Canon Announces the 5D Mark IV With Focus Fine-Tuning in Post and New Lenses

Canon Announces the 5D Mark IV With Focus Fine-Tuning in Post and New Lenses

Canon has announced what's probably the most anticipated camera in years: the 5D Mark IV. Chock full of improvements and some remarkable new features, it looks to be a worthy successor to the 5D Mark III. Along with it come two new lenses, the EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM and the EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM.

5D Mark IV

The 5D Mark III is the bread and butter camera of countless wedding, portrait, and event photographers. It's known as the camera that can step into any situation and perform competently and reliably. Following it up was no small task, and it seems Canon has really stepped up to the plate.

Specifications

  • 30.4 MP CMOS sensor
  • ISO range of 100-32,000, expandable to 50-102,400
  • DCI 4K (4096 by 2160) at 30/25/24 fps with 8.8 MP JPEG image extraction
  • Dual Pixel raw file format allows post-production fine-tuning of focal point, foreground bokeh shifting, and image ghosting reduction
  • 61-point (41-point cross type) AF system with expanded coverage and focusing down to -3 EV
  • 7 fps continuous shooting speed
  • Wi-Fi and NFC to allow for remote shooting and sharing of images
  • GPS for geotagging of images
  • DIGIC 6+ processor
  • Fully functional touchscreen to allow for setting changes, focal point selection, and image review, including pinch-to-zoom gestures
  • 150,000-pixel RGB+IR metering sensor including anti-flicker protection
  • Dual Pixel CMOS AF
  • Time-Lapse movie mode
  • 100% coverage viewfinder
  • Dual CF and SD card slots
  • Mirror vibration control system to ensure maximum sharpness

As a side note, I've been shooting with the 1D X Mark II for about a month now and can attest to its vast improvements in dynamic range and post-processing latitude, so you can expect great performance out of the 5D Mark IV's sensor. 

EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM

Canon has also announced the EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM, an update to their popular and highly capable wide angle lens.

Specifications

  • Focal range: 16-35mm
  • Aperture range: f/2.8-f/22
  • 16 elements in 11 groups
  • Two large-diameter, glass-molded, dual-surface aspherical elements and one ground aspherical element for edge sharpness, low vignetting, and minimal distortion
  • Two ultra-low dispersion elements to reduce chromatic aberrations
  • Subwavelength and Air Sphere coatings to reduce flaring and ghosting
  • Ring-Type USM focusing motor with full-time override
  • Dust and water resistance
  • Fluorine coating to reduce smears and enable easier cleaning
  • Nine rounded aperture blades
  • 0.22x maximum magnification with 11" minimum focusing distance

EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM

The EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM is an update to Canon's highly popular walk-around lens. The original is a personal favorite of mine, and with expected improvements in sharpness, I imagine it will make a stellar travel lens. 

Specifications

  • Focal range: 24-105mm
  • Aperture range: f/4-f/22
  • 17 elements in 12 groups
  • 4 stops of image stabilization
  • Zoom lock switch to prevent lens creep
  • One large-diameter, glass-molded, dual-surface aspherical element along with three addition glass-molded aspherical elements for edge sharpness, low vignetting, and minimal distortion
  • Air Sphere coating to reduce flaring and ghosting
  • Ring-Type USM focusing motor with full-time override
  • Dust and water resistance
  • Fluorine coating to reduce smears and enable easier cleaning
  • 10 rounded aperture blades
  • 0.23x maximum magnification with 18" minimum focusing distance

Preordering and Availability

Both the 5D Mark IV and the new lenses are available for preorder now, with shipping beginning on September 8. Get them below!

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV DSLR Camera (Body Only)

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV DSLR Camera with 24-70mm f/4L Lens

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV DSLR Camera with 24-105mm f/4L II Lens

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM Lens

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM Lens

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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63 Comments

It seems like Canon still doesn't one its users to have spot metering linked to the AF point if they don't buy a 1D body. I'll never get that…

Apart from that, if the announced ISO range is clean, it could potentially be a solid camera for portrait and wedding photographers. Can't wait to test it out! :)

On technical aspect Nikon seems to won this years body battle.

And Photokina hasn't even happened yet. Curious if both the d810 and d750 get upgraded.

D5 AF module please.

God imagine having that much room in post..

I'm curious to see how Capture One and Adobe products will handle those dual pixel raw files if they ever do… I've got a feeling people will have to rely on Canon EOS software to adjust it, which would make one's workflow a real pain in my opinion. Hopefully I'm wrong though.

They probably come up with a solution sometimes. Could be next month, could be within a few months.

I'm more curious how the technology works

You need to make the adjustments (focus, bokeh, etc.) in the Canon software first and then export the files into LR/C1 from there.

It will be a matter of time for Canon to implement this technique into more camera's. Competition will follow.

I think it will also be a mather of time before Adobe enables the functions into their software. if I want to use certain functions, like focus-adjusting, and I need camera-dedicated-software and I'm not using Adobe software anymore, what's the use of buing a cloud-service from Adobe? They will find a solution to implement it in ACR, it's a matter of time

Maybe, but only if people use it/want it. A lot of the people I've spoken to (wedding photographers mostly) thought it was a cool feature at first but with the realities of extended workflow and HUGE file sizes, not a lot of people think they'll ever use it - but I said that about wifi and flip out screens too and I use then both.

When Canon made their first camera with live-view (40D) I said: "this is the first step to a dslr with filming capabiltys". All my friends laught.
And here we are, a few years later....

Wasn't it in the movie Field of Dreams: "If you build it, they will come"

Same goes for focussing afterwards. The purists probably say that you have to get it right in the shot. And it's true. But what if I just missed because my subject moved and I can fix it in post.
I embrace technology like this. It's called progress.

If Canon builds it, Adobe will follow ;)

4K motion JPEG video ? wow :/ no thanks.

Well, it's a still camera first (with video capabilities). Those wanting film making capabilities should probably get a true video camera. IMO

How about people who like doing both still and vidéo? Canon advertise a lot about the video capability of the 5D so customer are right to expect proper video results and a 15yr old codec is not what is expected of a product that is advertise like a good tool for shooting video.

Where do you see JPEG video? It says you can pull 8MP Stills from Video.

What's wrong with Motion JPEG? Every frame is essentially a JPEG file (therefore every frame is technically an I-frame). You'll get much better quality than MPEG-4/H.264 at the cost of higher file sizes, which I think is a fair trade off. Fun fact: Been to the theater recently to see a movie? All movies are mastered as JPEG sequences (specifically JPEG2000).

Mjpeg is okay for delivery codec as you said there, but not for editing codec. it's highly inefficient and ancient code, don't get fooled by the high number of the bitrate, it's just show how inefficient it is. No hardware acceleration support from almost all popular video editing softwares mean it's really slow as slime. People always to transcode it to something fluid like Prores first, well it's okay if you are a really patient person.

Yes Digital Cinema Packages are JPEG, but that doesn't mean it looks great, I don't understand why so many people see cinema projection as the reference bar for image quality....so many cinema projections are often quite bad in brightness, contrast and saturation quality, not to mention the projector resolution itself. Have to agree with Oishi, as an editing codec it's far from ideal. Can not wait till h265 finally drops.

All the reasons you referenced have to do solely with projection, which varies widely from theater to theater, and not the actual JPEG format. Just one example is that theaters constantly run their projectors at below the recommended specs to save money on bulbs, which degrade the original image. On a good reference monitor, I'm confident to say you would not be able to tell the difference in quality between a JPEG2000 sequence and a ProRes file.

That being said, I do agree that MJPEG isn't great for editing. Transcoding to a different editing based format (ProRes or DNxHD) would be ideal. And that is where MJPEG is better than H.264. A ProRes file transcoded from MJPEG will be better than H.264 because MJPEG saves the information of every frame, where as H.264 only does this for a few frames (I-frames or keyframes) and the remaining frames are interpolated.

H.265 works in the same way as H.264 but it requires a tremendous amount more processing power to encode and decode. I can't imagine it will be an efficient format to edit natively any time soon.

the projection lamp issue is a total pain in the neck and ALL cinemas in my area do it. its actually a ripoff. I agree that MJPEG might be better than h264 but in this day and age both are simply outdated....we now have cigarette pack sized ProRes recorders that can convert footage in real time....so why not incorporate that in the more higher end cameras and let the cameras capture straight in Prores or Avid codecs. I read in a whitepaper on h265 that they don't expect a widespread and device/ operating system supported use of the codec before the end of 2018 unfortunately.

Completely agree. A DSLR with in body ProRes recording? Oh man, that would be great, But no one would buy prosumer video cameras anymore.

Looks like it has a pop up flash? Or am i imagining things?

Yep, imagining :)
It's likely a different material to allow GPS and WiFi signal in/out as these sensors are in the top

Aahhhh, I thought it unlikely.

No pop-up flash - LOL

Hate all you want but I actually like a pop up flash if it can be dialed down manually to 1/128th power. Can say how many times I've traveled home or on a quick trip where the pop up flash was actually my preferred optical trigger for a few speed lights. I'd rather have it than not even if it only gets used a few times a year.

I totally agree mate. Most of my photography nowadays is when I travel and I try to keep my kit light = no speedlight.
I would love the ability to put a bit of fill light into some shots - mainly ones with people in them.
Boosting the 5D3's shadows is an exercise in frustration even at low ISOs...

There are some photographers nowadays are into the "look" of a professional camera. I do have colleagues who just hated the D810 because it has a pop up flash. Like seriously? A camera's features and capabilities just because it has a little flash on top?
I agree with you, It is very useful to trigger flashes when 3rd party transceivers are not in hand.

Augh, the same stupid argument is brought up about DSLR video all the time. They shout "remove all the video features please" as if it would reduce the cost of the camera or some how make the camera easier to use. I never understand removing a feature.

Yeah, that's why i queried it. I thought it would be a nice addition. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

https://fstoppers.com/photo/85696
Shot spur of the moment with the D700 pop-up flash

Love that shot, but "spur of the moment" does not exist for a professional event photographer, nice try though. Unless i am wrong, and this was a private moment not on the job?

It was "spur of the moment" in that I was shooting the couple in a different environment when "their" song came on and they rushed in to dance faster than I could set up some lights so I had to go with the pop-up flash, but I have trained and practiced this shot many times and knew the result I would get. So I would still say Spur of the moment, but not a "lucky shot".

Thanks Alex - would you consider a quick article to offer your insight/perspective on the new 1DX MkII vs 5D MkIV? Thanks for the effort. pMc

Compared to my Mk II, this would be a major upgrade for me.

Weird Pricing on the 24-105 kit. You end up paying $1 more than if you bought them individually. Don't they usually discount a bundle?

yep, definitely something's strange with that bundle pricing. Maybe B&H just wanted to offer a bundle but didn't know yet what the price will be. A lot of people will assume it's cheaper without actually calculating.

The Mk3 was about £3000 when it launched, but thanks to Brexit, it's now £3600

Instead of upgrading my 5D mk2 and lenses, think I will look into switching to a Nikon D810
At £3600 it will have to set a new benchmark for DR and High ISO Noise, otherwise I think many people will stick to a 5D3 or get a 5DS for a couple hundred less

I'm a Nikon person for the dynamic range and am happy with that choice. But I didn't have a ton of money invested in glass for another system, either.

I was told by someone who has been testing it in the field that slow motion video was a huge feature canon was pushing with this release. What exactly did they cram in? The 4K seems a little behind but hopefully they have 120fps at 1080 at least. It's so frustrating when your iPhone does 120 for a few years with near zero room for hardware yet a huge $3000 DSLR with detachable lens still can't do 120fps at more than potato quality.

What's the scoop on 1080 frame rates? This was after all canon's first DSLR video option when the Mark II came out.

Canon done F'd up on the video side! 1.74 crop factor while shooting 4K, 120fps @ 720 only (who shoots in 720!?), HDMI out up to 1080, barf! No log mode! Sony has to be loving this adorable announcement.

To be fair, 720 at 120fps is still better than no 120 but the technology has to be there. It's pretty amazing what our thin phones can do yet the hardware in a DSLR somehow struggles? Even the a7rii struggles with 4K so I get that there must be some sort of limitations. It will be interesting to see what the iPhone 7 does in terms of resolution and frame rates on video.

If video is that important, I would suggest you look for a video camera.

I own a C300MKII and really wanted the new 5DIV to be a viable option for a B-Camera. Not sure why any still photographers would want this over a 5DS/R?

There are some still photographers that only shoot for the web, and a $200 5D Classic gets the job done. ;)

So why even comment on a post about a new camera?

Why not? My comment is still valid, while yours is not. I'm certain this camera has features that make it a better choice than the 5DS/R for many photographers.

Personally, I've been happy with my 6D and 7D bodies. But I don't shoot video. If I did, I would look for a dedicated camera for that purpose.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion.

That makes no sense.

"why over a 5DS/R" Because the 5d4 will allow you to shoot at ISO's higher than 100 :-)

The sensor alone will be loads better. The 5DS uses an upscaled 7D2 sensor, while this is the first 5D-series camera with on-sensor ADC. Expect way better DR.

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