Canon EIS60: 22mp micro 4/3 HD DSLR

LuckyStudio 13

LuckyStudio 13

The Tapeless One
http://blog.planet5d.com/j0d


*Diagram for illustration purposes only*

Big news. Detailed information has just been leaked in Asia regarding Canon's mirrorless camera. EOSHD.com forum member 'RichST' alerting me to it, which right now is posted all over internet forums in Asia.

Due for launch in the second quarter of next year, Canon's mirrorless is branded EIS. The first in the series - EIS 60 - is a high end mirrorless camera, not an entry level GF / NEX competitor. It will feature a 22 megapixel sensor. This is a brand new back illuminated design, 18mm x 12mm in size (approximately Micro 4/3rds sized*).

EIS stands for Electronic Image System, as opposed to the famous Canon EOS moniker which is Electronic Optical System.

Canon are developing new EIS lenses, at least two of which will be available at launch - these are the 12-75mm F2.8-4 IS Macro and 70-300mm F3.5-5.6 IS, which retract into a much smaller barrel than EOS lenses.

The camera also has a digital crop feature, which windows the centre part of the sensor. This will be great for c-mounts. In this sensor windowing mode, the camera's continuous shooting rate increases to a whopping 20fps and resolution drops to 5.5 megapixel.

In addition to sensor windowing, the EIS 60 has a new Canon technology we've not seen before. I am dubbing it Pixel Fusion for now since the leaked information doesn't assign a name to it.

Video is sampled using '9 pixel fusion' according to our source. Instead of scaling the image by binning pixels, 9 pixels are merged together to form just 1.

Visualise this as multiple square matrixes of 3x3 pixels on the full 22MP sensor, merge each block together to form 1 and you have a 1920x1080 frame but using all the data on the sensor. This is an absolutely mega idea, because it means that each pixel in video mode is effectively produced from 9. That will increase dynamic range and reduce noise. What a great way to scale the 22MP sensor.

The pixel merging technology is hardware supported on the sensor and new DIGIC according to the source, and is also used to produce higher ISOs in stills mode. The EIS 60 has ISO 100-6400 with an extended range of to 12800, 25600 in 5.5 megapixel pixel fusion mode.

Canon have further lenses in development, not all will be available at lunch. However it pleases me immensely to see all those fast primes - something Panasonic just did not deliver on with the Micro 4/3rds line-up. Starting from wide-angle to telephoto, here is the list from our source.
5mm F4 Fisheye
8-25mm F4 wide-angle zoom
14mm F2 pancake - which our translation of the source's dialect hilariously termed 'biscuit head!!'
25mm F1.2 pancake
45mm F1.5 standard biscuit head
65mm F2.0 Macro (1:1, 2:1 is equivalent to full-size)

Canon will of course launch an EF - EIS adapter. EF lenses will auto-focus on the mirrorless body and aperture can be selected (which is electronic on EF and EFS lenses). This is not something you can do on other systems right now - of course Canon have built the electronic contacts into the ring, as only they can. The lens communication protocols are their IP and the only other company to license them so far have been RED. The camera will be compatible with most EF lenses out of the box. The source does not mention whether OIS will function on EF lenses - I expect it will be powered and operational just fine.

The EIS 60 has dual SDXC memory card slots and can capture stills whilst recording video via the main shutter button. It has a dedicated video record button alongside it.

If this leak is genuine, it sounds like the be all and end all of mirrorless cameras in 2011.

It is great to see this 'future' form of DSLR breaking out of the rut it has found itself in during 2010 with the glut of lower end step ups from compacts, like the GF and NEX series all pandering to the lower end of the market.

Mirrorless cameras have to continue to push the concept of what an interchangeable lens camera is forward into the all-digital future, unlike the lower end models we've seen. The GF1 and NEX 5 only place an emphasis on size and ease of use relative to DSLRS.

It is clear that Canon are not following suit and will make a highly advanced mirrorless system with a fantastic video mode.

* Standard Micro 4/3rds is 17.3 mm × 13.0 mm. Canon's is 18mm x 12mm because it is in 3:2 aspect ratio not 4:3. The GH1's non-standard M4/3rds sensor is multi-aspect, supporting 16:9 and is slightly larger than both.
 
If the rumor is true and they are paying that much attention to scaling / pixel fusion
then it stands to reason that they would implement a codec to match. Interesting times.

edit:
thanks for the heads up
 
Ill eat my hat if he is right about the GH2 having a "global shutter" (i.e. take what rumors you read on that site with a very small grain of salt)

Shame because there are some decent bits of info on there.

Is canon working on an "evil" camera? You bet! Just dont take every rumored spec to heart.
 
I'm not sure if I believe this. I'm a Canon still photographer (but also involved in video) so I've followed the Canon/Nikon rumors for years. In my experience, the rumors/leaks that are true only appear a few weeks or a month ahead of an announcement. For example, the detailed PDF of the original 5D, the top panel photo leaks of the 7D and the body photos of the 60D. Occasionally a rumor site will get some specs right a few months ahead, but usually only some of the specs are right.

What tips me off on this rumor that is might be fake is that it pretends to know so much detailed info although the product is not set to launch until Q2 of next year. In product development, that's an eternity!

Below is the only verifiable info we have on a Canon smaller-than SLR camera:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE66J04U20100720

Maeda also said the company was working on a smaller version of its upmarket single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras in a bid to compete with the new breed of mid-range so-called "mirrorless" cameras launched by Sony Corp (6758.T), Olympus Corp (7733.T), and Panasonic Corp (6752.T).

Nikon (7731.T) also has a new camera in the works, though it has yet to reveal details.

Maeda did not give further details of the new camera, including whether the internal structure would include a mirror.

Competitors have made high-quality cameras more compact by removing the mirror that enables the user to look at the actual scene through a viewfinder, creating a new market segment that is popular in Japan and which analysts say may grow rapidly.

"It's not a question of whether or not you have a mirror. There is a consumer need for good-quality cameras to be made smaller," Maeda said. "We will meet this need."

He denied this would be difficult without removing the internal mirror, adding that Canon had produced very small SLR cameras in the past.
Click to expand...
 
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I agree with Tim, and like him I´m a still/video professional and have followed leak sites for years and this seems just too much information to possibly come out of a new source. Canonrumors gave it a CR ONE rating also. This has to be the fastest growing cr1 rumor in canonrumor history !

Now that said, it is the eve before xmas so to speak. Photokina comes every two years and this is a biggie year in more ways than one, not to mention the competition Canon is facing from m4/3 and Sony Nex. It´s not a question of IF , it´s a question of when and how, and this rumor is just containing too much information to possibly be a leak. A controlled leak then ? Possibly . If it´s true we´ll know in a week for sure because Canon, if it has this camera ready with these specs out, will surely show the prototype at Photokina.

....and I just read at 1001noisycameras that in the forum that is the source of the leak, they are pointing out the source is not to be trusted . So add that to your Monday Morning daydreams !
 
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I wouldn't be surprised if canon bows with something like the nx10 in a high end consumer camcorder package. We all know that canon pro video is way behind the curve and sticks pretty much to the event video market, see the mx series. But they were revolutionary with the HV series with 24p in consumer products and can see them stepping up their game with larger sensors. There is a market for stills form factor as well as video. The Video style can be optimized for video with megapixels simply a marketing number. Look at the hf camcorders with 8+ megapixel, they do not suffer the problems that slr's have with video.
 
Can't see it happening, but if it did it'd be cool.

That being said, I look at the Leica M9 and think - why can't the Canon/Nikon's of this world put a full frame sensor in a rangefinder sized body with full auto focus etc? Kinda like the amazing Contax G2 updated for 2010.

That'd be the ultimate stills and video camera.
 
the main reason it´s so difficult is the steep angle that the light strikes the sensor requiring offset microlenses
 
if this was true , even if this was there "aim" , i believe canon would release some info , to block some af-100 sales ...
 
Reading the Canonrumers piece, he thought he was being generous in giving it even CR1 status, and was only doing so out of self-defense.

Also 22 Mp on such a small sensor is pushing it a bit. 10 Mp for a 2x2 fusion would be more like it (I know. . .I'm rounding the numbers)
Dave
 
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This is awesome! I'd totally want this! I bike to and fro university everyday, and would love to carry a portable professional camera with me everywhere more easily. Biking with a 70-200mm 2.8, 7D, and tripod is not recommended, especially during rush hour in atlanta. But with this camera I could carry it with a pancake and a mini tripod and probably only put on a couple pounds of cargo. Can't wait for more info, I really like the sensor technology side of it to. Hope it's real!
 
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