Canon EOS 5D X Speculation

[briansquibb]

Canon are going to surprise us all and announce the 100mp 1.3 1D5 

[neuroanatomist]

As far as this being some sort of conscious effort on Canon's part to "leak" something, I'm doubting it. I'll leave that to the conspiracy theorists. But, I suspect that the Canon employee was instructed to tell anyone who noticed that he was field testing the lenses. No trade secret there. The 200-400 was announced a year ago. I'm guessing that if he were asked about the camera, he'd simply pretend not to understand or give some other, non-committal answer.

Not nearly as fun as speculating about some grand, secret strategy. But, when simple, obvious answers are available, it's usually best to go with them.

+1.  The clever explanations were worth a chuckle, though...particularly the speculation stemming from the EXIF data of the pictures of the new camera...

[AprilForever]

Canon are going to surprise us all and announce the 100mp 1.3 1D5 

This I could go for, because it would have sufficient pixel density, and nearly the 1.6x crop... But, I really do hope that they do not merge the two lines. To me, it seems to be an advantage to specialize a little. Also, Nikon has both  the D800 and the D400 up and coming. If Canon decides to drop the XD lineup into a single camera, this could cause many who are looking for a specific tool to look at the other side of the fence.

When fixing my truck, there are basicly two kids of wrenches: an adjustable wrench, and wrenches of many different sizes. I much prefer the exact wrench to the job than an all purpose wrench. In a camera, I want a camera optimized for wildlife/sports (what I primarily shoot). At some point, I will likely get a 5D. It will not be used for bird pictures or pitcher pictures. It would see its main use with landscape and portraits. I like to use 12mm wrenches on 12mm bolts, and 18mm wrenches on 18mm bolts. A camera which can do too much will do too little.

[Justin]

What would be great is if they combined the 7d & 5D and produced a FF camera that was capable of taking EF-S lenses (sorta like nikons dx mode).

Agreed. This would be the most fully realized manifestation of the X model.

[MazV-L]

Canon will only make a 5DX if they don't mind upsetting a large portion of their customer base. Oh, wait. They already did that. New pro body which lowers the resolution (a tick against the landscape folk), reduces the crop size (a tick against the sports and wildlife folk) AND doesn't autofocus with f8 (a major tick against people using f4 superteles with the tc 2x, or the 800 5.6 with the 1.4x Anyone else feel Arthur Morris' rage?).

Maybe this new camera is targetted at some of those people that were upset with the 1DX  eg: wildlife photographers. Look where they're testing it; the subject matter and the lenses used, perhaps this camera is APS-H 

[Justin]

Canon will only make a 5DX if they don't mind upsetting a large portion of their customer base. Oh, wait. They already did that. New pro body which lowers the resolution (a tick against the landscape folk), reduces the crop size (a tick against the sports and wildlife folk) AND doesn't autofocus with f8 (a major tick against people using f4 superteles with the tc 2x, or the 800 5.6 with the 1.4x Anyone else feel Arthur Morris' rage?).

Yeah I think anything is possible here. It's also possible that this is is a full frame 7D and a 5D3 successor will follow later in the year with high mpx in response to Nikon D800. That would allow Canon to sell more 70Ds for the 1.6 crop crowd demanding reach and dense sensor for detail.

In this way Canon would have 3 full frame cameras:
1Dx (18mpx)
7Dx (18mpx)
5DII successor (maybe with the 39 mpx sensor for video as was intimated on another thread)

[aeturnum]

This whole attitude of only FF is pro is a really outdated mindset.

I totally agree. As has been said countless times on here, they are both just tools for different jobs. Crop sensors are perfect for those wanting the extra reach. Yes, you could crop in PP, but why bother if you can get it right in-camera? And as pointed out earlier (I wasn't quick enough!), using the logic that only FF should have single-digit/pro designation means that the 1d series should never have been considered professional, being aps-h with a 1.3x crop.

And my vote goes to the 7d mkii. Why? Cos that's what I want to see!

It's not that I want to see high-end crop sensors vanish, but it seems like Canon is perfectly happy to replace their 1.3x crop camera with a FF camera at the top. If they're willing to replace their high-end "professional" crop camera (which was aimed at sports / birding people), why wouldn't they adopt that strategy throughout their lineup?

[Axilrod]

To summarize the last 25 pages of rumor on this body:


(akiskev's image, nicely done)

Anyone else see those 4 little lights under the screen on the left?  Wonder what those are for...

[mathino]

To summarize the last 25 pages of rumor on this body:


(akiskev's image, nicely done)

Anyone else see those 4 little lights under the screen on the left?  Wonder what those are for...

I think they are not lights but mic holes.

[DJL329]

It's the 5D XXV    no doubt

Boy, you are nvts.  N - V - T - S, nvts! 

[ers811]

Yeah I think anything is possible here. It's also possible that this is is a full frame 7D and a 5D3 successor will follow later in the year with high mpx in response to Nikon D800. That would allow Canon to sell more 70Ds for the 1.6 crop crowd demanding reach and dense sensor for detail.

In this way Canon would have 3 full frame cameras:
1Dx (18mpx)
7Dx (18mpx)
5DII successor (maybe with the 39 mpx sensor for video as was intimated on another thread)

I can say with 90% certainty that I am 100% certain Canon will have a xD pro body with a 1.6 crop sensor. 

Sports and wildlife photographers WANT the crop, and all the features and weather sealing that come with a pro body.

I think more likely after merging the 1-series line would be keep 7D line for sports/nature, and somehow SPLIT the 5D line, either 2 different 5Ds, or maybe a new line (3D?) for video.

The 1DX is already he best of 7D and 5D... and then some. 

Some specialization is still a good thing.

[LetTheRightLensIn]

For all those people who want a crop sensor for "reach" I'm not overly convinced by that argument. You pack all those photosites so close together and yes you get more perceived reach, but the noise increases too.  If ISO is high enough, I believe it's better to crop in Photoshop a full frame image. Really it depends on the ISO - a crop sensor is better for reach at lower ISO, but IMHO a crop of a full frame image is better at higher ISO.

In any case - can't wait for Feb!!

Yes, but at least have the option to trade effective reach for noise. Comparing a 5D2 to a 7D:

For a distant bird you can either get more detail on the bird with the 7D or a trace less noise (yes, when you are entirely distance limited the 7D can give a trace BETTER noise performance, at any ISO yes even ISO3200, than the 5D2 because it is slightly more efficient per area of sensor and the higher photosite density washes away more de-mosaic errors if you compare the images from the two cameras at normalized scale). [For non-distance limited it's a different story since the 5D2 sensor is much larger and that more than makes up for the slight difference in efficiency per area, assuming you maintain same aperture setting and don't adjust for DOF.]

At higher ISO there may be enough noise that fine details get washed away though and effective reach advantages get washed away. Even by ISO800 the 7D vs 5D2 effective reach advantage is already less than at ISO100. You still don't do worse for noise/aliasing/etc. though, actually a trace better.

And if you are sloppy and/or can't use high enough shutter speeds, if the focusing is a bit off, etc. then effective reach advantages also go away (but you still never do worse).

[neuroanatomist]

Really it depends on the ISO - a crop sensor is better for reach at lower ISO, but IMHO a crop of a full frame image is better at higher ISO.

Assuming the intent is a common result such as a print of a given size, are you aware that cropping the image from a FF sensor down to the FoV of an APS-C sensor throws away all of the advantage the FF sensor provides?  FWIW, it also eliminates the shallower DoF you started with on FF...

[LetTheRightLensIn]

Anyone else see those 4 little lights under the screen on the left?  Wonder what those are for...

the 5D2 has some sort of light there too and the holes are probably for the speaker or mic

[Jim K]

Canon will only make a 5DX if they don't mind upsetting a large portion of their customer base. Oh, wait. They already did that. New pro body which lowers the resolution (a tick against the landscape folk), reduces the crop size (a tick against the sports and wildlife folk) AND doesn't autofocus with f8 (a major tick against people using f4 superteles with the tc 2x, or the 800 5.6 with the 1.4x Anyone else feel Arthur Morris' rage?).

YES! What is my upgrade path from the 7D? Kill off the 1D and eliminate f/8 focusing on it's FF "replacement." That's smart Canon. I love my white lenses but what will I use them on in the future? BTW, I shoot birds and wildlife.