Canon Is Planning an Ultra-High-Resolution Mirrorless Camera

Canon Is Planning an Ultra-High-Resolution Mirrorless Camera

The Canon 5DS and 5DS R were notable for offering 50-megapixel sensors at a time when that was an extremely high resolution for a full frame camera. Nowadays, 45-50 megapixels is much more common on higher-end camera bodies, with full frame options topping out at 61 megapixels. It looks like Canon plans to eclipse that figure by a significant amount with a new camera, however. 

Canon Rumors is reporting that Canon has been planning a 75-megapixel RF mount mirrorless camera. There have long been rumors of such a camera being in the pipeline, and I would be very surprised if a model analogous to the 5DS R didn't eventually appear, perhaps an EOS R5S.

Canon's RF lenses have generally been turning in highly impressive performance, and most of them could definitely handle a bump in resolution just fine, plus retaking the resolution crown from the Sony a7R IV would give Canon some nice bragging rights. Considering the EOS R5 is really the do-it-all camera of the RF line, I am sure a more specialized body for things like landscapes and studio work has been under consideration for a long time, though I'm sure a lot of resources are being devoted to the upcoming EOS R1 flagship at the moment. Hopefully, we will hear more soon! 

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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33 Comments

I feel that 75mp is way to much for a full frame camera. You will a lot of noise on this camera. Might as well make this a medium format or a crop medium format camera.

I'm pretty sure the misnomer that higher mp has more noise has been quashed.

--- "Might as well make this a medium format or a crop medium format camera."

That would require a whole new mount, and probably a whole new body design, and a whole lot of new lenses.

While I agree with you on the noise, Fuji's medium format sensor(albeit a small one) could fit in the RF mount so long as there's no IBIS. I'd honestly be insterested in that pipedream

Unless I'm mistaken, Fuji's smallest medium format sensor is a 50 mp, and no, it's not going to fit. Their sensor alone is almost as big as the Canon's mount circumference.

I have the 5DSR and the same was said about it. There is no noise problem at all. If Canon does come up with a 70+ MP mirrorless, I will finally make the jump. But my 5DSR will be there for backup...

Why?
Likely Canon will not risk their reputation with a noisy camera just for resolution. If it is high resolution to brag it will have far less noise than the noisy Sony high mp cameras.

Typo-------> "a lot of resources are being devoted to the upcoming EOS R1 flagshipat"

Oh heck, thank you!

75MP images to process? It won't jst be a new camera that you'll have to buy -- but a whole new computer with increased processor power, extra RAM and possibly a jump in software capacity to manage these as well!

I have the 5DSR which average 50MP per file.... No problem at all on my Windows computer. Moreover, the cost of computing still trends down. This will be no barrier to entering that level of processing with today's processors. Many said the same thing about the 5DSR when it was introduced. It was all illusory.

that's assuming is one already has a medium to top powerful computer.

There are always gating factors to anything. For me, buying the new lenses are far more expensive than computers. That’s what kept me from going mirrorless when I have a great camera. I will take the plunge for a high res camera though.

Still have an original Apple computer? Processing 75mp photos is even easier than processing 4k video

I use a laptop for REVIT design.
Old by today's standards. My drawings make the highest resolution photos look like nothing. Any halfway decent windows 10 computer will be just fine.

Just for the heck of it, I downloaded 17 100MP Fujifilm GFX 100s raw files. Played with them in Capture One and Lightroom. They edit just fine even on an entry level CPU (AMD Ryzen 3600) with 16 gigs of ram.

I <3 megapixels! Moar data! You can always reduce data easily. But you can't synthesize it easily.

Yes you can.....

going from 40 megapixels to 50 or 55 megapixels is absolutely no problem with AI technology ...problem is when you try to get 20 megapixels out of 10 megapixel photo because of lack of details and data to work with... you dont do anything else then every camera is doing when creating photo from sensor with Bayer filter ....

75mp is not much compare to other cameras today. If there is a same idea Canon was putting into hands of photographers in 2015 with 50mp 5Dsr where Nikon D810 was 36.6Mp. It is camera for studio.. Until today 5Dsr is still the sharpest among of all modern bodies from Sony and Nikon. But Canon aims to release new version to pair it with RF lenses. With cameras such as Sony A7r IV with 61mp to be biggest competition, it is not much to go 14mp more. It is not about the ISO here. It is simply about details and size. Just like canon was waiting with mirrorless it is now time to replace the good old 5Dsr.

Sony will probably release the A7RV this year. Some are saying the model will be 102mp. I may switch back to Canon if the rumor of this story is true. ONE thing that Canon has that Sony has always lacked was Medium and Small Raw settings. When I use to shoot with Canon, I could basically turn the 5DSR camera into a 5Diii by choosing medium raw for most normal jobs. Which was nice not having to switch to my lower rez back up camera at the time (5Dii) if I did not need the huge files (at the time).

Ho-hum. For me, 45MP is enough, but if I wanted a high- (or higher) resolution camera, 75MP would not be sufficient. Frankly, I think we need to go to 100MP or more for it to actually matter. If that's too hard, then at least 90MP. When I upgraded from my 42MP A7rIII to 61MP A7rIV, I was incredibly underwhelmed by the increased resolution. Essentially imperceptible without pixel-peeping, and then only if my shooting technique was perfect. Fortunately, I didn't upgrade for the resolution increase. A doubling of the current resolution standard is essential.

Usually I don't comment but all these kind of articles with head catching titles need to stop. Why 75MP is ultra high res when Canon had 50MP that was introduced way back and Fuji has had their 100MP GFX for couple of year already. That rumor of 80-90MP canon has been there for a while now. Sure it would be nice when it comes but who cares. I am very happy with my 100MP GFX100s.

Why? Unless one needs high rez for prints, 40mp is good enough.

if you shoot for advertisement and for photo banks resolution = more $ ....check istock and compare size and prices .. company like PhaseOne and Hasselblad dosnt produce high megapixel cameras for years for no reason. Every designer could give you simple answer to your question... crop photo when designing adverts in different aspect ratios and still getting big enough resolution for big prints

That is a small percentage of photographers.

Well you could say the same when it comes to medium format system, don't you?

My guess is 90 megapixel, 85 effective. Same density as the 90D.

AI in post processing has ended the megapixel wars. Quality of pixels and dynamic range could/should lead the way.

Why just 75 mp? That is little better then that we already have. Why not go all the way? They already did aps c sensors that are 200 mp many years ago. Why not at least 100 mp? I am sure there would be market and tecnology i up to task. 75 mp is little lame.