Check Out the Insane Detail Captured by Canon's 120-Megapixel Sensor

Pretty much all modern cameras aside from a few Phase One bodies top out at about 50 megapixels. Canon has been working on a 120-megapixel sensor for some time now, and they just released this fascinating video that shows off the detail it can capture.

The Canon 120MXS is a CMOS sensor with a resolution of 13,280 x 9,184 effective pixels. The sensor is APS-H size (29.22 mm x 20.20 mm, 1.3x crop factor), which places it between a full-frame and APS-C sensor. Canon last used an APS-H sensor in the 1D Mark IV (which is the camera you see next to the 120MXS in the video above), which was released in late 2009, which is actually an interesting historical anecdote: many wildlife and sports photographers were upset over the release of the 1D X, as Canon merged the studio and field lines of the 1D into a single camera with a full-frame sensor, and the loss of reach from the 1.3x crop factor left many needing to upgrade their already pricey supertelephoto lenses to longer focal lengths.

Anyway, Canon is positioning the sensor as ideal for security cameras, where its resolution that surpasses Full HD by about 60 times allows for wide lenses to still be used to take in an entire scene while still rendering a high level of detail, such as individual faces in a crowd. The sensor reads out at 9.4 fps, making it perfectly acceptable for such an application and comes in either a standard RGB configuration or in monochrome with double sensitivity. While it's currently not being pushed toward the consumer market, it would be pretty neat if such technology eventually makes it way in that direction. 

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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7 Comments

The increase if profits from the Canon Imaging division comes from cameras different than the ones we use for photography. There are millions of cameras used for all kinds of reason, in factories, stores, for cctv, in airports etc.

So they're going to produce a 13K camera to go after RED ?
They will be arrested for filming bank notes before that.
3:)

This is made for the Chinese gpu powered video surveilance/security sistem.
don't get your hopes up , this is not for general market.
They are struggling with c700 that costs 30K+ , so , no way.

With these security cams , chinese police will be able to track down suspects in a matter of minutes.

[deleted]

That is simply astonishing.

Oops. I meant, Canon sucks, it can't even do 4k video.

Not for nuthin', but either stick that thing in a real-world product people can buy, or just STFU about it. Who cares what this sensor can do if YOU can't have it?

"many wildlife and sports photographers were upset over the release of the 1D X, as Canon merged the studio and field lines of the 1D into a single camera with a full-frame sensor, and the loss of reach from the 1.3x crop factor left many needing to upgrade their already pricey supertelephoto lenses to longer focal lengths."

So they don't know how to Crop in Post? :D