Thoughts on rumored 5D Mark IV

Nobody knows anything. And those who do ain't talking.

Generally speaking, Canon has to redo their entire mid-high end product lineup, including the Cinema series. Their current offerings are woefully out of date for both video and stills markets. Camcorder units will be featured at the CES'15 in two weeks, stills/hybrid cam announcements are likely to come at the CP+ in February and the pro video models should be shown at the NAB'15. Features and price points are merely speculations at this time.
 
They could conceivably paste a "5D mk4" badge over cameras with a "1Dx" badge and call it a day. They've shown with the C100.2 that they have no inclination to give 4K recording to just anybody.
 
There are purportedly three major companies working on a high MPX (45-50) sensor camera - Sony, Nikon and Canon. Additionally, Olympus is coming out with a pixel-shifter a la Hasselblad that gets 40 MPX out of a 16 MPX sensor via eight exposures. Hypothetically, with the good enough processor, high MPX offerings can function as a 4K-8K type of units. Whether they will or not is basically a matter of time (i.e., at some point, everything will have 4K, as Panasonic is showing with their $900 compacts).

C100 MK II is more or less an interim solution until the replacements are ready but, as I wrote above, no one knows the exact features and the exact price points of these replacements.
 
Samuel H said:
my experience with rumors: 90% of the time it's just somebody's uninformed wish list
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A "2" level rumor is a "low probability" type, slightly more than a guess anyway.

The real problem with the rumors is the time frame. At some point, they do come true (more or less) in some iteration. High MPX Canon camera has been bandied about for several years now. It was and still is an obvious next step up from 5D and even 1D X. Updated C100/300/500 also obviously have to be brought in to compete against FS-7, Cion and so on. Looking at the manufacturers though, there are no new $5,000-$15,000 cameras out beside the two I have just mentioned. There's nothing from Panasonic, nothing from JVC, nothing from Canon and only a single model from Sony.

Rumors should have that gap filled soon ... and not only because I have just started one.

PS. There's also Black Magic and Red. Black Magic has done well with its entry level cameras in the past. Red has stayed high end. ARRI ... well, they don't play the "affordable" game. The CP+ starts in a few weeks in Japan and one might see a few prosumer/enthusiast 4K models introduced there. Several 4K camcorders were announced at the CES. One has to think that the traditional photo manufacturers like Ricoh/Pentax, Nikon, Fuji and Olympus will have their 4K cameras out soon but there's been very little on that so far.
 
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Well, with the CP+ coming up in two weeks, some news are trickling out.

They're still far from certain, however.
 
Well, from a still shooting perspective there is not much they can improve upon with the 5DMKIII outside of upping the resolution. But I would not be surprised if they did not call it the 5DMKIV as not everybody needs 45MP (myself included). The 5DMKIII is a joy to shoot stills with and any large improvements would turn it into a 1-Series camera. What we really want to better dynamic range but not holding my breath on that one.

As far as video goes, just expect it to be limited in detail and the Canon label will fit just nicely!
 
Bassman2003 said:
... As far as video goes, just expect it to be limited in detail and the Canon label will fit just nicely!
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One would think though that, by mid-year, anything in the $3,500 range will have to have 4K capabilities.

One could naturally be wrong and Canon will really separate its photo and cinema lines.
 
If - and I mean IF - Sony and Canon are indeed cooperating on the sensor technology, then this could mean that 5D IV's performance will be crippled in some way in order not to compete with Sony's own products. In case of 5D IV, this actually suits Canon as well. A high end 50 MPX camera with only 1080p video res (though, they can up the bitrate on it, as Olympus has done with EM5 II) will still sell tons to the photographers while keeping Canon's Cinema line in the higher price bracket. Once again, this works in Canon's favor, as they should be able to tweak the 1D C 18 MPX sensor and/or its readout/ frame rate, etc. - and get a 5K image out of it for its C300 and C500 replacements, thus establishing some technological superiority over 4K (8.8 MPX sensors) products in the $10,000-$15,000 range.

Plus, they get to keep "Canon color", placate their lens owners, etc.

My pondering off the rumors circulating around the web.
 
Logic would dictate that Canon would want to get their video quality up to a point that a $3K+ cam would at least compete with a $1,700 GH4, but Canon doesn't play the logic game. Put DPAF and a flip screen with IQ that competes with the GH4 but with Canon's color pallet on the 5DIV, and I think they would clean up. We'll see DPAF, but I doubt we'll ever see a flip screen on the 5D series camera, and I almost feel certain IQ will remain sub par video wise. I'm sure it will be a fine stills cam, but this still photographer still won't buy it unless it's also up to par in the video arena as well.
 
The funny thing on using a ~ 50 MPX sensor for video is that it would make for a pretty good 8K but, for that, a camera would need a heck of a processor. It's feasible that, with Sony's and Canon's hand shake agreement, this 8K camera will appear two-three years down the road as a much higher end product.

Of course, if Canon can get a 5K video resolution off their 1D C sensor and package into a C-300 style camera for ~ $10,000, not many shooters will be disappointed.
 
Yup, the first "official" leak is out - 50 MPX, no 4K, no dual pixel auto focus and a pretty low ISO of only 6400. In total, iit looks like Canon is going after the Pentax 645Z market niche rather than any video oriented hybrids. Well, 645Z is an $8,500 camera, so at ~ $3,500, 5D IV will indeed compete there on most specs beside the ISO.

And the cinema line updates should be announced at the NAB'15... one hopes.
 
I honestly gave up caring about Canon's exploits after the 5DMKIII. As Barry put it - they are a copy machine company masquerading as a camera company. The idea of them "cleaning up" in a secondary segment is not their approach. I like their products but have grown to dislike their style - last to the market with the highest price. They are experts at feature trickling. As we move into overkill territory with the megapixels I think brands will matter less and less as every camera will be deemed "good enough".
 
Those 5Ds is definitely not designed to shoot video. Using the 5Ds as an argument against Canon's appreciation for the the videography market misinterprets the 5Ds as a product. It is a specialized camera for the landscape and, possibly, portrait shooter. Pretty much any DSLR would be better at shooting video than the 5Ds. If you want to complain about Canon, there are many better reasons.
 
The only problem for the open market is that the Japanese government doesn't prohibit these "sharing arrangements", which can result in several companies withdrawing from a certain market niche, leaving the customers with far fewer options. Sony's willingness to manufacture these sensors - and I believe they also produce Pentax 645Z's MF sensor as well - for other OEM's and the others willingness to enter into such deals means that, as of now, there are two major photo equipment companies (Nikon and Canon) that are deliberately not entering the $2,500-$5,000 market, essentially leaving Sony as a monopolist in the full frame 4K business.

Of course, at some point, everyone will enter what will by then become a very much commoditized industry. Meanwhile, the markets are divided between these major conglomerates behind the scenes. US anti-trust courts may have a huge problem with these arrangements. The Japanese clearly do not.

PS. Canon Rumors think there will be a 5D MK IV with 4K. We'll see what feature set it will have at what price point.
 
Now I'm ticked. It's probably 8K with rolling shutter. That means they could've done 4K with global shutter and got decent dynamic range. Or 2K and even better. Yeah, I'm talking 1920 x 1080 photosites, like the Blackmagic Pocket, but spread across a full-frame sensor. That's all you need. I don't want more K! I want global shutter, wide dynamic range, high ISO, etc.

People will have their knee-jerk reactions. "But 8 is greater than 2!" It's all about what you measure. My camera has 20µm pixels. What's yours got? 5µm? Oh.

I realize now I've wandered into the wrong room. This is first of all a still camera, and I guess they wouldn't get away with a 2 MP camera. Where's that AF200 thread...
 
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