37 Megapixel 1Ds Mark IV? [CR1]

[pedro]

Does that mean, an also rumoured 5Diii might be announced equipped with a  30+ MP sensor?

[CR Backup Admin]

Does that mean, an also rumoured 5Diii might be announced equipped with a  30+ MP sensor?

In the past the 5D series cameras were announced several months or more after the 1Ds series.  although I'd expect it to follow by a year, it might appear first.  Canon has been very traditional and conservative in their ways, a new processor appears in the 1 series first, and trickles down to others later.

As to both a 1d and a 5D appearing at the same time, this is very unlikely. 

[macfly]

Well if Canon come up short at 37, and Nikon come out swinging with 42, with their as sharp to sharper lenses, I'll finally be moving back over.

I rented the D7000 for a video shoot this weekend, and was blown away by it. I had a cinematographer shooting the key shots on the 5D mkll, and the freedom of movement that I was afforded by the follow focus meant that the Canon's shots will be the fillers in the edit, the Nikon just knocked its sox off it with its freedom of mobility.

Canon really do seem to be lagging, it almost feels like they're ready to throw in the towel, and let Nikon return to the podium as the pros default choice. The downgrade of the G10 in the G12 was the first warning shot, and it seems that the mistakes and missteps may continue for a while.

In answer to the question - When will big billboards be out resolved by the sensors ? - the answer is they already are. This is a shot I did for Subaru last year on the P65, showing the full fame above, and a close up detail at 100%, allowing this to be printed at over twice the size of the largest billboards in the world because the huge ones use such a low DPI count, in 80-120 dpi area.

(1000 second H2/P65 - 55mm lens on a hand held gyro hanging out of a Bell Jet Ranger - yes, it was a nice way to spend four days - thank you Subaru and Dentsu!)

[cmac]

I would like to see a square sensor of 36 MP with 16 bit RAW - and really on sensor improved noise and DR, rather than seeing a 40+MP with 14bit RAW and just better noise reduction by the next DIGIC. I really think that Nikon is heading in the right direction when offering better noise control and better DR at lower MP.
And it might com out that the next 1D will be on pair with the next 5D and the 1Ds would be really different type of beast. I really hope so. I really hope to see square sensors soon. Yet it will really require a one handle design - that is a really different type of camera. But still - a 36MP 1:1 sensor will allow to have 24MP 3:2 which is mostly enough for any kind of work these days. And remember - Your iPad magazine is just fitting Your iPad screen - even at double the resolution it still will be less that 4MP :-)

[macfly]

Square sensors are a seriously bad idea, and a waste of sensor space, litterally, everything I shoot for, magazines, billboards, ads, portraits and even websites are rectangles. The only possible use for a square is CD packaging, but incase you hadn't noticed, record shops have gone, so album art has been reduced to digital postage stamps of iTunes. We need square sensors like we need the plague!

[EYEONE]

Square sensors are a seriously bad idea, and a waste of sensor space, litterally, everything I shoot for, magazines, billboards, ads, portraits and even websites are rectangles. The only possible use for a square is CD packaging, but incase you hadn't noticed, record shops have gone, so album art has been reduced to digital postage stamps of iTunes. We need square sensors like we need the plague!

Square pictures is not the point of a square sensor. The aspect ratio would stay the same. But you could get portrait and landscape switching at the touch of a button. This might require a very fancy viewfinder to also show the effect but I believe Nikon's already do something similar when you put a DX lens on a FX camera. So it could be done.

I'm sure if Canon is doing a Square sensor they have many more practical uses for it.

[macfly]

Why? All you're doing is adding a huge amount of complexity and pixel real estate just to save you turning the camera sideways. I'd say a better formed body that works as well held either way with a high def FF chip would be far more practical, simple, reliable and pro friendly rig.

[motorhead]

While I like the idea of a proper medium format body, I don't think that a 37/40mp square sensor will be anywhere close to MF. I guess you have all been seeing the real MF players and know what's already in play so you don't need me to spell it out.

No, 37 or 40mp will have to be a bog standard 36 x 24 mm "frame" to have any chance of lasting more than 18 months as the "top dog". Even at that level it needs to have other headlining benefits, for entirely selfish reasons I'm hoping a world beating DR forms one such. I'm also selfishly less bothered by noise as I don't use high ISO settings.

It has been previously reported that Canon is investigating the possibilty of linking up with an existing MF manufacturer. Unless they are prepared to start from scratch and develop a medium format expertise and reputation slowly, I see this as their most likely way into MF, especially now that the company will have other major drains on corporate finance for the forseeable future.   

[EYEONE]

Why? All you're doing is adding a huge amount of complexity and pixel real estate just to save you turning the camera sideways. I'd say a better formed body that works as well held either way with a high def FF chip would be far more practical, simple, reliable and pro friendly rig.

I don't know what Canon is going to do with the 1Ds. All I was pointing out was that square sensor doesn't mean square pictures.

However, I do think that being able to take portrait and landscape pictures without moving the camera would be more useful than you might think. Think of tripod work, so much easier. But would that alone be worth all the engineering redesign? Probably not. Which is why I also said: "I'm sure if Canon is doing a Square sensor they have many more practical uses for it."

I don't know what all the pros and cons of a square sensor would be. But I know it has been mentioned as a possibility and I do think it is physically possible.

[cmac]

Well, there is what I said - from a Square sensor of 36 MP You can crop a nice 24 MP 3:2 image in both ways which is more than enough for almost anything (I assume that 30" x 20" fine art print is more than enough for almost anything, but if You're afraid of pixel peepers You can always print 15" x 10" which is also a fine format and at this size can stand a microscope inspection :-) ).
If You are such a steady hand and eye that You never do crop or align Your frame in post, than You're probably more than happy with the 3:2 ratio. Still there are even magazines that are not in 3:2 and so shooting for them in 3:2 is waste of sensor? Yet a square sensor is not only for CD covers. Some people still shoot for art and there  the square is something that is always actually useful.
The tripod factor is also valid - You don't have sometimes enough time to rotate and re-framing.
Yet there is a waste of space - but what they are really so close that I don't think it's achievable, but as You pointed there are too many aspects to consider - one of them being the camera design.
I also thing that Canon is ready to go medium size, but they are better to go by getting an already established company (design) and go with it. If they come up with custom camera - it really should be something extraordinary, to catch the pros - and while I'm sure they can easily come up with a killing camera, they will need much more time to add a bunch of lenses to it.

[macfly]

Honestly I don't see why Canon would bother going MF, there simply isn't enough of a market to be worth going up against the PhaseOne-Mamiya 645 and the H2/3/4 systems when they already showcased a 120MP chip in a FF-ish sized sensor.

I'll put my money on their battle strategy will be to keep improving the FF range they have to the point where it makes the MF cameras irrelevant, or then again maybe they'll drop the ball again as they did with the G12, and give it all away to Nikon.