As a follow-up to the previous Canon medium format rumors, I received an additional tip from a known source (who has had advanced knowledge in the past) that Canon will “announce” something that has to do with a “sensor bigger than 35mm” in September (presumably in the run-up to Photokina).
Now, the initial knee-jerk conclusion is to buy into a full-on medium format system announcement, which coincides directly with the rumors we heard last year. However, if this info is legit, only two specific things were said:
- Canon is working on a sensor bigger than 35mm, and
- September announcement
This could certainly be another one of those proof of concept development announcements like we’ve seen in the past.
However, a medium format system from Canon is not as far-fetched as some might think. Medium format systems are certainly not going to be cheap or consumer-focused. Of course, the cheap, consumer market is all but dead thanks to the rise of the smartphone.
High-end systems may be where it is at for the imaging industry. Canon has made a killing in building out its Cinema camera line with the C100, C300 and C500 – not to mention its high-end cinema optics. There’s no doubting the quality of those cameras either. Canon can build an image sensor.
If Canon takes the same approach to the high-end advertising photography market, it could very well dominate a niche that isn’t going away anytime soon. We know that Canon can make huge image sensors because it put an eight inch square sensor into a telescope that records 60fps video.
Canon 8-inch Sensor Next to 35mm Sensor
While I’m not ready to call this a for sure thing yet, there sure are a lot of rumors from different directions pointing to something big happening in September. From a market standpoint, I can’t see this as a bad thing for Canon either.
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Please let it be. As a long time user of Hasselblad & Pentax 6 by 7 cameras, I would love this. I detest a 35mm format immensely.
Would a. Large format sensing mean new lenses, or ability to reuse EF L series lenses??
Obviously this would mean new lenses. You can’t cover an 8inch sensor with 2 inch glass! ;p
I understand a number of EF lenses have pretty big image circles, they could potentially pick a sensor size that works with a number of existing lenses. (Or not, of course. But they do have a lot of lens ranges…)
Kinda makes sense now why canon has not released a high mp dslr. If they had plans of a mf or somewhere between there an ff, they’d be shooting themselves in the foot by having a high mp ff as well.
I think you have been reading too many tea leaves. The only way that they can compete in the medium format market is if they use the Sony 50 mp CMOS sensor. Canons Sensor technology in the stills market has been seriously over shadowed by Sony for the past year. Sony are simply making the best image sensors on the market. Which is why every MF manufacturer now only uses this sensor. Canon missed the boat by not releasing the MF camera earlier. Now we have Pentax with a cheap MF option. Fuji and Sony will be releasing their own systems in the near future that will be even cheaper…Canon missed the boat.
Canon make pretty much the best sensors out there, the issue they have is in added noise from digitising the data (the effect of which declines with rising ISO). For example the sensor in the 6D has over 15.5 stops of dynamic range (76,000-78,000 electron capacity, 1.5-1.6 electron read noise, depending on whose figures you prefer), but you end up with a little over 12 stops of DR at ISO 100 once the back-end noise is added in. If they could get past this, e.g. with on-chip converters, they should be a good or better than anyone else, plus they are very good for pattern noise too.
You must be joking !!!! Canon has got the most efficient sensors on the market (just a little bit behind the D4s/DF in therms of noise capabilities) but far better than all in colours capture.
Exmor just got a nearly useless 2EV dynamic advantage in low lights and strictly no advantage in HL that theoretical advantage is limited to just 100 to 500 iso but really far behind Canon between 800 to 25600. sounds like 100 to 500 is actually competing with smartphones more than 24/24/indoor/outdoor pro shootings were smartphones won’t have any chance before long.
Actually I would bet on a new EOS 1a (as apsc) with 18MP @ 24 pictures/s with a complete 1Dx’s AF module….. then a MF, which sounds like 1Dc / C100 ultra small market.
Lol, are you for real ?
Thank you for the laugh anyway :)
I don’t think canon missed any boat, look at sales figures, they sell more dslrs than all the others combined. Canon certainly has the technology to do this, but as it’s a company for profit, not to appease a few gear heads, they do what their financial statistics suggest will gain them the most profit.
I believe they still make more profit (net income) than everyone else put together (taking all the people losing money as 0). They certainly did when I worked it out about 6 months ago.
I still want a 30+MP 35mm body though, pretty please.