Watch This: Footage Released From Canon's 8K HDR Cinema Camera

Canon has been at work creating a suite of cameras and lenses that support 8K video capture. Here's the first jaw-dropping footage that's been released showcasing their 8K cinema camera under development.

While viewable on YouTube in "only" 4K (most people couldn't even watch in true 8K if available), “Roots of Japan” hints at what's to come in the near future of 8K cinema. "Canon's 8K technology not delivers not only extremely high resolution, but also high dynamic range and rich color expression," said the film's director, Ichiro Shimada. The 8K cinema camera in development records 8192x4320 pixel raw footage with "high-precision HDR and a wide color gamut."

Part of Canon's continuing development in the field of 8K includes the confirmed work on a mirrorless 8K video-capable camera that would fall into the EOS R lineup.

Behind the scenes of filming “Roots of Japan” with the prototype Canon 8K cinema camera.

In addition to the capture of 8K video, Canon said they are also focusing on "fully immersive experiences" which will feel like watching an event in person.

What are your thoughts on entering the era of 8K? Is it necessary to fully develop at this point? Are we making a mistake by seemingly hopping over 6K? Share a comment below.

Ryan Mense's picture

Ryan Mense is a wildlife cameraperson specializing in birds. Alongside gear reviews and news, Ryan heads selection for the Fstoppers Photo of the Day.

Log in or register to post comments
19 Comments

Adobe can't even handle 4k. They suggest you convert all your footage to 720 (proxies) just to edit. With 8k they might actually have to earn that guaranteed monthly payment they get for the minimal effort.

It's a shame that I watched the video on my 4 year old laptop. I've come to the conclusion that this laptop isn't up to 8K standards. :-)

I did the same thing then realized 95% thought the video that I could just watch this on my phone and have a much better experience.

Is it me or I can only see 1080 60p on this youtube? And not even 4k? Why not upload on Vimeo, far superior platform then this ad-hell

I think it is that you're not using google chrome. I get the same with safari but 4k60p with chrome.

Indeed that was an issue. Safari fast became one of the worst browsers :(

"Trust us, this in 8k even though you can't see that".

Ok.

I'm completely unfamiliar with video, but as an experienced pixelconsumer I would like to ask the videocrowd this: how do I need to view and interpret this video footage to appreciate its advantages? What do I need to compare it against? Would 8k downsampled to 4k or even 2k be significantly better at for example textile and fabrics than a straight 2k recording? Do different types of s-log fare any better in typical hdr situations?

What I see for example at 1:00 min into the video is overexposed sky with an abundance of nasty colorfringing and hideous channelclipping. Not exactly the quality one would expect when demonstrating cutting edge proof of concept. how would any of the current crop of cameras (even Canon's own current offerings) handle similar situations?

In the example you refer to at 1:00 min, they're exposing for the detail in the rocky wall, which is in stark contrast with the sky. Any other camera would perform the same way, not even shooting in a log profile would help to expose for both. This also seems like more of a documentary style, so I would not expect to see any kind of sky replacement, like you would see in a traditional film also shot on a cinema camera.

If Canon pushes their cinema line to 8K, maybe the consumer focused cameras can get non-crippled 4K.

8K? I see only a 1080p video on Youtube, not even the promised 4K…

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Someone in the comments above was saying they only had 1080p as an option b/c they were using Safari. Try Chrome or a different browser

8k? Ha....lets see them put ACTUAL 4k into a consumer level camera first.

I can't even imagine the computer hardware and storage required to have an 8K workflow, especially in RAW format. In my opinion, before anyone starts pushing the 8K cameras, maybe the rest of the industry needs to catch-up with somewhat reasonable equipment to handle that 8K footage. But maybe its the chicken and the egg thing, which needs to come first for the other to follow?

""Canon's 8K technology not delivers not only extremely high resolution, but also high dynamic range and rich color expression,"

I'm seeing a lot of pure black and pure white in this footage. What is it with Canon sensors and no highlight or shadow detail? Sometimes you want the effect, but sometimes you don't...

uh oh...

Binary: 1k, 2k, 4k, 8k, 16k. At every stop, things double. No such thing as 6k, I would think. (Actually, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16,384. Double the resolution at each step. I could be wrong.