CanonNews / Tuesday, March 12, 2019

New Rumor: 1DX Mark III thoughts

A new rumor surfaced today about the 1DX Mark II replacement; the 1DX Mark III.

No real specifications are known, but like most of the line, expect a solid, dependable camera system with evolutionary upgrades from the 1DX Mark II. This camera should appear sometime between 2019Q4 (development announcement perhaps) to 2010Q2 (and trialing at the Japan Olympic games)

Also encapsulated in this rumor is that the R "PRO" or "5D Mark IV like model" isn't expected to be seen until after the 1DX Mark III.

So our thoughts;

This rumor isn't really saying much but what it does make sense. The new EOS R PRO model is going to most likely require both a new DIGIC and possibly a radically different sensor design than what we are seeing today.

The current generation of dual pixel auto focus sensors are pretty good, the one in the EOS R has little to complain about. Except when it comes to rolling shutter and sensor itself. Simply put, Canon can't read the sensor fast enough to prevent a high degree of rolling shutter from being introduced. They also can't read the sensor fast enough to do 4K at full width and downsample the data in DIGIC. Downsampling to 4K video exists in one Canon camera only - the C700, and nowhere else. We then have the speed of AF while in continuous focus modes. The EOS R slows right down to very low fps numbers when using AI Servo. In a new high end PRO model, the speed of the AF must also improve.

All is not lost though. We had discovered in the past a patent that deals with the speed of AF in a stacked sensor way back in 2017. Japan patent application JP2017-153105A dealt with this very subject. In other words, Canon knows they have things to fix, they aren't operating in a vacuum.

So while the new EOS R PRO model will most likely need some kind of revamped new generation of sensor from Canon, there's simply no way that is going to show up anywhere but on the flagship camera for Canon first.

To be honest, I think we'll have glimmers of what is happening well before then with a possible G7X Mark III release that is supposed to debut a Canon made 1" DPAF sensor. This sensor will have to be created using fabrication processes that simply Canon has never used before. It also may be why it seems like it's been delayed, as this may be causing Canon some problems.