Canon 5D Mark III leaked photos

[Studio B]

Over on CR there's been a few photos leaked of the Canon 5D Mark III. Since then their server has been in and out.

Here are the photos. You must login to see the photos.

[DaveCurtis]

With owning a 1D3 I will now have to consider whether the 5D3 is good enough.

Hard to get excited though.

[tom b]

5D Mark III/X from CR

Below are the specs for the coming 5D replacement, the full name of the camera is currently unknown:

22mp
61pt AF
100% VF
3.2″ LCD
Dual CF/SD Card Slots
Price: Around $3500 USD
Announcement on March 2, 2012

Sounds like a minor upgrade.

Cheers,

[DaveCurtis]

Yes, not much in the way of a resolution increase. However you would expect to see a large improvement in AF.

[MrSmith]

be interesting to see how many mpixels it has? i know a few people who are going to ditch their 5dII's for a d800 if it's only 22mpixel (these are advertising photographers who already own a 39+mpixel back) i guess professionals who desire a 100meg tiff are in the minority and i have no idea how the amateur market will see the camera?
 if you are posting lurid HDR sunsets on flickr you don't even need 21mp, i guess if you have a kit list with 'L' lenses in red at the bottom of your forum posts a 5DIII is a good thing 

[DeeJay]

This 5D will be make or break for Canon. The pressure is certainly on for them and their day of supremacy is probably over. That Nikon 800/e is really going to put a massive dent in Canon but I'm really sure they've been sitting on their cards for years. I bet they are going to unleash something to match or better. The Nikon has come as a surprise to everyone and seemingly a surprise to Canon also. I'm not making any guess of spec until it's official and OUT.

The 41MP phone from Nokia goes to show that there is a little more to pixels than has been bandied about for a couple years now and I can see why people will drop Canon for the Nikon. Even if they probably will never need that much resolution.

[PierreVandevenne]

Depends on how the sensor behaves. But yes, those dry specs aren't that tempting. Unless there's a marked improvement in the sensor dynamic range, that will be a "pass" for me as I can live with the so-so autofocus of the current 5DMKII

[Michael West]

according to the specs on one Chinese web site the 5DMK X has substantially more resolution that the rumored MKIII. in fact more than twice the resolution.

Release date: February 2012
Body features: full-frame digital SLR
Mode of operation: full manual
Effective pixels : 45 million
Imaging Processor: DIGIC 5 + DIGIC 4

that should surprise the folks at Nikon if it pans out as advertised here.
Rumors abound

[Ellis Vener]

If you really think any of the stuff that company A is doing will really surprise company B and vice-versa  when it is announced I have a bridge in New York City to sell you.

[DaveCurtis]

As a Canon shooter, what disapoints me most is their current lack of innovation compared to what we have seen coming out of other companys.

Who knows maybe they will suprise us.

[stevesanacore]

I sense a landslide of shooters going back to Nikon if Canon doesn't release a 36mp or more camera body. It's amazing that after years of being years ahead of Nikon - they let this happen. Maybe it's not what they want to do, if so, fine - back to Nikon we go, with autofocus that works and sharp WA lenses. I would just rather stick with Canon, so my fingers are crossed.

[BernardLanguillier]

It would really love the rumored 5DX to be 45 high quality mega pixels.

For me, as a stitcher, I only need the Canon version of the Zeiss 50mm f2.0 so the investment would be minimal.

Cheers,
Bernard

[Michael West]

The "5D X" is still posted on the Chinese website and Im betting it's the real deal. I cant see what they'd possibly have to gain by posting fallacious data .

[BernardLanguillier]

The "5D X" is still posted on the Chinese website and Im betting it's the real deal. I cant see what they'd possibly have to gain by posting fallacious data .

Yep... false rumors... that would be unheard of. 

But I agree with you, I am sure there is a 5DIII/5DX to be announced soon... the question is more how many months will ellapse between announcement and actual availability.

This may be what the X is about. 
1DX -> X=7 month gap between annoucement and planned availability
5DX ->

Cheers,
Bernard

[DaveCurtis]

Yep... false rumors... that would be unheard of. 

But I agree with you, I am sure there is a 5DIII/5DX to be announced soon... the question is more how many months will ellapse between announcement and actual availability.

This may be what the X is about. 
1DX -> X=7 month gap between annoucement and planned availability
5DX ->

Cheers,
Bernard

Now now Bernard, it's bad enough us canonites probably having to put up with 22MP without you rubbing it in   

[Wayne Fox]

But I agree with you, I am sure there is a 5DIII/5DX to be announced soon... the question is more how many months will ellapse between announcement and actual availability.

Some interesting stuff.  Interesting how Nikon's info was common knowledge and the rumor sites pretty well had it nailed for a while, yet with Canon no one has a real clue.  I talked to a  good friend who is in Canon USA management (different product line) and he certainly knew something but of course wouldn't say ... all he said was everyone was going to be "really" surprised.  Of course, by that he might mean we'll all be really surprised because they'll announce some totally unrelated thing and not touch the 5D

Personally I've heard strong rumors they are going to announce 2 versions of the 5D, both the 5D Mark 3 and the 5Dx, with the 5D mark 3 priced to move down into the 60d price range, slightly improved autofocus, similar resolution but much better noise, and a 40+mp model, better focus and body design. 

Fun to speculate .. guess we'll see on Friday!

[BJL]

... all he said was everyone was going to be "really" surprised.  Of course, by that he might mean we'll all be really surprised because they'll announce some totally unrelated thing and not touch the 5D

Fun to speculate .. guess we'll see on Friday!

Really surprised? How about a tablet, with a killer camera module.

And I would be really surprised if none of the announced cameras goes significantly beyond 24MP ... so is that what he is hinting at?

[fike]

Megapixels alone won't drive me to a camera like the 5DMKIII.  Enhanced ISO performance would be great (of course additional MP  might improve ISO with downsampling).  What I think Canon needs to do is spend a bit more time on the user interface by adding enhanced software capabilities.  There is no reason a camera of this shouldn't have built-in intervalometer, HDR, focus bracketing, configurable auto ISO, etc....

We are getting towards the point where the sensor pitch makes us diffraction limited. I know my crop sensor gets there in the mid f-stops...what is it for a 7d, about f/8 or f/11, I think? I haven't been following this topic for full frame sensors. What is the diffraction limit on a full frame sensor with 22MP, 35MP, 45MP? 

However it is done, better low-light image quality is probably my highest priority. This would do the most to improve my work.

[BJL]

I agree that there are lots of other places that efforts to improve could go.

What is the diffraction limit on a full frame sensor with 22MP, 35MP, 45MP?  

And I have some rough numbers on diffract below. But first, my usual rant:

Diffraction limitation is absolutely nothing to worry about! In fact it is my dream than my sensors and lenses will someday resolve well enough that my image resolution is limited only by the unavoidable physical limits of light itself (oh, and by my technique). All it means is that at some high enough f-stops, the resolution is not as much better than with a lower resolution sensor as you might hope based on pixel size alone; never is the resolution worse at equal f-stop with more pixels? To put it another way, the only alternative to resolution being limited by diffraction is the resolution instead being limited by the inadequacies of the sensor or of the lens (aberrations) or other factors; how can that possibly be better than being limited only by the basic physics of light?

Translate "diffraction limited" as "resolution not limited by either lens aberrations or the sensor", and be happy. (Except that actually there is an overlap region, where both diffraction and other factors like sensor resolution significantly limit the overall resolution.)

P. S. And when a sensor resolution increase at a given f-stop does produce significant diffraction, it should also significantly reduce moiré problems.


Anyway, to try to answer your question for the case of 45MP: on 36x24mm that is about 8200x5500 and a pixel pitch of about 4.4 microns, about the same as in an 18MP Canon EF-S body [like your 7D] or 11MP in 4/3". So "been there, done that".  This means that somewhere around twice the pixel spacing, f/8 to f/11 [just as you say for your 7D] resolution is somewhat noticeably less than at larger apertures, and by f/16 it is quite noticeably less ... but to repeat, still as good as or better than at the same aperture with a lower resolution sensor.

[BernardLanguillier]

what is it for a 7d, about f/8 or f/11, I think?

More like f5.6 or f6.3.

Cheers,
Bernard