Canon Thoughts - The internet loses its mind

It seems the internet has weighed in with the Canon EOS R5.  With some interesting, and even some amusing takes.

Let's be real here.  The EOS R1 (or whatever it will be called - I think if it's an R5 and R6, odds are very good it's an R1) is coming in 2021.  Canon is going to leave things off the R5 because otherwise there's no point in an R1.

We've talked to Craig at CanonRumors from before these rumors broke and talked back and forth since then and also with some of our readers, and clarified our thoughts more in this camera.  From what Craig is saying to me, I do think this camera is coming.  There will be gaps in what it offers because again, a 1 series RF camera has to come out and have a credible reason to exist.

The EOS R5 .. is it the camera we've dreamed about?

People are keying up on 8K RAW, but to be honest, it's probably the one specification that is possible for Canon to do at this time from what we see from the 1DX Mark III.  With CFExpress and a processor fast enough to use it well, basically RAW video (with no compression) becomes a matter of how fast you can read your sensor at the bit depth required.

8K resolution is 7680 × 4320 or 8192 × 4320.  At 30 frames per second that is 1.06 Gigapixels per second throughput.  That sounds like a lot .. right?  Impossible you say? Canon has to bend space and time to do this feat?  I think we've heard it all this week.

Consider that the 1DX Mark III has 5.5K raw at 60fps.  That is 5472 x 2886 at 60 fps or .947 Gigapixels per second throughput.  Just a shade off from 8K at 30fps. Of course, the 1DX Mark III can't do 8K because it's sensor needs to be 45 megapixels to do so.

So the 8K RAW on the surface sounds doable - besides what people are claiming around the internet.  It's less of a leap to 8k than some are stating.  The 1DX Mark III has opened the doors to some excellent video processing in Canon cameras.  They have certainly raised their processing game.  Long time readers will know that is one thing that we've always stated Canon needs to improve as their processors have severely lagged to the competition.  It sounds like DIGIC X Canon has caught up.  Since the 1DX Mark III at 5.5K RAW 60fps does not support DPAF, I would not expect the R5 at 8K to support DPAF.  People will I'm sure state that Canon crippled the R5 to protect the CINI line, the CINI line that doesn't even have a production 8K camera.  But still.  We'll hear it I'm sure.

There's also another reason to have 8K video - for the Olympics.  Where stills performance will be the 1DX Mark III's claim to fame, this will make Canon the only camera company with a production 8K ILC going into the Olympic games.  The Japan Olympics this summer will be shot in 8K video.   Most of the camera equipment used will be specialized cameras and prototypes.  With this camera being the exception to the rule.  There's a very strong statement there.  This is perhaps one of the main reasons I think this rumor may have some truth to the matter.

Some problems exist still with video, such as 4K full width, however, we don't know if it's 4K oversampled (very hard with a 45MP sensor) or line skipping.  It certainly may be line skipped 4K which doesn't have the resolution of the oversampled video.  This may get around some of the processing issues that would exist with the 4K full-width video.  It may also leave the door open for a 1 series camera with a 20-24MP sensor with oversampled video.

Now what we do have a problem with, is the stills performance.  Coming in at an electronic shutter speed of 20fps sounds just too high for this camera with 45 MP. However, it could be that the 1DX Mark III is limited to 20fps, not because of the camera, but because of the other mechanical aspects such as aperture open/close speed.  If we consider that 45MP at 20fps is .9 Gigapixels per second, if the camera can support 8K (1.06 Gigapixels per second) then it certainly should be able to support 45MP at 20fps.  Of course, it's a little harder reading out the full sensor instead of a 16:9 aspect ratio part of the sensor, but it seems to be in the realm of possibility.

One thing to note that Canon in the past has reduced the bit depth of the faster shooting speeds.  With slope ADC's which Canon does employ, it takes 4 times the time to read when you increase the bit depth from 12 bits to 14 bits.  Which is the reason why at times Canon (and also Sony does this as well) drops down to 12 bits during faster reading.  So a reduced bit depth is most likely to ease processing.

IBIS

Canon is simply not tossing in IBIS into their cameras and taking the process slow on making it better.  We have seen through countless patent applications that Canon is very carefully considering a ton of issues surrounding IBIS+IS and that is their main focus with image stabilization and the RF cameras.

The RF mount, in my opinion, was chosen because it allows Canon to process data between the lens and the camera at a far faster throughput allowing the two compensation systems to interact more successfully.  If you read through the patent applications, you'll see that as a common statement throughout their patent applications.

Is it possible that they will in release 1.0 have the best performing IBIS? It's entirely possible.

The EOS Rs (or perhaps R5s)

I happen to think this one is coming.  There may be more of a rethink on the video front, but with the DIGIC X processor, we can theoretically see processing rates that perhaps exceed 10 fps at 83MP.  Consider that the R5 if it's true, is around 45MP at 20 fps, so that would be in the realm of 10.8 fps on a 83MP R5s.

That could seriously be a camera for the ages for those that want pixel density performance and possibly outclass the pretty impressive A7R IV.

The EOS R6

To be honest, this rumor surprises me a bit.  It sounds like a camera that is not needed with the R and the RP, and certainly leaves some marketing confusion over where the R and RP sit with respects to the R6.  It could be that Canon has seen that the R and RP didn't move the needle in terms of sales and that they dusted off some fast track plans for a body more comparable to the huge success of the A7 III.  This could very well be Canon's counter to the A7 and Z6 series camera bodies.  I really have no thoughts on this camera, I think it will depend on the price point that Canon sets for it.

Summary

With the Canon financials, Canon has basically thrown down the gauntlet and put the other mirrorless companies on notice.  They plan on being the dominant company in this market.  Canon doesn't say these sorts of things unless they are completely confident.  Expect some great things coming from Canon, but also let's temper our expectations, Canon will most certainly leave something out of these cameras.  They have to.