Will We See the Canon EOS R5 Mark II Later This Year?

The Canon EOS R5 was a runaway hit for the company, offering a wide array of highly advanced features and signalling to the industry that Canon had become quite serious about professional mirrorless cameras. It has now been almost three years since its release, leaving many fans wondering when the next iteration of the camera will be on its way. Luckily, that may be later this year. 

Canon Rumors is reporting that we will likely see the Canon EOS R5 Mark II, the follow-up to the wildly popular EOS R5, later this year, in Q4. The EOS R1, the long-awaited flagship of Canon's mirrorless lineup, is all but guaranteed to be seen at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, and I would imagine the company wants a little space between the announcement of what is sure to be one of their most popular professional models and their flagship, and I think waiting until after the 2024 Games would be simply too long for the EOS R5 Mark II. 

A further rumor is that the EOS R5 Mark II will come in two variants, a standard variant, and a high-resolution option akin to the 5DS DSLR series. Given that the R5 already features a 45-megapixel sensor, I don't know if there's enough market demand for a sensor significantly above that in resolution. Yes, Sony has its 61-megapixel sensor, but once you near 50 megapixels, you're at very high resolutions for a full frame camera, and an EOS R5S variant would need a significant jump to differentiate it from the standard build, likely around 70 megapixels. That being said, Canon's RF lenses have shown remarkable optical performance, so they likely have the glass to stand up to such a sensor, and it would make a nice selling point for RF mount lenses. 

Hopefully, we will hear more soon!