*Busted!*
A couple of knowledgeable people wrote in and basically said all of this is poppycock. As with most highly detailed rumors, this one appears to be a rehash of old rumor wishlists.
Fun to talk about though!
Seriously though, this is where my lack of pro video knowledge rears its ugly head. I'll figure something out in regards to video.
Pretty detailed stuff
I received a pretty detailed rumor from an anonymous person. Usually when something is very detailed, it tends not to be true. However, I sent this information to a video guy and he gave me his opinion on what we've got here.
The rumor is a direct copy/paste from the email I received. Canon is apparently testing these 3 video cameras. The opinion of my friend is in italics.
1. Based upon the APS-C chip size (new sensorchip design) this new cam comes in a body which roughly looks like the XLH1 series. EF lens mount. Problems with moire are solved. Video looks much better than 7d vids, about 12 stops of dynamic range, clean pictures up to ISO 3200. 3 ND filters on board. 1920x1080p up to 60fps over HD-SDI out. 2K and 4K output possible, but not in the beginning, will be sold as additional hardwareupgrade. Codec: 4:2:2 50 MBit MPEG-2 Full HD . CF-Card slot and optional SD-Proxy. Pricerange $6-8K. Release scheduled for june/july 2011.
This sounds very much like a competitor to the panasonic af-100. All plausible specs to me based on the fact that the sensor they showed at the Canon EXPO was an aps-c sensor doing 4k video. I wouldn't doubt that Canon is working on a video camera body that would challenge both af100 and the Red (which is where this rumor seems to be going).
2. Maybe most interesting to know, a revolutionary new 3-chip design (fullframe chips, new sensorchip design) is being tested. Absolutely stunning image quality in both laboratory and field tests (snowy + green nature); crisp sharp + most neutral colors with many distinguishable snow-whites, no clipped highlights even without ND's (no build in ND). Up to about 20 stops of dynamic range possible (14-20 switchable + shiftable and special highlights preserving function). 2K and 4K raw output. over dual HD-SDI. Chrystal clear images up to about ISO 6000. This cam (intern codename, non official: “Yamato”) will sell for $20+K. Body design not finished yet, but will offer modular options.
20 stops of dynamic range is over the top. I don't doubt that Canon's working on some chip advances to get there, they'd be silly not to be trying to expand dynamic range! But 20? Most people put film at 15-16 stops. It almost sounds like they're embedding some processing to prevent clipping of whites but I don't know enough to understand. Though using different processing chips might explain that. Quite the rumor you've got there. I would also suspect that something like what is being talked about here might be out 2 or so years… my suspicion is that is still a testing platform for the future.
3. Same 3-chip design as Yamato but with smaller APS-C chip size in testing, but not finished yet. No known pricerange yet.
With the number of sensors they showed off a the Expo – one of them being 120m pixel sensor on an aps-c chip, I wouldn't really put some of this out of the realm of the future.
Take this with a grain of salt, I expect some follow-up contact from this post.
cr