A couple of days ago, Canon announced their first contribution to the mirrorless camera market.

They’re calling it the EOS M. As far as I can tell, the only good thing about it is the sensor size (APS-C, or 1.6 crop – in the same ballpark as Fujifilm’s X100 and X-Pro1, and significantly larger than micro-4/3’s). The new 22mm f/2 lens looks alright too.

Some photographers will love the compatibility with Canon’s EF and EF-S lenses (via a $200 adapter, mind you). Then again, all of those lenses dwarf the camera, and most of us expect mirrorless systems to be diminutive. Right?

The touch screen might eventually be a game changer for Canon (assuming it’s well-implemented), but on this camera, it comes at the expense of finger-friendly control dials and configurable buttons. I guess you don’t need those when there’s NO VIEWFINDER. (Oh sorry … were you hoping to use this camera outdoors? You’re going to need one of these. What touch screen?)

For $800-odd, you’d expect something smarter than this from Canon, especially given the maturity of mirrorless cameras by Fujifilm, Sony, Olympus and Panasonic.

(Not that Nikon have done any better so far.)