Canon Japan ME20F-SH Sample Video

[Canon Rumors Guy]

The Canon ME20F-SH camera was announced well before the Canon EXPO this past week, but definitely fit into the theme of new product lines and ideas. If you don’t remember, this specialized camera is capable of shooting at ISO 4,000,000!</p>
<p>The camera isn’t available until December and will set you back $30,000, but some of this technology is sure to trickle down into consumer products eventually. For now, this is definitely a niche product for the professional production world.</p>
<p>The video below shows some great examples of what’s possible at such high ISO, especially when turning the night into day.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://cweb.canon.jp/bctv/lineup/multipurpose/face-design.html" target="_blank">Check out the Sample Video</a> | <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/video/news/unveiled-canon-me20f-sh/bi/2466/kbid/3296" target="_blank">Canon ME20F-SH at B&H Photo</a></strong></p>

 

[AaronT]

This is the proper link to the video page.
http://cweb.canon.jp/bctv/lineup/multipurpose/movie.html

 

[jd7]

Sony A7S eat your heart out ;D

 

[raptor3x]

Sony A7S eat your heart out ;D

At 102K it looks pretty phenomenal, but in the scene where they ramp up to ISO 4m it seems to fall apart really fast after ISO 102K. I think the new A7sII might actually look better at 409K.

 

[DigiAngel]

at iso 4m it "hast to" look terrible, there are only a few photons hitting the sensor at that levels, so colors and dynamic range will be rubbish, regardless of the sensor qualitiy.i wonder how far you can go for real use. the A7s falls apart at around iso100.000, maybe one stop better?

 

[TeT]

Think of some of the uses for this camera. At 4m some of that video was clean enough for identification purposes.

Very impressive, did you not how beat up the test box was ... Nice and rugged..

 

[rs]

Think of some of the uses for this camera. At 4m some of that video was clean enough for identification purposes.

Very impressive, did you not how beat up the test box was ... Nice and rugged..

Yeah, it looks like there's just the one unit the team behind the video could get their hands on, and its had a hard life.

ISO 4.5 million doesn't look clean, but as stated previously, that's shot noise. At such low levels of illumination, photons are so few and far between that it's physically impossible for it to look clean.

 

[Gordonium]

both A7s and this falls apart above 102k, guess they both reached the physical limit of a 35mm sensor, theres only that much photons you can capture after all. Those extra ISOs is just about how bad you can accept the image to be.

 

[TAF]

Think of some of the uses for this camera. At 4m some of that video was clean enough for identification purposes.

Very impressive, did you not how beat up the test box was ... Nice and rugged..

Yeah, it looks like there's just the one unit the team behind the video could get their hands on, and its had a hard life.

ISO 4.5 million doesn't look clean, but as stated previously, that's shot noise. At such low levels of illumination, photons are so few and far between that it's physically impossible for it to look clean.

Once they add a Pelletier cooler (about $25, plus engineering), things will get better at the high ISO's.

Full frame, mirrorless, EF mount. What's not to love (other than price)?

 

[Renzokuken]

any literature to explain the architecture of the tech?

 

[raptor3x]

both A7s and this falls apart above 102k, guess they both reached the physical limit of a 35mm sensor, theres only that much photons you can capture after all. Those extra ISOs is just about how bad you can accept the image to be.

The new A7sII seems to hold together much better above 102k and that's in 4K mode.

https://youtu.be/CVLBHMbRMW4?t=72

 

[Cheryll]

The first comparison of both strongest Lowlight cameras a7s versus ME20F-SH in 2 similar situations :

Initial position a7s:

Comparison 1: a7s ISO 409600 f2,8 approx. 1/50 Shutter no moon beyond the town with star light

Comparison 2: a7s ISO 409600 f1,4 1/4 Shutter cloudy beyond the town

Initial position ME20F-SH:

Comparison 1: f2,8 ISO 407000 1/48 no moons cloudy beyond the town

Comparison 2: f2,8 ISO 3230000-4560000 1/48 no moons cloudy beyond the town

Comparison 1:

Both cameras indicate only outlines of the scenery. a7s easily lies In front with less noise, but very strong ampere noise at the side. However, a7s has star light as a support what something puts out.

Comparison 2:

To show a scenery At night with cloudiness just brightly * like with the ME20F-SH f2,8 1/48 sec. Shutter, needs a7s f1,4 and 1/4 sec. Shutter. The noise is high on both of the missing light.

Result:

I had read in a forum that ME20F-SH is , only‘ 2 stops should be better. I estimate that it's not 2 but rather approx 4 stops better! Since the a7s must be faster lens and bad slowly shutter to receive a similar picture.
The ME20F-SH has an clean Image till ISO 102400. The camera is very great but has sadly a very high price.

*Similar brightly how with strong cloudiness during the day

The comparisons videos:

scene at 2:55 min: http://cweb.canon.jp/bctv/lineup/multipurpose/movie.html

youtube.com/watch?v=LWl1d3RoAYU

youtube.com/watch?v=6_XjGJes34M

 

[mclaren777]

any literature to explain the architecture of the tech?

I don't believe the tech is anything special – it's just a typical sensor with extraordinarily large pixels.

People keep talking about this tech "trickling down to consumer cameras" but I don't think most people are going to settle for such low-res stills.

 

[douglaurent]

Wow, that's pretty underwhelming. I'm sure the same video quality would have been possible with the 1DC after some post processing, and that in 4K. Canon continues to try to sell good technology far too expensive.

 

[rrcphoto]

both A7s and this falls apart above 102k, guess they both reached the physical limit of a 35mm sensor, theres only that much photons you can capture after all. Those extra ISOs is just about how bad you can accept the image to be.

The new A7sII seems to hold together much better above 102k and that's in 4K mode.

https://youtu.be/CVLBHMbRMW4?t=72

surprised you can tell - considering that sample video showed very little above 102k, except the one video portion where they shot in complete darkness.
the sample video shows what.. shooting with two large torches out front?

 

[Cheryll]

The new A7sII seems to hold together much better above 102k and that's in 4K mode.

https://youtu.be/CVLBHMbRMW4?t=72

The a7sII has a 20% better lowlight performance (estimates Tony Northrup and Sony confirmed improvements in the SNR values in a interview with cinema5D) than the a7s. 20% more is a fictive highest ISO value 491520 . A clean image with the a7s ISO 25600 is now in the a7sII similar clean till ISO 30720....

 

[JohanCruyff]

The (2.2Mpx) ME20F-SH seems to me much more interesting than the 120MPX DSLR.

 

[dash2k8]

Regardless of the noise and whatnot, the fact that 4 million ISO is even possible is something to get excited about. Just a few years ago none of us would even get near ISO800 for paid work, but the latest cameras are now doing well enough at ISO1600-3200 to deliver relatively low noise.