printing and network video surveillance (NVS) and Canon has already brought on board strong leaders in these business areas, such as Océ, Axis and Milestone Systems.
As a result, in addition to its global reputation for cameras, Canon is now the largest printing and network surveillance system company in the world.
Rokus van Iperen, President and CEO, Canon Europe, Middle East and Africa, also addressed the crowd, saying the shifting landscape presents a host of opportunities.
He also added that he would like to see the day when every image taken in the world has a connection with Canon.
Whether it is taking the image, recording, storing, editing or printing it, we want to play a part in it and are building businesses to do this.
He said that Canon is geared up to make life-changing imaging technologies.
One trillion images will be taken this year, and five trillion stored. We need solutions to store and manage our memories. Our Irista cloud photo storage and photo cloud services will be used more by families.
Families will look to use the cloud more often to capture their memories, he said, and Canon was proud to say it was leading on this front.
In the meantime, the EXPO itself had attendees in awe. A 250-megapixel CMOS sensor, with the worlds highest pixel count for its size, was on display at the event. When installed in a camera, the new sensor is capable of capturing lettering on the side of an aircraft 18 kilometres away, far beyond what the human eye can see.
Also showcased was a network camera with a new ultra-telephoto lens which achieves eight times the brightness of conventional lenses, making night filming possible without infrared lighting, for the first time.
A concept called Intelligent Imaging for Life, which allows people to share and print photos from an interactive table in the living room, was demonstrated. It claims to make photo sharing quicker and simpler.
A range of ultra-high definition imaging technologies for the future, including 8K cameras, displays and projector demonstrations, were on show for visitors to experience firsthand.
But the one that most caught our attention was the prototype of a machine that would make a mammogram less intrusive, painless and more efficient.