Is Canon's Next Mirrorless Full-Frame Camera Going to Be 75 Megapixels?

Is Canon's Next Mirrorless Full-Frame Camera Going to Be 75 Megapixels?

The industry has been waiting for Canon to launch a truly professional mirrorless full-frame camera, and there’s a chance that it might be announced as soon as February. The specifications being rumored would certainly make an impact.

As reported by Canon Rumors, the forthcoming body is said to feature a 75 megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor that is engineered towards producing better dynamic range, complete weather-sealing, a fully articulating rear LCD screen, and significantly, two card slots.

Canon shooters have been waiting for a professional body, and this high-resolution version would finally meet those expectations, perhaps tempting 5D Mark IV and 5DS owners to make the shift to mirrorless. Nikon and Canon received a lot of criticism for releasing bodies last year that didn’t feature dual card slots, and Canon is expected to rectify that if and when this camera comes to market. 

Notably, despite other details including a DIGIC 9 processor and a joystick that is the same as that used on the 1D X Mark III, there’s no mention of IBIS, and frame rate is merely described as “similar to the EOS R,” which shoots 30.3 megapixel raw files at 8 frames per second.

There’s also no mention of price, but given the specifications of the 5D S, somewhere in the region of $3,500 seems most likely. This would put it head-to-head with the Sony a7R IV.

Is Canon making the right move if this rumor is true? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Andy Day's picture

Andy Day is a British photographer and writer living in France. He began photographing parkour in 2003 and has been doing weird things in the city and elsewhere ever since. He's addicted to climbing and owns a fairly useless dog. He has an MA in Sociology & Photography which often makes him ponder what all of this really means.

Log in or register to post comments
39 Comments

Hopefully it’s using CFexpress cards and the frame rate is at least 5. If it has that and the other rumored specs are accurate I’ll probably pre order one to replace my 5dsr.

What are your thoughts on 5dsr? Not too many people actually using these bodies, so I'd like to get some real feedback from someone who actually uses one. They are dirt cheap on eBay and I was thinking about getting one for quite some time.

I like it, I've been using it since July of 17. I use it for wildlife along with a 1DX2 that I picked up this past February. I mainly use it on a Canon 600/4 IS II and 70-200 2.8 IS II.

It has a few drawbacks, fps is slow for real fast action but I have done lots of shooting of bald eagles and osprey fishing and the shots you get are great. For larger slower moving wildlife it's great, the detail you can get is amazing. It's not the best in low light, ISO 5000 is the highest I've used and been happy with but I really try to stay at 3200 or below.

The buffer can be slow when you are getting lots of action but this hasn't been a huge problem for me with wildlife since most of the action is just a few seconds but I have cursed it a couple times when eagles were fighting over a fish and I know I missed shots when it filled up.

They really have dropped in price, I looked to see what they were going for to see what kind of trade in value I could get whenever the RF mount replacement comes.

Wow, thanks for such a detailed input! I was wondering if the autofocus is accurate enough for moving subjects, but your case is even more extreme, so it should be fine. I'm gonna use it mostly for studio work with some occasional external shoots. I'm actually looking at 5ds and not the R version - it can be found for as low as 1.150 $ brand new vs 1.600 $ for the R.

The auto focus is good, I still missed shots but I also miss shots with the 1DX2 no camera is perfect but it can track fast moving birds in flight. I've never done studio work, the closes thing to that I did was taking pictures of a friends cat inside but I don't think you will have a problem.

I went with the R for the no AA filter, for wildlife getting that little extra detail in a eye is nice. I don't need to replace it but if I'm going to get into the RF mount it will be for a 5dsr replacement instead of a 1DX2 replacement.

They ever fix their FPN when lifting shadows?

Dynamic range will be key with the new sensor. Canon needs to take a page from Sony and Apple and continue to update existing and new R models. I don't need an obsolete body the day after I buy it so this should be a critical factor if staying with Canon. Predicting this body will be easily $4000+, the target audience here is existing Canon users.

As far as sensor dynamic range goes, your Canon body isn't obsolete the day after you buy it. It's obsolete a year before it's released... :/

You don't buy Canon for dynamic range. You buy it for color, lenses, dual-pixel AF, support, etc., but sure as hell not for DR.

Canon's dynamic range is fine. Stop the nonsense.

I never said it wasn't. My point was that it's not competitive which is a different thing altogether. You can argue that you don't need as much dynamic range as Sony's sensors offer (and I'd largely agree with you though others may disagree), but that doesn't mean that they don't have more DR than Canon's sensors. It's just a fact the same way that the A7RIV will not have as many megapixels as this new rumored Canon camera and plenty of Sony fans will probably say that the A7RIV's resolution is fine (which I'd also agree with).

Actually, you said it's "obsolete", which is a different thing altogether. That's a strong claim, and of course it's false. Whether Canon's DR "competitive" is not even in question. Canon's current sensors offer plenty of DR. It's competitive enough for widely-viewed photographs by very prominent photographers doing very competitive work. So it's competitive. Period.

Yes, I jokingly used the word "obsolete" in the same manner that the person I was replying to used it (obviously no camera is going to ACTUALLY be obsolete the day after it's purchased). Shoot me.

And no, it's not competitive just like a car that does 0-60 in 5 seconds is not competitive in acceleration from full stop with one that can do 0-60 in 3.5 seconds despite the fact that they'll both go the speed limit and transport you around town which is all you might actually need them to do. Like acceleration is just a single facet of a car's overall performance, dynamic range is a single facet of a camera's performance. I'm not talking about whether the work produced is competitive as that's a function of the photographer rather than the camera. I'm talking about the raw numbers on a test or spec sheet in regard to that specific feature.

You'll find great photographers and garbage photographers on any system out there. There are a myriad of reasons why a photographer might choose one system over the other. The fact that a good photographer decides to use Canon doesn't suddenly mean that Canon is competitive in every single facet. Systems all have their strengths and weaknesses. Canon has plenty of strengths, but DR is just not one of them. It's actually been one of Canon's biggest weaknesses for some time now. Again, to what degree that's actually important to you is a personal judgment, but the numbers simply don't lie. The fact that one of their biggest weaknesses is something that you find to be trivial I think says enough about how good their cameras are overall. Instead of seeing that, however, you choose to engage in an argument about a single detail that you yourself claim to be minor.

I honestly don't even know why this is an argument at all. The numbers are easy enough to look up to show that Canon lags behind in this specific area (DR). I'm not sure what you hope to gain by attempting to turn the argument elsewhere. Are you a shareholder of the company? Do you work for them? Are your fortunes somehow tied to Canon's? Are you some butthurt fanboy that can't handle their chosen brand not being the best at everything? Do you think that because someone says that Canon doesn't have comparable dynamic range when measured against Sony or Nikon (who uses Sony sensors), the company is going to suddenly collapse or something? I really don't get what the motivation is here.

Also, just because you end you statement by typing out "period" doesn't lend any actual credence or authority to it. It just makes you seem like a child who can't cope with their worldview being challenged.

Stop the nonsense. Especially the empty and false accusations ("Do you work for them?" etc). That is really low and disgusting. I don't have a "chosen brand", so you're way off base. Your dynamic range arguments are silly and a waste of time.

I don't believe I made any actual accusations at all. I was questioning what your actual motivation was (a question you conveniently avoided by focusing, instead, on my mode of questioning).

You seem far more interested in focusing on particular words, statements, or questions out of context and feigning offense/ignorance about what is actually being said than having an actual discussion. If anyone here needs to "stop the nonsense", its you.

Then again, who knows? Maybe you are actually that obtuse and I'm giving you too much credit by assuming that you're feigning your outrage. Either way, I've lost interest in this since you obviously either have nothing of value to add to this discussion or lack a desire to engage in an intellectually honest manner. Feel free to continue to pretend that you're disgusted or something. I'm sure the rest of the universe cares. I, however, don't.

You say you're questioning my motivation ... and not making accusations? Oh please. Got any more bad things to say about me, that I'm "like a child", "fortunes tied to Canon's", etc., etc.? Go ahead, spend your whole day writing how I'm a bad person. Knock yourself out writing. All this over dynamic range.

I saw a winner of a contest sponsored by one of the photo magazines with a theme of 'landscape' won by a shot take with a Canon Rebel T2i. It was a gorgeous shot. The point is, about 98% of what we shoot isn't dependent on that 2% of dynamic range difference.

The point is that all the hand wringing about Canon's lack of dynamic range compared to others is a bit overblown.

Agreed. And when somebody comes along and says Canon cameras are "obsolete" before they are even released, you know they are not being truthful. They've got some other brand they want to promote, and they're gonna say all kinds of bad things about you just because you state a fact like that Canon works very well for many thousands of professionals.

I'm betting that the majority of the people that were saying 60 megapixels is unnecessary/ too much (back when Sony released the A7RIV) would be singing praises of how groundbreaking this 75 megapixel camera would be.

I take a bit of a different view on it: I don't think it's all people saying it's only groundbreaking when x company does it, I think it is more a misunderstanding of market positioning.

I think there's a group of people who feel that camera models are segmented into good, better, best rather than camera suited to need A vs need B vs need C. For people who think it is good/better/best - anything that is more than they think they'd ever need will be "too much", regardless of the parameter. As an example, I am pretty sure the same thing was said when the a9 was released with 20 fps - "who needs it that fast? You'll have way too many images to go through!"

I think the point often missed is that camera bodies are often specialized in one way or another to suit the needs of a subset of photographers - spots photographers need speed, product or art reproduction photographers need resolution, wedding photographers want reliability and redundant storage, etc. Every feature will be overkill to some, or an absolute must to others. I don't think it's always the disagreement between fans of one brand or another, sometimes it's just someone thinking every expensive camera should suit every photographer.

"Who cares about this."
Presumably people for whom two card slots and high resolution is an important selling point.

"For the rest, i don’t care."
Great. Moving forward, Fstoppers will only tailor news to match what you, Jan Kruize, care about.

You left a dumb response so I figured that I'd leave an equally dumb one. 🤷‍♂️

LOL!

I'm tech/spec addict. But if you, as we speak, are not able to produce a compelling work with a Canon 5D MKIII, a Nikon 810, or a Sony 7RII... Well, the camera is not the problem. Practice and education are hindering your developing. You will not, by default, be the best guy on track just because you have more horsepower ;)

I would wager that more people are excited about a Canon MILC having two card slots than they are about the 75 megapixels in this instance.

I don't know, I'd probably take that bet. I think there's no doubt that a lot of people are waiting for two card slots, but this isn't likely the camera for them anyway. 75MP is likely way above the needs of the average user, and like the 5DSR I suspect this will be a more specialized body. Canon's last high resolution body was released in early 2015, and it sounds like this may turn up near the 5-year anniversary of the 5DSR. Those in the Canon ecosystem that want/need high-resolution have been waiting some time, and having access to resolutions typically reserved for medium format will likely get those people excited I suspect.

Megapixel war is back on.

ikr. can brands stop worrying about megapixels and focus on lenses and really the quality of those megapixels. urgh its soo annoying

You don't have to buy it if you don't want it. For landscape photographers, it is very helpful. But oh no, you're annoyed. Let's have a pity party.

Marketing hype from a company who is eating its shorts from a failure to innovate. As Sony demonstrated with the a7riv, mo' MP doesn't mean mo' performance. Pixel noise hasn't improved, mo' MP requires higher Tv to prevent blur, and the af isn't on par with the a9. If Canon produced a 30-50 MP sensor with extended DR, great noise characteristics, decent FPS, AND stellar AF they would knock Sony and the competition out. Sadly, I think they'll release a crippled, high MP body.

"Marketing hype from a company who is eating its shorts from a failure to innovate."
It's a rumor, so I'm not sure that it counts as marketing.

"Sadly, I think they'll release a crippled, high MP body."
I haven't gotten the sense that they're looking to intentionally cripple their products at this point. No company (save for Leica) can afford to do that at this point with the market shrinking as it is. Sure, there's always some sort of compromise to be made to hit certain price points, but I think that all of these companies are putting their best foot forward. How well they are in tune with market demands is another issue, entirely.

The only area they 'cripple' their bodies is in video features. The 5DII was known for its great video and that one body seems to have given the impression than Canon were always going to make their stills cameras video centric. The still features are always great, it's only the video features they limit in bodies designed more for stills.

Honestly think at this point/resolution you are best saving the £ and putting it towards a medium format rig. We have passed the point of diminishing return for FF sensors already.

For some people this would make sense. I don't think that the jump up in price would make it a sensible solution for most photographers, though.

I am not sure why people still bother writing such headlines late 2019.

The Sony a7rIV I own is clearly not superior to an a7rIII overall in terms of image quality (but it has other pluses).

If Canon is considering doing another 5Ds thing, so be it, but they’d rather focus on other aspects. Resolution is now mostly irrelevant.

This is exciting news.
DR by Canon has never slouched as many complain. In fact it generally stomps Sony and Nikon as ISO goes up in DR. Only at ISO 100 is there a slight difference that is more than made up for with far superior colors and overall quality.