Canon EOS Rebel SL2 Coming in September [CR2]

[LonelyBoy]

Digital imaging sensor is the single most expensive component of any camera so sharing same sensor across multiple models in any generation is smart way of saving money on production. Sharing sensor has nothing to do with crippling which happens with functionality of camera(memory card slots, video features, customisation options, etc...) which according to Canon hampers sales or more "expensive" cameras. As the sensor gets bigger, so does the production cost and ratio of faulty sensors to usable sensors coming out of fab. Hence the reason why larger FF cameras dont seem to share sensors across multiple models.

I am wondering whether the current situation is a little different than it has been in the past, because Canon seems to be in the middle of upgrading all of its cameras to dual pixel technology with on chip ADC, and doing so rather quickly. If the 6DII is announced in July and the SL2 in September, that would only leave the 5Ds(r) and the 7dII (and maybe some M's) with the older sensor technology. The past pattern of not sharing sensors may have reflected a more gradual rate of technology introduction, with longer periods between the introduction of the new cameras. If they are upgrading everything as quickly as possible, why not share sensors?

the sensors need different readout lane numbers because of fps performance. a dual DIGIC chip is different than a single DIGIC chip reading out the channels as an example.

canon really has never shared the exact same sensor across too many cameras. they always tweak it for specific cameras and there is always ongoing changes to the sensors as governed by what patents clear globally that canon can leverage.

It does also depend on what you call the "same" sensor.

My wife worked for Intel and AMD (actually helped work on the chip in the XB1 and PS4). Chips of all sorts are constantly receiving tweaks, minor and major, to improve one or more of yield, reliability, power, or a host of other things. These chips show up as the exact same SKU, with the exact same name, and are only differentiated by a faint etching on the heatspreader (or in the old days, on the surface of the die itself). Back when I had more time and less money, and overclocked my CPUs, certain steppings were considered much more desirable because of having more overhead. I can almost guarantee that the last FF 22mpx sensor built for the last-assembled 5D3 is greatly different from the first, when examined closely enough. Is that difference lesser or greater than the difference between the 18mpx crop sensors that went into all the various Canon bodies that had 18mpx crop sensors? I don't know, nor do I know how much difference is allowable to be considered "the same". Just consider that if you pick up two identical Core i7s from the shelf, one could very easily be "different" from the other.

 

[BillB]

I am wondering whether the current situation is a little different than it has been in the past, because Canon seems to be in the middle of upgrading all of its cameras to dual pixel technology with on chip ADC, and doing so rather quickly. If the 6DII is announced in July and the SL2 in September, that would only leave the 5Ds(r) and the 7dII (and maybe some M's) with the older sensor technology. The past pattern of not sharing sensors may have reflected a more gradual rate of technology introduction, with longer periods between the introduction of the new cameras. If they are upgrading everything as quickly as possible, why not share sensors?

the sensors need different readout lane numbers because of fps performance. a dual DIGIC chip is different than a single DIGIC chip reading out the channels as an example.

canon really has never shared the exact same sensor across too many cameras. they always tweak it for specific cameras and there is always ongoing changes to the sensors as governed by what patents clear globally that canon can leverage.

So, my phrase "sharing sensors" is not right. Would it be fair to say that the same basic sensor design could be adapted for use in more than one camera model? (Granting that Canon doesn't tell us very much about its sensor designs.)

 

[Don Haines]

Digital imaging sensor is the single most expensive component of any camera so sharing same sensor across multiple models in any generation is smart way of saving money on production. Sharing sensor has nothing to do with crippling which happens with functionality of camera(memory card slots, video features, customisation options, etc...) which according to Canon hampers sales or more "expensive" cameras. As the sensor gets bigger, so does the production cost and ratio of faulty sensors to usable sensors coming out of fab. Hence the reason why larger FF cameras dont seem to share sensors across multiple models.

I am wondering whether the current situation is a little different than it has been in the past, because Canon seems to be in the middle of upgrading all of its cameras to dual pixel technology with on chip ADC, and doing so rather quickly. If the 6DII is announced in July and the SL2 in September, that would only leave the 5Ds(r) and the 7dII (and maybe some M's) with the older sensor technology. The past pattern of not sharing sensors may have reflected a more gradual rate of technology introduction, with longer periods between the introduction of the new cameras. If they are upgrading everything as quickly as possible, why not share sensors?

the sensors need different readout lane numbers because of fps performance. a dual DIGIC chip is different than a single DIGIC chip reading out the channels as an example.

canon really has never shared the exact same sensor across too many cameras. they always tweak it for specific cameras and there is always ongoing changes to the sensors as governed by what patents clear globally that canon can leverage.

It does also depend on what you call the "same" sensor.

My wife worked for Intel and AMD (actually helped work on the chip in the XB1 and PS4). Chips of all sorts are constantly receiving tweaks, minor and major, to improve one or more of yield, reliability, power, or a host of other things. These chips show up as the exact same SKU, with the exact same name, and are only differentiated by a faint etching on the heatspreader (or in the old days, on the surface of the die itself). Back when I had more time and less money, and overclocked my CPUs, certain steppings were considered much more desirable because of having more overhead. I can almost guarantee that the last FF 22mpx sensor built for the last-assembled 5D3 is greatly different from the first, when examined closely enough. Is that difference lesser or greater than the difference between the 18mpx crop sensors that went into all the various Canon bodies that had 18mpx crop sensors? I don't know, nor do I know how much difference is allowable to be considered "the same". Just consider that if you pick up two identical Core i7s from the shelf, one could very easily be "different" from the other.

And then we have the cases where two chips with the same part number come from two different plants......

 

[rrcphoto]

I am wondering whether the current situation is a little different than it has been in the past, because Canon seems to be in the middle of upgrading all of its cameras to dual pixel technology with on chip ADC, and doing so rather quickly. If the 6DII is announced in July and the SL2 in September, that would only leave the 5Ds(r) and the 7dII (and maybe some M's) with the older sensor technology. The past pattern of not sharing sensors may have reflected a more gradual rate of technology introduction, with longer periods between the introduction of the new cameras. If they are upgrading everything as quickly as possible, why not share sensors?

the sensors need different readout lane numbers because of fps performance. a dual DIGIC chip is different than a single DIGIC chip reading out the channels as an example.

canon really has never shared the exact same sensor across too many cameras. they always tweak it for specific cameras and there is always ongoing changes to the sensors as governed by what patents clear globally that canon can leverage.

So, my phrase "sharing sensors" is not right. Would it be fair to say that the same basic sensor design could be adapted for use in more than one camera model? (Granting that Canon doesn't tell us very much about its sensor designs.)

fundamentally.. sure.

then again, fundamentally most sensors share the same basic design regardless.

a good example is that the physical SIZE is different between the 80D sensor and the 77D sensor.