New Canon 5DS and 5DS R Announced (50.6MP!), plus 11-24mm Lens

This has been leaked for over a week but Canon officially announced two new Canon 5D's today (Here's the Adorama announcement also). Landscaper's dream I would say! Both the 5DS and the 5DS R are 50.6MP. The R version has no anti alias filter, just like the Nikon D810 (and D800E before it). The R is what we want for landscapes, big prints here we come! Canon offers a 1.3x and 1.6x option as well, which end up being 30mp and 20mp images. Birders can now have the best of both worlds! Canon finally added USB 3.0 for fast data transfer (they needed to with RAW files that big, lol).

Some other things to note that make no difference to us who shoot landscape but might bother street shooters: 6400 max ISO with an option to double that. Works for me, I have no use for 204,000 ISO, images look like newspaper print, lol. Also, only 5 frames a sec, not great for sports and wildlife shooters, but again, irrelevant for landscapes. For those who care it still only syncs flash at 1/200, not the std 1/250 that sports shooters sync with in arenas. This is definitely a "slow down and shoot like it's medium format" cam.

Anyway, there you have it! One big uproar from the cinema world will be the lack of 4K video, but I think Canon realizes everyone's jumping to mirrorless for 4K because they're even easier to handle, and 4K video is only 3,840 x 2,160, so who on earth needs a 50mp sensor for that?

Oh, Canon is finally rivaling Nikon by releasing a new 11-24mm f/4 lens. $3k. Ouch.

I received a note from B&H this morning. The 5DS will be $3,699, and the 5DS-R will be $3,899. No date for pre-orders, as yet.

C-Net/UK has a more info on the cameras.

Sounds interesting, but we'll see once the pixel peeping begins.

--P

50 mp files will bog down most machines that are more than 2 years old... no? (Obviously some big boy configurations from a few years back will handle it fine).

50mp will also show every flaw in your glass. Soft corners on your old camera will look really soft, etc. Being a large format guy, big files don't bother me though.

$3k for the new 11-24mm is a serious spanking!!

You're right about that (every flaw) and I think Canon knew that which is why they released seemingly redundant lenses such as the new 16-35mm/4, which turns out to be not so redundant. What I mean by that is the new 16-35mm/4 has been redeisgned for pretty amazing sharpness, resolve and BETTER CORNERS. I bought it two months ago and sold my 16-35mm/2.8 and couldn't be happier, the new f4 version blows it away (on a 5D3 anyway). And yet the new f/4 is $500 cheaper and includes IS. Stunning lens for $1,199. What's that all about? My gut is that Canon has had these 50mp monsters in the works for a while and they knew the older 2.8's horrid corners would REALLY not fly now, and they knew that the 11-24mm with a 50mp sensor would be a landscaper's dream so they had to do something about the 16-35mm problem, and they did. What all that gibberish I just wrote means is that they have a base set of lenses that will fare well enough now, because the II version of the 70-200mm/2.8 and the II version of the 24-70mm are hugely better than the originals, and now a great 16-35mm shows up as well as the 100-400mm redesign, so if it was intentional, they have their lens ducks in a row to match this new 50MP body.

Which ultimately means we're having to buy new lenses. But at least Canon has them available, even if we're taking a home equity loan out to get them. $3000 for the 11-24mm? I hope we at least get an iPad in the deal to go with it, lol!

Even though only the specs have been released and nobody has one in hand for review, I am surprised by the overall lack of enthusiasm for the new body on the various forums I have perused. Some people are excited, but a whole lot seem to be yawning and indicating they don't plan to get one. It mostly seems to revolve around the lack of improvement in the dynamic range from the 5DIII?

Interesting.

Harley, I'd guess that it's also true that most of us "serious amateurs" have a hard time seeing value in 50 MP. If you're not likely to be making monster prints, the headaches associated with downloading, processing, and storage dramatically reduces the interest and increases the cost of upgrading. (I have a local photographer friend who has a Nikon D800 and he very quickly quit saving raw files because of the storage, slow download, and processing issues.) Certainly, for me, improved dynamic range in a 20ish MP file would cause much more excitement.

Dynamic range and tonal separation are the biggie for me. When I was searching for a DSLR within my budget, I finally chose the Nikon D-7100--reasonable RAW file size (24.9 MPx), low noise, and excellent DR. It works for me.

Large files don't bother me either, being an LF guy, too. However, I can see where huge files can stress a computer system that's a few years old. Makes me wonder if the computer vendors are in cahoots with the camera makers: "Hey, Canon, build a 50 MPx camera so that we can convince photographers to buy a new computer with six speeds forward, and dual reversing fine tuner!"

--P

Thrown in a backup camera or it's no deal.

There probably WON'T be a big hoopla about this camera, it's definitely geared for us who want huge prints, and probably the fashion industry doing bilboard shoots. It's not for the DSLR video shooters out there, in fact, this model takes away some of the video features that were put in the 5D3. For me, dream come true: huge sensor for huge prints with no anti-alias filter mucking things up. This means, though, I have to pay for the whole thing, can't sell my 5D3 to help pay for it. Ugh. I need the 5D3 for all of my non-nature stuff, mostly weddings and video work, and this finally gets me the backup camera I've been wanting. The reason I need the 5D3 for weddings: If the 5Ds has no anti-alias filter (whichever model that is) which is what I want, it won't be usable for the detail in wedding dresses, especially lace, etc. The moire patterns will be a mess. So, best of both worlds and Ramen Noodles for lunch until 2017.

Niche products for sure. I had to laugh a few weeks back when I grabbed some old photo magazines from the 80's and 90's from a used book store...just to view some of the old photo's and read the trail suggestions etc....inside the Ads reminded me of a lot of the garbage industry feeds us today...always the race to the next big thing. I have owned5 bodies in the last 3 years and over 20 pieces of glass. 1/3rd is top tier new glass the other is 70' - 80's and 90's Minolta stuff...dirt cheap. Lets be honest folks...for the price the old Minolta glass still hangs with some of my new stuff. Is the new 70 - 200 really worth the extra thousands...I own a 70 - 200 sigma 2.8 -3.5....sure its screw drive and slower than ssm....however it is very sharp. And half the weight of the new lenses. For me all my new gear is graded by weight. I have learned a few things in 20 years as a semi pro shooter and design guy. We don't 'NEED' what they're selling....but these big companies can sure make us 'WANT' it.