This camera was designed first and foremost for sports, wildlife and action photographers. Working press shooters, especially those at major agencies, prioritize speed for both shooting and transferring images — and as anyone who’s downloaded an e-mail attachment knows, large files slow down movements of images. Canon consulted heavily with major press and photo agencies in the development of the EOS-1D X Mark III, and the strong consensus was that 20 million pixels was more than sufficient for their needs, including double-page spreads in magazines.
Support for full-page and double-page magazine spreads
Similarly, 20 million pixels (actual resolution 5472 x 3648) provides the working photographer with sufficient pixel resolution for the vast majority of book or magazine publishing tasks. A US-based publication at standard 8.5 x 11-inch size translates into a double-page spread of 17 x 11 inches (43 x 28 cm).
A t 300 dpi, as indicated above, a non-interpolated, full-res RAW, JPEG or HEIF files from the EOS-1D X Mark III will fill 18 x 12 inches… in other words, for a double-page spread at typical US publication sizes, the file would need to be reduced slightly in size. A4-size, double-page spreads are likewise well within the realm of what a 20 million pixel sensor can handle, with outstanding potential final print quality.