mkabi said:jrista said:Don Haines said:I seem to remember that previous rumours that talked about specs were saying dual digic5+, but I would not be surprised if it were dual Digic6.... each iteration of the processor seems to be a good jump in speed.. Digic6 probably beats dual Digic5+ so I kind of hope for dual Digic5+...mkabi said:
And to those who say that it cant be Dual Digic6 because that's better than the 1DX has, how come a powershot has Digic6 and the 5D3 does not
I don't think that DIGIC 6 is what people think it is. DIGIC 6 is used in PowerShot because its new features were designed for the kind of consumer-grade features PowerShot offers. It supports 9.3fps average frame rate (12.2fps continuous up to 5 frames, after which the rate slows), but that is its minor feature. The big features are the way it handles highlight preservation, noise reduction at high ISO, etc. DIGIC 6 is about DSP image processing features, I don't think Canon has ever intended it to be the real replacement for DIGIC 5/5+.
I suspect the 7D II will use dual DIGIC 5+. It doesn't seem all that logical for Canon to create a new DIGIC 7 for the 7D II yet, as the DIGIC 5+ still offers plenty of data processing throughput. Given the derivation of the throughput for a pair of DIGIC 5+ like so:
Code:dataRate = (14fps * 19,100,000pixels * 14bit) / 8bit/byte + overhead dataRate = 467,950,000bps + overhead dataRate = 468mbps + overhead
Assuming Canon didn't create DIGIC 5+ with 234mb/s, it seems logical that each one is capable of 250mb/s (~32mbps overhead per second). At 24mp, we can derive the frame rate of the 7D II if we assume a 500mb/s data rate (Dual DIGIC 5+):
Code:500,000,000bps = (fps * 25,200,000px * 14bit) / 8bit/byte + 32,050,000bps overhead 467,950,000bps = (fps * 25,200,000px * 14bit) / 8bit/byte 467,950,000bps * 8bit/byte = fps * 25,200,000px * 14bit 3,743,600,000bps / (25,200,000px * 14bit) = fps fps = 3,743,600,000bps / 352,800,000px/bit fps = 10.611fps
So, with a pair of DIGIC 5+, the 7D II with a 24mp APS-C sensor could easily reach 10fps, and have even more room left over for overhead than the 1D X. Unless Canon is intending to give the 7D II a 12fps frame rate, I don't see the need for a new DIGIC 6+ or DIGIC 7. Maybe some of the image processing features in the DIGIC 6 could be useful, however I am not exactly sure what it's data throughput rate is...however I am pretty sure it isn't actually quite as good as a single DIGIC 5+ (based on what I've been able to derive from a couple PowerShot megapixel counts and the frame rate for the first five frames, it seems like the DIGIC 6 is capable of 225mb/s, it it falls short of DIGIC 5+ by about 25mb/s.)
It is possible that Canon might create a DIGIC 6+. If they did, assuming they scale DIGIC 6+ the same way they scaled DIGIC 5+ over DIGIC 5, then a single DIGIC 6+ should be about 3x as powerful as a DIGIC 6. That would put it's data throughput rate somewhere around 640mb/s to 675mb/s. That would mean that a single DIGIC 6+ would be enough to give the 7D II a 14fps frame rate.
For some reason, I don't really see that happening...not sure why, just doesn't feel like Canon is ready to drop that particular improvement on us yet. I suspect such a new DIGIC 6+ chip (or maybe they call it DIGIC 7) will arrive with the big megapixel camera. A data throughput rate of 700mb/s would be enough to support 8fps for a 46.7mp FF sensor at 14bit, and even enough to support 7fps at full 16bit!
I'm confused, why call it a DIGIC 6 if its not an improvement on the DIGIC 5+?
Isn't a dual-DIGIC 6 better than a single DIGIC 5+?
They used a DIGIC 5 in a t4i/650D...
At this point, anything that improves on a dual DIGIC 4 is better than no change...
Plus, even if it is a dual DIGIC 6 and it is less powerful than a dual DIGIC 5+ then won't it keep the 1DX supreme. It wont' hurt its sales in terms of specs.
Better doesn't necessarily mean faster. DIGIC 6 offers much improved image processing (which is more useful for sensors with smaller pixels), but it isn't faster. It is technically still better, but not in the way a 7D II would necessarily need.
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