Canon is rumored to be developing a 100MP mirrorless sequel to the Canon EOS R with IBIS (in-body image stabilization) according to Canon Rumors. It’s unclear if this pixel-packing behemoth is the anticipated “pro” version of the Canon EOS R, or as seems more likely a mirrorless counterpart to the 5DS.
Is Canon Innovating?
If Canon is planning for their new “pro” mirrorless camera to offer a 100MP sensor and IBIS, it’s a very interesting move by a company that is generally fairly conservative with their upgrades. Those 100MP will mean incredible resolution and detail, but at what cost? The files are certain to be enormous and the increased resolution will probably mean Canon will want to charge more. But how much more?
My Take
It’s a welcome sight to hear inklings of Canon doing something bold and innovative. While a lot of people will ask, “Who needs 100 megapixels?” they should remember that people also said the same about 15, 20, and 30 megapixels, etc. The reality is this: more megapixels means larger files, but also more detail, and—most importantly—options.
I’m sure some landscape photographers out there are salivating right now. As a wedding photographer myself, will I need 100MP for most images? No, probably not. But man, would I love the choice. As for IBIS, I wish Canon would have introduced it on the EOS R, but they didn’t. It’ll be a late but welcome addition to the mirrorless body, and at this point, it really should just be on all mirrorless cameras.
As a Canon shooter, I’m cautiously optimistic about the future right now and I’m excited to see what else they have up their sleeve.
What do you think? Are you excited about Canon possibly delivering a 100MP mirrorless camera with IBIS?
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100MP is a wonderful fantasy, but there isn’t a lens on the market that is able to support that level of resolution. I spoke with someone from Canon last week and the new RF-mount lenses are engineered to support about 50MP. Great lens, but 100MP is not in the cards.
100MP is a wonderful fantasy, but there isn’t a lens on the market that is able to support that level of resolution. I spoke with someone from Canon last week and the new RF-mount lenses are engineered to support about 50MP. Great lens, but 100MP is not in the cards.
We are at an interesting time – the conversion to mirrorless cameras is well underway. It’s always the same though, with diehards of the “old system” saying “the new system isn’t as good.” That’s what almost everyone says at the beginning of any transition. The same was said about film to digital. And of course, they were right, as the early digital was not as good as film. But as with anything else, time is on the side of new technology not old. Film was as good as it would get, while digital was just getting started. So, too, with mirror and mirrorless. Time is on mirrorless’ side. And we’ve reached a tipping point with full-frame mirrorless. How exciting!
From a business perspective, as some make the argument “Why would XXX Company do that? It would hurt their own sales!” That’s the fallacy brought out by Clayton Christensen in his groundbreaking book, “The Innovator’s Dilemma” a few years back. He shows that, time after time, with the discovery (or development) of new technology by companies who are researching ways to better their existing technology, the new technology presents -and is seen as -a direct challenge to the existing technology. Usually, the new technology is more expensive, less effective -except in one critical area- and more costly to produce – at first. But it that one area where it shines that captures a market that has been waiting/needing for this advantage, thus giving it enough momentum to continue to evolve, make money, and eventually, the new technology replaces the old. Think massive hard drives to 5 /14″ floppy disks to 2 1/2″ disks to CDs to DVDs to solid state….to the cloud.
This is what some say now about “why would Canon cannibalize their existing DSLR business? It doesn’t make sense!”
It DOES make sense because that’s where the future is. There is enough demand for good mirrorless cameras that as soon as they approach a tipping point, the decline of DSLRs will be steep, and products will be just a commodity item with little margin, further precipitating the decline of DSLRs.
We are at an interesting time – the conversion to mirrorless cameras is well underway. It’s always the same though, with diehards of the “old system” saying “the new system isn’t as good.” That’s what almost everyone says at the beginning of any transition. The same was said about film to digital. And of course, they were right, as the early digital was not as good as film. But as with anything else, time is on the side of new technology not old. Film was as good as it would get, while digital was just getting started. So, too, with mirror and mirrorless. Time is on mirrorless’ side. And we’ve reached a tipping point with full-frame mirrorless. How exciting!
From a business perspective, as some make the argument “Why would XXX Company do that? It would hurt their own sales!” That’s the fallacy brought out by Clayton Christensen in his groundbreaking book, “The Innovator’s Dilemma” a few years back. He shows that, time after time, with the discovery (or development) of new technology by companies who are researching ways to better their existing technology, the new technology presents -and is seen as -a direct challenge to the existing technology. Usually, the new technology is more expensive, less effective -except in one critical area- and more costly to produce – at first. But it that one area where it shines that captures a market that has been waiting/needing for this advantage, thus giving it enough momentum to continue to evolve, make money, and eventually, the new technology replaces the old. Think massive hard drives to 5 /14″ floppy disks to 2 1/2″ disks to CDs to DVDs to solid state….to the cloud.
This is what some say now about “why would Canon cannibalize their existing DSLR business? It doesn’t make sense!”
It DOES make sense because that’s where the future is. There is enough demand for good mirrorless cameras that as soon as they approach a tipping point, the decline of DSLRs will be steep, and products will be just a commodity item with little margin, further precipitating the decline of DSLRs.
You are going to have to wait until 1st April for that….!
Just like you are going to have to wait for ever, to have Canon do such a thing, especially in mirrorless!
Being rational: Canon needs to make money, and coming out with something which only a tiny sector of the market would even contemplate buying, especially at the sort of prices Canon likes to charge, simply does not make any logical or financial sense.
You make a good point about Canon being conservative. Nothing has changed, so while this kind of headline elicits a great talking point, the mere fact that Canon’s performance in the mirrorless world has been underwhelming at best!
For mirrorless to really work effectively, it has to provide compatible mirrorless lenses to match mirrorless bodies for the best overall results…. Messing around with adaptors is just expensive, a royal pain, and really only a compromise at best! *The only reason why Canon has gone that route of adaptors, is because of their conservative attitude, trying to accommodate their customers, so they can still use all their old, existing glass! I hasten to add that there is nothing wrong with their glass, its great glass, but on a mirrorless body, it is really, only a compromise!
For Canon to make a serious effort to compete in the mirrorless arena, it would mean that Canon would have to either shut down certain plants which produce DSLR equipment, and retool with mirrorless building machinery, or build new plants to specifically produce mirrorless equipment…. Using old plants would cost too much in loss of production (Loss of revenue, even though DSLR sales of all brands are diminishing)
Canon came out with their “earth-shattering” EOS-R, which at US 2,300.00 + cost of additional adaptors, and still didn’t have half the features of the SONY A7iii, which cost just less than US$2,000.00 – All-up, ready to go!
CANON are “in between a rock and a hard place”….. Do they make a meaningful run at the modern mirrorless renaissance, and stop fooling around with things like their latest half offering EOS-R etc, or do they start to compete seriously on a one-on-one basis?
Personally, I believe that CANON’s management are split with half of them not really believing that mirrorless technology is actually the future of photography, and the other half panicking about sales……
With all that said, the market really doesn’t need to lose a big name like Canon. We need healthy competition for advancement of technology at competitive rates.
I guess time will tell.
You think building a plant is cheap? How many of these too expensive cameras do they need to sell?
Be reasonable. This is just plain bullshit. I expect their pro version to be 39 megapixel – good for 8K- but it will be downsampled 4K, hopefully, but rather pixelbinned couse they like to keep their processors cool (see what 5DIII suddenly delivers with Magic Lantern).
You are going to have to wait until 1st April for that….!
Just like you are going to have to wait for ever, to have Canon do such a thing, especially in mirrorless!
Being rational: Canon needs to make money, and coming out with something which only a tiny sector of the market would even contemplate buying, especially at the sort of prices Canon likes to charge, simply does not make any logical or financial sense.
You make a good point about Canon being conservative. Nothing has changed, so while this kind of headline elicits a great talking point, the mere fact that Canon’s performance in the mirrorless world has been underwhelming at best!
For mirrorless to really work effectively, it has to provide compatible mirrorless lenses to match mirrorless bodies for the best overall results…. Messing around with adaptors is just expensive, a royal pain, and really only a compromise at best! *The only reason why Canon has gone that route of adaptors, is because of their conservative attitude, trying to accommodate their customers, so they can still use all their old, existing glass! I hasten to add that there is nothing wrong with their glass, its great glass, but on a mirrorless body, it is really, only a compromise!
For Canon to make a serious effort to compete in the mirrorless arena, it would mean that Canon would have to either shut down certain plants which produce DSLR equipment, and retool with mirrorless building machinery, or build new plants to specifically produce mirrorless equipment…. Using old plants would cost too much in loss of production (Loss of revenue, even though DSLR sales of all brands are diminishing)
Canon came out with their “earth-shattering” EOS-R, which at US 2,300.00 + cost of additional adaptors, and still didn’t have half the features of the SONY A7iii, which cost just less than US$2,000.00 – All-up, ready to go!
CANON are “in between a rock and a hard place”….. Do they make a meaningful run at the modern mirrorless renaissance, and stop fooling around with things like their latest half offering EOS-R etc, or do they start to compete seriously on a one-on-one basis?
Personally, I believe that CANON’s management are split with half of them not really believing that mirrorless technology is actually the future of photography, and the other half panicking about sales……
With all that said, the market really doesn’t need to lose a big name like Canon. We need healthy competition for advancement of technology at competitive rates.
I guess time will tell.
You think building a plant is cheap? How many of these too expensive cameras do they need to sell?
Be reasonable. This is just plain bullshit. I expect their pro version to be 39 megapixel – good for 8K- but it will be downsampled 4K, hopefully, but rather pixelbinned couse they like to keep their processors cool (see what 5DIII suddenly delivers with Magic Lantern).
This is a camera for very specific type of photography that is usually done with medium format. With the right lenses they can fill the needa of that market. And also a camera for gearheads who want to brag but dont understand photography at all. You know the people who buy the A7R3 and Zeiss lenses. I’m guessing they want to shoot cats and zoom in on the whiskers and irises.
This is a camera for very specific type of photography that is usually done with medium format. With the right lenses they can fill the needa of that market. And also a camera for gearheads who want to brag but dont understand photography at all. You know the people who buy the A7R3 and Zeiss lenses. I’m guessing they want to shoot cats and zoom in on the whiskers and irises.
Canon shooters are going to be able to shoot an entire wedding with a wide angle and have the ability to crop to 300mm lol. Just think of the possibilities for candid’s…. take one wide angle shot of the room and create 20 different images of social interaction with zero camera awareness.
Other than wanting crazy digital zoom or the ability to print really really big, who is this for? I’d buy medium format if the latter is my clientele.
They are obligated to release such a sensor, if they want to remain in the mirrorless market. It would also curcial to have 2 card slots and some new lenses that resolve this huge resolution.
If Canon is really daring to go for this big resolution mirrorless camera it’s obvious they have to offer two slots for fast read and write cards like CFexpress or atleast XQD media cards and get divorced from CF and SD cards. Also such a camera should offer twin resolution facilities shiftable from 100 megapix to 50 magapix without a cropsenser factor, meaning using full senser in both resolutions.
As lenses are concerned for R system mirrorless camera I insist for an Ultrwide RF12-35mm f2.8L IS USM , a midrange Telezoom RF24-240mm f2L IS USM, and an Ultra Zoom RF200-600mm f4-5.6L IS USM lenses. Another commonly desired lens could be a RF80-400mm f4L IS USM lens.
Canon shooters are going to be able to shoot an entire wedding with a wide angle and have the ability to crop to 300mm lol. Just think of the possibilities for candid’s…. take one wide angle shot of the room and create 20 different images of social interaction with zero camera awareness.
Other than wanting crazy digital zoom or the ability to print really really big, who is this for? I’d buy medium format if the latter is my clientele.
They are obligated to release such a sensor, if they want to remain in the mirrorless market. It would also curcial to have 2 card slots and some new lenses that resolve this huge resolution.
If Canon is really daring to go for this big resolution mirrorless camera it’s obvious they have to offer two slots for fast read and write cards like CFexpress or atleast XQD media cards and get divorced from CF and SD cards. Also such a camera should offer twin resolution facilities shiftable from 100 megapix to 50 magapix without a cropsenser factor, meaning using full senser in both resolutions.
As lenses are concerned for R system mirrorless camera I insist for an Ultrwide RF12-35mm f2.8L IS USM , a midrange Telezoom RF24-240mm f2L IS USM, and an Ultra Zoom RF200-600mm f4-5.6L IS USM lenses. Another commonly desired lens could be a RF80-400mm f4L IS USM lens.