Canon Halts Production of the 5DS as Rumors of a 150-Megapixel Mirrorless Camera Emerge

Canon Halts Production of the 5DS as Rumors of a 150-Megapixel Mirrorless Camera Emerge

According to recently emerged rumors, the Canon 5DS and 5DS R are no longer being produced by the Japanese manufacturer. The halt to these two megapixel monsters comes at a time when it's thought that Canon has an EOS R model with a 150-megapixel sensor in the pipeline.

As reported by Canon Rumors, this high-resolution beast could end up being called the EOS R3, placing it alongside the alleged 20 megapixels of the R6 (thought to be due later this year) and the slated 45 megapixels of the EOS R5 (early photos here).

Speculation as to what sensor Canon is planning for its high-resolution mirrorless full-frame camera has been bouncing around for many months, with most assuming that between 70 and 85 megapixels was most likely.

The 5DS and 5DS R will remain on shelves for the immediate future while stock is run down. Those hoping for a DSLR replacement may not wish to hold their breath, and Canon will be hoping that customers who need high-resolution images will be happy to move over to RF.

Will you miss the 5DS and 5DS R? Is 150 megapixels a realistic number, and do photographers need that level of resolution in a full-frame camera? Leave your thoughts below.

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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.

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26 Comments

When Canon released the 5dsr years ago they put out a list of lenses they recommended for it, it was a pretty good size list and all the ones I used did great. Most of them were L series but a few were not so you didn't have to spend a ton to get the most out of it.

If they are putting out a 150mp body I'm sure they designed the RF glass for it and that could be a reason the 28-70 is $3000.

From what I hear RF lenses are used on RED cameras too.

I mean the highest resolution RED comes nowhere near 150MP. They have 8K Super 35 so that's a smaller pixel pitch than the 5dsr but much less than 150mp. The RF mount RED is the Komodo and no one really knows much about it, I think it's 6k but also related to their (failed) Hydrogen phone?

Anyway, 150MP is damn taxing on lenses from a FF sensor.

Yeah! You could like multi-crop the shit out of that 150MP file and get around 128 images for Instagram (given 1:1 at default 1080x1080px).

Is this camera going to be $15,000?

I remember contemplating a 5Ds and asking my biggest client if they needed larger files. They were quite happy with the 1Dx files and none of my other clients have commented on it either. Now that I have a couple 5DIV's, I still don't feel the need for 80, 100 or 150MP images.

I'm looking to upgrade my 5DSR but was hoping for the rumored 75-80mp, I don't think I would buy a 150mp body. I shoot wildlife and the 5DSR has been great to use the past three years, the detail you can see when you pixel peep is great. I'm sure with 150mp it could be just incredible.

Imagine the crop-ability for wildlife would be awesome.

The 5dsr does a great job now with that, having 150 mp to work with could be awesome but filling the frame with 150 mp would be insane.

Its the size of the sensor that matters not the MP

Both can matter-just for different reasons.

Even the same size sensor MP doesn't always matter. I shoot with the 5DSR 50mp and 1DX2 20mp and they both have a specific purpose for my wildlife shooting.

I don't think I would want a 150MP camera until I have a MUCH better computer and Lightroom gets MUCH faster.

One item is news and probably fact.
The other item is rumor...and not even a new rumor.
There is zero reason to connect them.

Which leads to the old question.....when is enough, enough? I am just curious.....how 'natural' will the images appear and what kind(s) of computer(s) can manage such files? Macs? Maybe someone can help me please?

Sorry, but that's not an answer.

It doesn't matter how pressing it is to me.

Ultra overkill for most photographers - but a marketing brag point for Canon. (Mine's bigger...)

They must have some pros in the market for that much resolution - if the RUMORS are real. But it's all VAPOR until release. I'll just get on with shooting what I have. Clients seem to like it.

I shoot with a 5DSR, and the resolution is enough.
Having heavier files to work with during post is the least of the concerns, even though that would be an issue. Lightroom Classic is struggling now with 50mp+ files.
Already you have to be extremely conscious of what your doing with this camera, else you get garbage. Having that many pixels will just make it that more complicated, from the lens's needing to be so fantastic, to seeing every possible fault on the subject, to making sure you have all settings correct and camera held as required. Anything less than perfect, IMO means a crap image.

But then again this wouldn't be a camera for a novice, so who knows?

My first thought is that most EF-mount lenses (maybe all?) won't stand up to 150 megapixels. But the RF mount has given Canon some new open doors in lens design. I'd like to think they wouldn't bother including a sensor with that kind of resolution unless they had some lenses that could take full advantage of it (or close).

Lenses don't just cease to function as resolution goes up. It's nearly impossible for a sensor to truly "max out" the potential resolution of a lens. What happens is that as each component of total system resolution increases, it ekes out a bit more of the potential resolution of the other components. At some point, diminishing returns take over so that, for instance, it may take doubling the resolution of the sensor to squeeze out one percent more resolution of the overall system, to the point that no difference is visible at all.

But it doesn't get worse, and at present, many EF lenses may not have yet reached their points of diminishing returns. We don't know that yet. But it's possible to see by observing the aerial images they project that they haven't yet hit their resolution potential.