There may be a higher-end APS-C mirrorless announced in late 2020, early 2021 [CR2]

[BillB]

It seems to me that a new aps-c camera could be either a top of the line EF-M mount camera or a sort of 7DIIIish RF mount camera. Snomennew lenses would seem to be implied.
The camera would likely have the sensor in the M6II or 90D, or possibly something better. My guess is that it will be something along the lines of an M5 II, with the DIGIC X and firmware from the R5 and R6.

 

[Bert63]

“EOS R6 with a small sensor”

Smaller than what? Smaller than the R6?

 

[ahsanford]

I guess there could be an APS-C R7 in the pipeline and may be even R 10D 20D etc plus some new RF-S lenses.

The blue part above is the slippery slope. If R7 is a mirrorless 7D3 and that is all they offer with R mount + APS-C, they can (as others have said here) get away with just 2-3 crop RF lenses -- an ultrawide zoom a la EF-M 11-22, standard zoom a la EF-M 15-45 or 18-55, etc.

But they minute they cross over into the bigger / wider use-case / more varied userbases of general crop shooters (even at the 90D price point), there will be pressure to offer a proper line of crop-only RF glass -- they'll want small telephoto zooms, 60mm 1:1 macro, pancakes, etc. That's tantamount to double/triple dipping on EF-S and EF-M, and I think Canon would only go there if they intended to get rid of EF-S altogether. They will certainly eventually get to that point, but it may not be that soon. Crop SLRs still make Canon a ton of money, don't they?

- A

 

[Stig Nygaard]

Oh man. Crossing my fingers for an "R7".
I hope for something in the 20-25megapixels range. I don't care much about video, but a 6K optimized 25megapixels camera would probably be good for marketing
Tried the 90D with the 32megapixels and didn't like the results. Found the high iso photos of 90D difficult to get satisfying result with (even when downscaled to 7DII equialent 20mp).
But please please please. I hope for at least something, even if 90D's sensor

 

[Bert63]

but birders/wildlifers lose their mirrors.

I mostly lost my mirror with the EOS-R, and will almost certainly retire it when my R5 gets here.

 

[Bert63]

45mp+ would be a a lot sweeter...

R5 enters the chat....

 

[Bert63]

Might As well put my kidney on the market now. I only need one anyway

I can vouch for this.

Transplanted in 2010 - have three but only one works.

 

[yeahright]

The blue part above is the slippery slope. If R7 is a mirrorless 7D3 and that is all they offer with R mount + APS-C, they can (as others have said here) get away with just 2-3 crop RF lenses -- an ultrawide zoom a la EF-M 11-22, standard zoom a la EF-M 15-45 or 18-55, etc.

But they minute they cross over into the bigger / wider use-case / more varied userbases of general crop shooters (even at the 90D price point), there will be pressure to offer a proper line of crop-only RF glass -- they'll want small telephoto zooms, 60mm 1:1 macro, pancakes, etc. That's tantamount to double/triple dipping on EF-S and EF-M, and I think Canon would only go there if they intended to get rid of EF-S altogether. They will certainly eventually get to that point, but it may not be that soon. Crop SLRs still make Canon a ton of money, don't they?

- A

For offering cheap "RF-S" lenses they always have the option of simply using existing formulas for EF-S and EF-M but fit the lenses with an RF mount. That should keep development costs quite low.

 

[Boblblawslawblg]

If they don’t add that flagship M series camera and do this new high end crop sensor as an R-Mount they mind as well end the M series. M6ii is a great little guy, but if that’s were we cap out I’d be a little upset.
Not all of us have the money for R series camera lenses.
I swear every time I choose a technology they end up scrapping it right after the investment.

 

[jolyonralph]

There's no need for a new mount, but an RF to M adapter would be cool.
Is there any reason that a RF lens couldn't work on an M body if there was an appropriate adapter?

Not possible, both because of the flange distance and the different protocols for RF and M lenses.

Theoretically possible to build something where the whole mount assembly can be replaced with either an RF or M version, but I'd be concerned what tolerances would be needed to make it work (perhaps not so much if the sensor has IBIS) and how it would be strong enough to support the lens weight and the weather sealing.

 

[Stig Nygaard]

and please also put gps in it ;-)

 

[davidhfe]

I don't see how Canon can replace all those Rebels they sell at Costco without RF-S bodies. I suppose they could greatly expand the M line, but that doesn't offer much of an upgrade path to RF, which seems like it'd be a critical goal. The nice thing here is that RF-S bodies in this case would pair well with the higher res R bodies going forward since they'd actually be able to mount -S lenses, unlike with EF-S

 

[Bert63]

But, it would be epic to offer say a 200-600 zoom in a lightweight RF/APS-C size with L-quality build, and say f~8 largest aperture. I’m not sure if the market for such a lens is large enough for the investment, but imagine.

They just passed the perfect opportunity to do this if they were going to but they gave us the 100-500L instead.

 

[Bert63]

but birders/wildlifers lose their mirrors

On second thought - some would say we already have so to speak.

 

[Quarkcharmed]

Smaller than what? Smaller than the R6?

Should be smaller, otherwise it won't fit into the R6...

 

[Ozarker]

Personally, I think this will be an RF mount camera. Since it will be “high end” there will be no need or demand for cheap RF-s lenses. This is for the birders. I assume they will use their EF super-tele lenses and future RF super-tele lenses.

 

[Bert63]

Wouldn't bet on it. We've generally got lots of big expensive "legacy mount" lenses that we want to keep using. My 500mm f/4 Mk II didn't stop working when the RF mount came out...

Exactly this - not to mention the large majority of people who want to use the new long RF lenses won't get far past wanting - those damn things are expensive now and will be even more expensive when they tack RF on the front.

I, for one, am waiting on samples of the 100-500L and the new 1.4X to see what's what.

 

[scyrene]

28MP would be in line with the R5's sensor.

No, the difference is the crop factor squared. So a 45MP FF sensor like the R5's gives a ~17.6MP APS-C equivalent. The 7D2's pixel density is about the same as the 50MP 5DR/s.

 

[Bert63]

If this ends up being an RF-mount R7, I'll be pre-ordering it the minute it goes up. Exactly what I was looking for in a second body to go with the R5.

If I keep upgrading, my 'second body' collection is going to make my wife beat me to death with a monopod out of my 'collection' of those...

I had Rebel XT and bought a 40D. The Rebel XT became my second body.

Then along comes the 7D2. The 40D becomes my second body.

Then along comes the 5D4. The 7D2 becomes the second body but doesn't get used much because OMG the 5D4 and FF OMGWTFBBQ.

The along comes the EOS-R. 5D4 says 'oh hell no' and the tussle ensues. The battle for primary body continues to this day.

Now R5 is on its way and the EOS-R and 5D4 are staring at each other and foot tapping..

 

[Red Dog]

Time for a high end mirrorless sports camera to equate with 1dx mkiii. Drop the video nonsense - never use it and have no need for it. If I want something to burst into flames I'll use a match and some firelighters like everyone else.