Canon to use a Sony image sensor in an upcoming APS-C ILC body? [CR1]

I see this as plausible. It is in the midrange that the market is whining about DR, 4K video and IBIS. Not that Pros wouldn´t need it but we are not chasing specs like that. If Sony has a great sensor on the shelves and Canon can guarantee a certain volume, I am sure they´ll get a good offer and can price the camera accordingly. Having that said, I still think Sony saves the very best and latest for their own cameras to make sure they are always one step ahead in the sensor department.

I would bet that Sony’s camera division ant Sony’s semiconductor division are completely different entities with little connection. To the semiconductor guys the camera division is a customer just like Nikon. If it weren’t that way, Sony semiconductor would have no customers other than Sony Camera Division. One of the first rules of buisness if you are a component supplier is: “don’t compete with your customers”. If they want to supply sensors as components to other camera manufacturers, you cannot play these sort of games and would have no financial incisive to do so.
 
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Sony could possibly manufacture a DP-AF sensor according to Canon's detailed specs. But i don't think Canon is willing to share those. Even when Sony sensor business is sonewhat separated from Sony imaging division ...

Canon can make APS-C sensors in-house, it does not need Sony. Even if some Sony sensor might be 2/3 EV ahead in DR and/or a few cents lower cost per unit - in practice that has never kept Canon from selling more cameras with their sensors than Sony and Nikon/Sony combined.

in short: don't believe this rumour.

oO ... now i sound like a CanonFanBoy. But rest assured I am not. :)

Canon may be running up against a readout speed issue with their disintegrated sensor solutions.
 
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Mar 2, 2012
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I've taken more than 500k shots on a 7d2. Not only would I prefer 16fps over dual pixel AF, I'd pay 50 percent more for it.

The problem with this kind of assertion - and we see it here from time to time - is that presumably the market would not be prepared to pay 50% more for any given feature. Most customers are sensitive to price first and foremost.
 
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I hope this isn’t the beginning of the end for Canon’s own sensors.

I hope it is. Focusing more resources on fine tuning the sensor, the pipeline and end user experience instead of worrying about the manufacturing would be a smart move. It would be similar to Nikon using Sony sensors, Sony manufactures the sensor, but Nikon uses their resources to optimize the sensor. It's too resource intensive to try and keep up with the tooling needed to build sensors, especially when Sony gets so much income from smartphones to allow them to update their tooling so frequently.
 
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I hope it is. Focusing more resources on fine tuning the sensor, the pipeline and end user experience instead of worrying about the manufacturing would be a smart move. It would be similar to Nikon using Sony sensors, Sony manufactures the sensor, but Nikon uses their resources to optimize the sensor. It's too resource intensive to try and keep up with the tooling needed to build sensors, especially when Sony gets so much income from smartphones to allow them to update their tooling so frequently.
I don't understand why people think monopolies are a good thing.
 
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Canon isn't getting out of the sensor business. Full stop. Canon isn't just a camera company. For example Toshiba uses Canon equipment to produce it's NAND chips. Canon sells sensors in other fields besides photography. It's printer tech is used in it's semiconductor fabs. etc, etc. A large and more profitable part of the company would go away if they were to throw their hands up and say. <ahem> it we don't know how to make sensors or chips. What they learn making their own sensors allows them to feed back into their fab side etc.

I highly expect the next camera in the R line to tell us far more about where Canon sensor tech is headed than the R did.
 
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Maybe the reason Canon is starting to offer a foundry business is because they plan to have more capacity due to outsourcing their DSLR sensors to Sony? It seems like Canon would need to upgrade their entire process node just to be competitive and it seems unlikely that they'd be able to recoup that investment without the volume from the compact camera market.
 
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The Sony IMX571 is the sensor that FujiFilm uses in the X-T3 which is an extremely capable video camera. Far better than anything Canon is offering outside of their cinema line of cameras. Not sure why posters are saying this camera wouldn't be able to offer video. DPAF does nice cinematic focus pulls but it's just one of many ways to manage video focus and for the time being it seems to be a challenge for DPAF to read out fast enough for DSLR level frame rates. Canon is now competing directly with the best MILC's out there and they may need to look outside of their own R&D to find solutions. Sony doesn't appear interested in developing their own APS-C line so they may be open to letting Canon have their most advanced APS-C sensor. Probably won't happen but nobody should rule it out IMO.

As someone who has been using the video on the X-T3 for several months now, I can tell you that sensor is extremely capable of great looking motion images. (And stills.) It makes sense that Canon would need to quickly achieve video parity with competitors by using sensors outside of their own lineup.
 
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I hope it is. Focusing more resources on fine tuning the sensor, the pipeline and end user experience instead of worrying about the manufacturing would be a smart move. It would be similar to Nikon using Sony sensors, Sony manufactures the sensor, but Nikon uses their resources to optimize the sensor. It's too resource intensive to try and keep up with the tooling needed to build sensors, especially when Sony gets so much income from smartphones to allow them to update their tooling so frequently.

Bad idea. Despite that Canon slow walked the onboard amplifier, which is why their chips have been behind, that era is over. Canon has an excellent semiconductor manufacturing structure. They’ve been doing it for decades. Having them go to Sony for everything eliminates any chance they could advance further. They make a whopping number of video sensors, including some of the worlds most advanced.

I’d like to see them apply some of the technology they’ve been showing at the Canon shows here in NYC every two years, or so.

Just don’t forget that Canon is much larger and more diversified than Nikon is, and that Sony makes almost all of its profits from the Playstation, games, accessories and network, not from their hardware sales.
 
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Maybe the reason Canon is starting to offer a foundry business is because they plan to have more capacity due to outsourcing their DSLR sensors to Sony? It seems like Canon would need to upgrade their entire process node just to be competitive and it seems unlikely that they'd be able to recoup that investment without the volume from the compact camera market.
That makes no sense. Sensors and regular chips are very different. It could be because point and shoot business is almost dead, though most of those sensors weren’t built by Canon. Also, no matter what, the camera business, for everyone, is tottering. Even Sony is making fewer sensors.
 
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That makes no sense. Sensors and regular chips are very different. It could be because point and shoot business is almost dead, though most of those sensors weren’t built by Canon. Also, no matter what, the camera business, for everyone, is tottering. Even Sony is making fewer sensors.
I’m not putting any eggs in this basket, but what might make more sense is canon looking to source sensors for a camera run while spinning a new process in their own fab.
 
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