# New Canon USA Website



## rfdesigner (Nov 7, 2015)

I just took a peek at www.usa.canon.com

Oh dear.

I used to be able to see all the lenses on a single page, with prices and basic details, lovely layout and SO much better than the awful UK site.

They've now nested everything... though they do give the prices against each lens unlike the UKs crummy offering which doesn't include MTF curves or prices. (HINT: CANON.. WE DON'T ALL HAVE BOTTOMLESS WALLETS, everything is about bang for buck, failing to put prices just makes work for your customers)

Edit: also, for readability text line lengths should be limited to around 50 characters... there are some horribly long lines on this new site.. much harder to read.

see https://wmich.edu/writing/readability


----------



## meywd (Nov 7, 2015)

And this is not the 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II, but when you go to the detailed page you get the correct pic


----------



## JMZawodny (Nov 7, 2015)

I completely agree. I left them the following feedback (upper left corner). If enough of us provide feedback perhaps they may fix this disaster.

"The new site is horrid. I definitely liked the old site better as I could see and compare all of the EOS bodies or EF lenses on a single page. Now I have to navigate 5 different pages before I see a body or lens. And then, I need to know exactly what I am looking for and how you have classified it. This new site is a huge step backwards in terms of user experience."


----------



## turbo1168 (Nov 7, 2015)

Not sure why it is split up, but have you looked at the USA store? I agree, the new Canon USA site is clunky, used to be able to get to software and drivers right from the camera pages. http://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog


----------



## old-pr-pix (Nov 7, 2015)

+1 The old site was much better. I just left them comment to that effect, gave specific example of problem (DSLR's are no longer listed on the "Professional Imaging Proudcts" page even though a 5DsR is shown as image to click-on to get to that page???) and summed it up as the new site is "IMPOSSIBLE".


----------



## Vivid Color (Nov 7, 2015)

I agree that the new site is horrible and I also left feedback using the feedback link. It's really easy and quick to do and I encourage anyone who does not like the new layout of this website to provide your thoughts.


----------



## Mt Spokane Photography (Nov 7, 2015)

Once you click umpteen times to find the download you need, you still have to have the serial number.

I think someone is paranoid.


----------



## rfdesigner (Nov 7, 2015)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> Once you click umpteen times to find the download you need, you still have to have the serial number.
> 
> I think someone is paranoid.



Also the "learn more" links don't work for me, nor typing in my camera info for drivers and support.. frankly the site seems half baked. W7+firefox latest, hardly an uncommon setup.


----------



## Twiseldorf (Nov 7, 2015)

New site is terrible, you can tell it was laid out by a web designer, someone you knows nothing about how a photographer may use the site. If you want, for now at least, go to www.canon.com and navigate to the Canadian page. It's similar to the way the site used to look, and way easier to use


----------



## ultrasound (Nov 7, 2015)

*Re: New Canon USA Website hides software downloads sneakily*

Looks like a web site designer's first try. Obviously they did no professional user testing. For example, when searching for software, drivers, downloads, 5DSR, nothing shows for El Capitan even though the software for Yosemite works, so your scratch your head a bit and finally find what you need. A warning should be given that the software is located under a previous op sys.


----------



## meywd (Nov 7, 2015)

I provided a feedback as well, hope they fix this.



> I understand the need for a new design, yes the old one was a bit old, but still you could get to the information you want fast and easy, some few things needed improvement, but this is simply bad.
> 
> Although I liked the new theme, still I rated the design "Unsatisfactory", because the menus gotten more complicated, and things are taking more space while yes its clearer, less info is shown, which makes it not as useful.
> 
> ...


----------



## Brusiephoto (Nov 7, 2015)

I tried to do a product comparison on the Canon EOS cinema page... selected three items, hit compare, and it promptly provided me with a null search result. No error message, just the compare screen with nothing in it. Left my comments.
Given the 'geek factor' of most of their customer base (no offense, CR folks!) they need to have this tested and debugged much better before launch... I hope it is just some ad agency and not indicative of the software testing provided by Canon!  and, the landing page is a design disaster.


----------



## tcmatthews (Nov 7, 2015)

Man I am glad I did all those updates yesterday. It looks like it is going to take weeks for me to figure out the new site.


----------



## LSXPhotog (Nov 7, 2015)

The new site may be graphically superior, but it's much more difficult to try and navigate. I have a feeling the average consumer has no idea how to find a lens on the site based on the criteria of "medium telephoto, telephoto, super telephoto" and that some zooms are not where they should be like the 100-400 1.4x on the super telephoto page? Why not telephoto zoom like the regular 200-400s?

Previously, everything was broken into categories from a main overview. Easy to understand where each lens was.


----------



## IslanderMV (Nov 8, 2015)

Just got a new 6D, the web site has broken links to the Carepak-Plus promotion.

http://usa.canon.com/carepak-plus

Was looking forward to having free Carepak-Plus .

Design wise, I liked the old site better for some qualities like lens comparisons. I would prefer a simpler, less imagery cluttered interface.


----------



## Camerajah (Nov 8, 2015)

ok so where are the MTF lens charts


----------



## Good24 (Nov 8, 2015)

Agree. Awful "update". I just want to see the lenses. And I feel bad for newer photo enthusiasts. I've been shooting for decades and I know what a "medium telephoto" is - yet I'm still not trying to think through all those classifications when I'm browsing. All lenses on one page. Shouldn't be hard.


----------



## slclick (Nov 8, 2015)

I guess they polled a bunch of people and found out they wanted more balloons and less facts.


----------



## sjprg (Nov 8, 2015)

Hello CanonUSA. Revert to the old website software immediately!!!


----------



## East Wind Photography (Nov 8, 2015)

Not working at all on my ipad mini running IOS9. Both safari and chrome crash. I guess I better put my PDF manuals on my ipad again since I can no longer just download them when I need them.


----------



## smozes (Nov 8, 2015)

It's about time. The old site made them look like a dinosaur and inept in anything visual. It made a terrible impression.

One remnant is the "Consumer Home and Office" section name. It's a turn off to any non-professional looking for a nice camera to buy.


----------



## infared (Nov 8, 2015)

It's unanimous! Everyone pretty much hates the new Canon Site.


----------



## K-amps (Nov 8, 2015)

The first thing I see on the website is, "Canon See Impossible"... 

are they saying the see the impossible, for example less read noise at base iso, or Hey Canon, go ahead see the impossible, like, You can now have AE linked to AF point in non-flagship FF bodies... 

There is usually resistance to change... but the new site is quite RAW.


----------



## neuroanatomist (Nov 8, 2015)

Suddenly instead of my entire list of registered products, the My Products page shows just a single lens (without the prior useful information like serial number and purchase date). Oh, well done, Canon... :


----------



## AUGS (Nov 8, 2015)

Camerajah said:


> ok so where are the MTF lens charts



They can be found by clicking on the "_read more_" text in the first page of the lens description. They have limited the product description to a number of lines (3 by the look of it) and then truncated the information with "read more". It is not obvious, at all - I found it purely by chance. Click the "read more" and it will expand and show any truncated text and the MTFs.

On each product page, moving the Manuals and Drivers under the hyperlink text "_Product Support_" just under the product image is not overly intuitive, especially when you have a big feature menu below the description that draws your eye for everything else about the product.

Final gripe - specifically on the web design - why have the page scale to the window size? If I maximise my browser window, I don't see any additional text, just the same text and images only bigger, and in some cases, I see less! It becomes so sparse it is difficult to read on a large monitor.

Having said all that, familiarity is a comforting experience. I'm sure we will all get used to it soon enough.


----------



## photogaz (Nov 8, 2015)

Wow what a mess! The homepage image is stretched depending on the screen size you view it on. The image should be set to background-size:cover in CSS.

The effect when you hover over the images is way off. Who on earth did they get to do this?

It's embarrassing that for an imaging company the images are all wrong.


----------



## rfdesigner (Nov 8, 2015)

Just a thought

Did canon get Nikon to design their new website?


----------



## TeT (Nov 8, 2015)

Needs some adjustments. Has changed a little since I first saw it...

I had no navigation issues though, was able to find my way around in; navigationally (?) I thought it to be similar to old site.


----------



## Jack Douglas (Nov 8, 2015)

I haven't dared to look.

I assume Canon had something to do with Canada electing a new flashy Prime Minister! They must be severely reprimanded!!  

Jack


----------



## Cali Capture (Nov 8, 2015)

How do I affect my "Lens Lust Disease" if I can't see all my desires on one page? They need to bring back that page where you can "see the Possible"!

KISS, "Keep it simple stupid", rule was not followed on this design, much harder to navigate, less intuitive, and really not a step forward IMHO.


----------



## dcm (Nov 8, 2015)

Coming soon to a web site near you. Not just Canon's.

This is the current direction for user experience design being adopted by companies. One of the tenets is "less is more" which may be true for most users, but probably not for some of the users of this forum. Another tenet is progressive disclosure. It also addresses a host of issues with web development and maintenance that is costly for them. Now they can build a single web site that works on desktop, tablet, and phone displays rather than crafting different experiences for each which also annoyed many users. Its not just about the size of the screen - it also addresses mouse versus touch issues. And it will meet accessibility requirements for those with physical impairments. Try it on your other devices.

That said, it still needs a bit of work. Like Neuro I found that it "lost" most of my product registrations. It appears to only have those registered in the past year. It did let me register my EF-M purchases from the last year or two so that's a step forward. It is also missing my order history from the Canon store. They may still be in the process of transferring the data.


----------



## mrsfotografie (Nov 8, 2015)

It's not even loading ;D ;D ;D


----------



## 2n10 (Nov 8, 2015)

I can deal with the site OK. Must be used to the universal site design.

My old products showed up but not my new ones.  I attempted to deleted sold ones and "there was a problem". I attempted to add the new ones and it would do that either. 

Still must be rolling out the site.


----------



## Dogfather (Nov 8, 2015)

I share a lot of the negative reactions that have already been posted about the new “improved” site, but I do appreciate dcm’s observation regarding economy of a single design for multiple platforms and accessibility. Unfortunately for some of us that spend the bulk of our time on high definition monitors this is bad news. It just appears to me as though everything has been oversized, dumbed down and flooded with white space, never mind the logic errors and non-functioning links. Paradoxically someone probably received a bonus for this.

In practice I found that by logging in to the new site I was able to see ALL of my registered products. I tried to delete one which I had recently sold and received an error with a suggestion to try again, as though the logic behind that selection will somehow fix itself. On the positive side I was able to successfully ADD a product. 

My experience with other recently redesigned websites is that some of them have maintained links to the legacy site until they thought users were “ready” for a cutover to the improved one. That might not be a bad idea in Canon’s case.


----------



## MrFotoFool (Nov 8, 2015)

Does anyone else find it annoying that the top bar disappears when you scroll down the page and then pops down over the top of the screen when you scroll back to the top?


----------



## LetTheRightLensIn (Nov 8, 2015)

smozes said:


> It's about time. The old site made them look like a dinosaur and inept in anything visual. It made a terrible impression.
> 
> One remnant is the "Consumer Home and Office" section name. It's a turn off to any non-professional looking for a nice camera to buy.



Funny though that all the websites and apps that used to look like dinosaurs, the Canon site, AMC Theaters, etc. became both so modern and fancy looking.... and almost unusable. Great.

Style over substance, usability, information. The name of the game at ever more companies these days.


----------



## mrsfotografie (Nov 8, 2015)

MrFotoFool said:


> Does anyone else find it annoying that the top bar disappears when you scroll down the page and then pops down over the top of the screen when you scroll back to the top?



Now that the site does load... I can provide a comment.

Actually when you use the top bar, hit products, a drop down menu appears from there making the site easily navigable. I do agree the old site looked dated as I am used to the Canon Europe design. I'm sure the website will need some work (all new websites need work until they evolve to be better) but this is not a bad start at all.

I like the possibility to select between a tabular or list view.


----------



## wsmith96 (Nov 9, 2015)

Looks like they are trying to optimize it for touch screen tablets.


----------



## Mr. Shakes (Nov 9, 2015)

It looks like Adobe has bought Canon. Every navigation move is a sales opportunity.


----------



## Solar Eagle (Nov 9, 2015)

On a monitor its really unpleasant to have to look far left and far right to see the page.


----------



## Tugela (Nov 9, 2015)

Interesting that they still see things as impossible


----------



## msatter (Nov 9, 2015)

Like shape shifting balloons on the landing page on rotation of a tablet or phone.

I could look for drivers and updates because the search botton did not budge.


----------



## Kim Bentsen (Nov 9, 2015)

New site is useless. Until they realize it and change it back use this site:

http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/product/lenses.do


----------



## rfdesigner (Nov 9, 2015)

Kim Bentsen said:


> New site is useless. Until they realize it and change it back use this site:
> 
> http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/product/lenses.do



Hadn't seen that before, that's a real breath of fresh air!, short text lines, all on one page, but no prices of MTF curves.... I don't know why, but on this side of the pond there seems to be an effort made to exclude all technical information, it's not just Canon.. it's why I use so many US sites.

The new style sites need an "Expanded Layout" button, perhaps even an option for "small images", so they become text dominated, then all these myriad of subpages could just be opened as one long page more or less like you've linked to.


----------



## Kim Bentsen (Nov 9, 2015)

True - MTFs are missing. 

Currently the best MTF's are on TDP. It is a new thing there, so not all lenses are included, but the MTFs are measured by 3rd party (Lensrentals.com) and are supposedly more trustworthy (opinion).

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/MTF.aspx?Lens=977
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/News/News-Post.aspx?News=15481





rfdesigner said:


> Kim Bentsen said:
> 
> 
> > New site is useless. Until they realize it and change it back use this site:
> ...


----------



## RustyTheGeek (Nov 9, 2015)

old-pr-pix said:


> +1 The old site was much better. I just left them comment to that effect, gave specific example of problem (DSLR's are no longer listed on the "Professional Imaging Proudcts" page even though a 5DsR is shown as image to click-on to get to that page???) and summed it up as the new site is "IMPOSSIBLE".



This was the first thing I noticed. DSLR image to go to a section that doesn't contain DSLRs.

All in All, I'm not a fan of the new site. I hate nested designs and a lot of sites are going to them. It may seem neat-o to the web designer but it sucks for ease of use. I think many designers (and companies?) miss the point of their website.

*Most customers go to the site for INFORMATION AND RESOURCES. They don't go there to window shop.*

When was the last time you went to a primary manufacturer to shop at their website? Usually you just want facts, specs, PDFs or technical support / drivers. And you don't want to hunt and hunt, you just want to get what you came for and get back to what you're doing.


----------



## neuroanatomist (Nov 9, 2015)

RustyTheGeek said:


> *Most customers go to the site for INFORMATION AND RESOURCES. They don't go there to window shop.*



Seems evident Canon hopes to change that. MSRP is the same, why give a cut to retailers if you can avoid it?


----------



## infared (Nov 9, 2015)

Kim Bentsen said:


> New site is useless. Until they realize it and change it back use this site:
> 
> http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/product/lenses.do



WOW! 
You are right!
I had not surfed the Canon Site in a long time...I surfed the new one when I saw this CR post...and today I tried your link to the EuroSite. WHOA! The old site is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY more surfable, and fun. Seeing all the lenses on the same page is a MUCH better experience and much more informative in a shorter period of time. DEFINITELY!
Plus...is has a much higher drool factor, which causes more G?A.S. attacks. Canon should want to optimize our G.A.S. attacks....right?...


----------



## unfocused (Nov 9, 2015)

Looks like they have fixed a lot of the problems with the site, making it easier to navigate and eliminating the nonsensical way they were grouping products before. 

I'm a little surprised that a major corporation would launch a site with so many problems without thoroughly testing it out first.


----------



## Maui5150 (Nov 9, 2015)

Perhaps sending dozens of comments on their website may actually get them to listen.

Definitely a sloppy move on their part


----------



## iowapipe (Nov 9, 2015)

I'm probably and outlier in this comment thread: but I don't mind the new site. 
There are some good points being made about usability, and too much nesting, but I didn't have a hard time finding content. The clicks haven't gotten out of hand.
I would say I'm not a fan of the splash page: pictures are huge and dominate requiring me to scroll to see content options. I have a preference against the necessity of scrolling.
I did however find out that I hadn't registered a few of my Canon purchases over the last couple of years, so that's taken care of now!


----------



## drs (Nov 9, 2015)

"I have learned over the years that very few people like change when it comes to a web site they visit frequently"

Change for a change is always a waste of time. CR has certainly improved and the changes, once I got used to it, made sense.
=====

The Canon web-site, on [first glance] looks more like -- big picture, less usable information, and more clicks to get to the "real information". Taste is one thing, usability another, both should be balanced. In my book, this here is not an improvement. Lots of white space on my 27 inch iMac, it feels empty, kind of desperate even.
Well, to balance this first share of my impression, I have seen worse. (Which is easy, I use the web since over two decades.

All in all, not a good idea and not not appreciated.


----------



## smozes (Nov 10, 2015)

LetTheRightLensIn said:


> smozes said:
> 
> 
> > It's about time. The old site made them look like a dinosaur and inept in anything visual. It made a terrible impression.
> ...



I am sure the problems will be fixed, it just launched. Canon needs to find new customers and the new site is a step in the right direction.


----------



## sjprg (Nov 10, 2015)

They have lost ALL of my registrations. Trying to register they require an office phone # and a home phone Number #. I have neither as I use a cell phone only and no place to enter it. They don't have all of my cameras listed to select or all of my products. To reregister it will take hours to go back to my files over the years and retrieve all the info they request. At least they have my account on file even if it is empty and I had to request a new password. Someone is incompetent at Canon.


----------



## Nethawk (Nov 10, 2015)

My biggest beef is in My Products page. Issues have been mentioned above, here are my problems.

1. Items I've recently registered are not showing up
2. Items deleted long ago are in the list
3. No way of seeing date purchased, at all
4. No way of seeing serial numbers, unless you have two copies of the same model (really weird)
4a.Even weirder, if you need to delete one of these serial numbers you can't - you can only delete them both
5. With lots of gear, it sucks that I have to do so much scrolling
6. The separation between My Products is confusing (there is none). I'm constantly having to scroll to the top to remember which comes first, the image or the menu choices.

Maybe I'm unique, but it was great being able to go to Canon's website and see all of my gear, serial numbers and when purchased in one table. I hope they bring this back, now the only consolidated list exists on CPS site, and this without purchase date.


----------



## funkboy (Nov 11, 2015)

Tremendous amount of visual clutter & needless animations.

It's like trying to find information about a camera with a Twitter client.

They should just turn the old website into a "pro" website & let the consumers buying $75 inkjet printers continue to play with this toy.


----------



## dickgrafixstop (Nov 23, 2015)

pretty colors - useless human factors. One huge "thumbs down" for this clunker.


----------



## slclick (Nov 26, 2015)

So many comments here sound like they wish the new site was done entirely in Text Editor.


----------



## rfdesigner (Nov 26, 2015)

slclick said:


> So many comments here sound like they wish the new site was done entirely in Text Editor.



a touch harsh, I think our number one concern is that the site should work and be easily navigable.

For my part and several other it seems, it simply doesn't work properly.. that's just poor however you look at it.


----------



## slclick (Nov 27, 2015)

rfdesigner said:


> slclick said:
> 
> 
> > So many comments here sound like they wish the new site was done entirely in Text Editor.
> ...


Harsh, I do not think you know what that word means. ....Ok, now THAT was harsh. Here's the rub. Websites have grown splashier and more click through on image than they have been in the past, making navigation supposedly intuitive yet the photographer niche doesn't necessarily want a shopping tool to have the feature which a image gallery would use so we bitch about it. Plus then there's the whole humans love to complain angle.


----------



## rfdesigner (Nov 27, 2015)

slclick said:


> rfdesigner said:
> 
> 
> > slclick said:
> ...



That's very nice..

But whenever I click any of the "learn more" buttons nothing happens.. 

Other people have had trouble with product registrations disappearing.

The question is: 

is "not working" the new cool?


----------



## slclick (Dec 2, 2015)

Every click works for me, clear your cache?


----------



## rfdesigner (Dec 2, 2015)

slclick said:


> Every click works for me, clear your cache?



everything is cleared every time I close firefox.

It's probably only been tested on IE! :


----------



## slclick (Dec 2, 2015)

works fine on both Safari and WIN 10 for me. But I do have problems with other websites and almost always it tends to be an AdBlock filter list issue.


----------



## rfdesigner (Dec 2, 2015)

slclick said:


> works fine on both Safari and WIN 10 for me. But I do have problems with other websites and almost always it tends to be an AdBlock filter list issue.



I just tried again turning off the adblock and scriptblock stuff.. but still nothing, none of the front page links work, just the top banner and the menu system.


----------

