2023: a look into Canon's flagship body

[NotABunny]

Canon will announce that they will consider to start planning how to develop an auto-exposure mechanism which properly exposes photos of scenes other than those that look like 18% gray (that is, expose to the right and pull back in post to the desired exposure) 

[birdman]

I actually think glass will make leaps and bounds in improvements in 10 years. As tech improves, glass has gotten better anti-reflective, anti-CA, etc. There will actually be zoom lenses with ZERO (less than 0.01%) distortion and extremely high (or mathematically perfect) sharpness wide open, corner-to-corner. As in, optimal sharpness wide open. Only depth of field changes as you stop down. 

Video past 4k will be standard, memory will be cheap as chips, and FPS on both video and stills shooting will be absurd. The 3D/4D realm will be utilized to create holographic images, but only in the flagship models. It's hard for me to believe the SLR as we know it will be largely unchanged. Of course, EVFs will be standard. But, will there still be a mirror? Will the shutter become replaced (or start getting fazed out) in lieu of a different technology.

Finally, AF will be more concentrated on eye movement as opposed to what the camera WANTS to focus on. The Canon flagship model, whatever the name or technology, will sell for $10-15k. You'll always have budget lines, of course. Resolution will be around 60-65 MP, but the sensor technology will be completely different. They are working on the successor to CMOS as we speak. It will be tested in a few years, implemented in commercial products, and flow down to us. Some cameras will be multimedia devices as tablets are now. the future brings much promise, but also holds many uncertainties...you are now entering the TWILIGHT ZONE. Nun na nun na nun na

[spinworkxroy]

In 2023, Mobile phones will have cameras so good that we won't need DSLRs anymore...

[Hillsilly]

I doubt there will be dramatic differences.

After thinking long and hard about Canon's decision not to incorporate new technologies and connectivity into their higher end cameras (eg bluetooth, wifi...), it recently occurred to me why.  As best as possible, they build their cameras to be future proof.  They don't want their cameras stuck with old technology.  And who knows what the computing and networking landscape will be like in 20 or 30 years time.

Therefore, my guesses: -

1.  The 1DX4 will be a DSLR;
2.  Incremental sensor developments.  Probably under 36mp;
3.  It will work faster.  More fps and faster autofocus;
4.  It will have a touch screen;
5.  Memory cards will be cheaper with more capacity;
6.  Minor battery improvements;
7.  It will offer focus bracketing.  This is where the camera makes incremental focus adjustments for macro focus stacking;
8.  The autofocus will see improvements to tracking.  It will be better able to identify moving subjects and lock on them;
9.  Buffers and write times will be concepts from the past.  It will keep taking pictures for as long as you can hold down the shutter buttons.
10.  By popular demand, the sensor size will change to 27x32.
11.  Canon will have a mobile app for the Android and Windows market for full remote control of the camera.  (They will briefly have an Apple app in 2015, but this will be pulled in retaliation after Canon loses a patent infringement case against Apple.  This is after Apple releases the iCam which takes the world by storm to become the number one selling camera.  Who'd have thought taking photos could be so easy?  It only has one button!  You just press it and the photo is there.  And it automatically uploads it to cloud storage, facebook, myspace, your blog etc.  And it will be white.  It will be so cool. The sensor size will be in the same ratio as the iPad - Canon mirrorless people with an old school 24x36 sensor will be very jealous about the sensor size).


The 1DX4 will be marketing at sports and nature photographers who will welcome its rugged nature and responsiveness.

However, most people will be using the cheaper 5D6, with its high MP count.  The 5D6 will still use the 24x36 amateur sensor format.  It will be a bit slower, with less weather sealing.  But essentially the same camera as the 1DX4.

Below that, it is mirrorless models marketed to the masses.  (or at least those who don't want an iCam).

[K-amps]

I think we will not see any radical departures in form from the current body.
1Dx mk. IV will:
1.   Have a mirrorless mode where a translucent mirror can be latched in for faster FPS’s or keep it in the Mirror mode. Either this or it becomes completely Mirrorless with EVF.
2.   40-60mp seems a lot, but if there is a higher MP version of the 1D, then this would be the target range. They will try and kill the MF format if they can with better sensors.
3.   Touch screen functionality will be mature and you will be able to tether your iphone 12 / Galaxy S14 for tethered shooting. The apps will allow for Focus bracketing and other timelapse fun. Canon will actually have SDK for it   
4.   New Sensor tech will allow for 2-3 stops of ISO improvements in RAW and 8-10 stops in jpeg
5.   Even Canon will have +14 DR  :-)
6.   Multiple crop modes will be available for a given sensor/ this will include the ability to choose what binning ratios to use in case of simple down sampling of non-crop modes.
7.   Bye Bye Bayer, Bye Bye MOIRE,
8.   As mentioned Lens modeling and sensor diffraction/ resolution bottlenecks will be aligned.
9.   I do not think the manufacturing of glass will be so good that we will see zero sharpness gained by stopping it down, I think that will not happen in 10 years… maybe 20-25.
10.   Focussing by eye should become standard unless everyone used the Lytro style Field vision sensors.
11.   RGB metering will be available in cell phones… so DSLR’s will get much better exposure meters.
12.   Lenses and apertures will have reflective coatings to increase photon concentration on the sensor for high ISO requirements at the cost of some IQ offsets.
13.   Polycarbonate elements will be good enough to be used in lenses drastically lowering the prices of EF lenses. This I see happening in more than 10 yrs. The lenses might require a mandatory UV filter to protect against scrapes etc.
14.   Via Geo Tagging, the camera will be able to remember the last time you were in a certain place and suggest starter settings based on the last time you shot there e.g. Sports arena vs. Studio shoot.
15.   By pointing on an object (skater/insect/wildlife/child/model) on the touchscreen on the Camera, it will recognize what it is your are trying to shoot and once confirmed, the AF  will constantly track the subject even faster than your eyeballs can lock on to it.

[Bennymiata]

In 20 years time, the camera will be on a chip wired directly into your brain, using your eyes and brain to put the image on a chip inside your body, which will be accessed using a non-contact induction coupling which will go to your computer to load the images up, or it will have a type of electronic mental telephathy system to download automatically.
The internal memory will be just about endless, as it will use your brain to hold the memory of those photos you have taken.

Mind you, they say that we all have photographic memories, it's just that most of us dont have any film!

[rpt]

Scenario 1: no double dip depression from now till 2023 so Canon invests and we (photographers) become Borg like tcapp said.

Scenario 2: bankers continue to have their way and multi dip depression happens so manufacturers and customers have to economise. So the mirror goes. As does the sensor and lens. These are replaced by tracing paper and a pinhole!