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New Picture Style mode Existing Canon users will be familiar with the Picture Style modes, which modify sharpness and colour output according to certain preset or personal preferences. The EOS 5DS offers a new Fine Detail Picture Style, which delivers maximum possible detail from the sensor. Three sharpening parameters can be applied to JPEG files so great results are possible straight out of camera. Low-pass cancellation filter (EOS 5DS R only) Rather than removing a filter altogether from the front of the sensor, the 5DS R offers a low-pass cancellation filter, which cancels the effect. This means moiré and false colours are reduced to ensure the R version delivers the sharpest possible images.
the functions that you want to quickly access. Similarly, you can also customise information in the viewfinder, so you can instantly see the status of selected camera functions while the camera is up to your eye. Something borrowed Both the 61-point autofocusing system and 150,000 pixel RGB+IR metering sensor are taken from existing EOS models. The AF system features 41 cross-type points and uses EOS Intelligent Tracking and Recognition AF (iTR) to follow both faces and colour. The metering system, meanwhile, has built-in flicker detection, which ensures consistent exposures under artificial lighting by recognising the point when the light is at its brightest. Cropped sensor options Most users will want to realise every one of the 5DS’s 50.6 megapixels, but there are also 1.3x and 1.6x cropped shooting modes provided. These deliver 30.5 and 19.6 megapixels respectively. The camera also features dual DIGIC 6 processors to crunch through all the data and deliver a continuous shooting performance of up to five frames-per-second for over 500 JPEG files or 14 Raw files.
EOS 5DS sample images So what does a 50.6-megapixel image look like from the Canon EOS 5DS? In a word, excellent. Sharpness, colour and detail are all mightily impressive from a sensor that can deliver A0 size prints without an obvious drop in quality. We also ran a quick ISO test using the native 100-6400 settings. Again, very impressive. These JPEG images were taken using pre- production samples at the official launch and, as such, should not be taken as being indicative of what the EOS 5DS will ultimately be capable of.
ABOVE While the EOS 5DS may not look much different to the EOS 5D Mark III, the insides are new, and they’re not just about the high megapixel count either.
Interview: MikeOwen, professional imaging communicationsmanager, CanonEurope and DavidNoton, CanonAmbassador
At the launch, we had chance to catch up with Canon’s Mike Owen and Canon Ambassador David Noton. Here’s what they had to say about the camera: Photography News: No 4K, why? Mike Owen: This is a tool that’s designed for stills photographers, it’s not a multipurpose device, it’s designed to do a specific job. When you look at the resolution of the camera and the technology behind it, we wanted to make sure that was its primary focus and we didn’t want to detract from that by adding extra video functions. We wanted photographers to be confident that they had a tool to produce the best possible still images. MO: A vari-angle LCD is a weakness. Durability will drop because of it and knowing how photographers treat the cameras we didn’t want to put a weak spot in – it’s the same with the 1D X, photographers asked the same question then. It’s designed to be a hard-working tool and any form of weakness will be found out by professional photographers, it’s the same reason why it doesn’t have touchscreen controls. PN: What about the other features that people may have expected to see, such as a tilting or vari-angle LCD?
the same body; the buttons are in the same place, the dials work in the same way, it’s the same battery. David Noton : One little thing I’ve noticed is the viewfinder display is 100%, whereas it was 98% in the 5D Mark III. You may think 2% isn’t a very big deal, but when you’re composing shots in such high resolution, you’re looking right to the edges of the frame. Live view is a useful tool for doing that kind of thing, but I really like looking into the eyepiece. I’ve used the EOS 5D Mark III for three years now and you get to a stage where you no longer need to think about functionality because you know the camera so well. That’s true in the field, but it’s true also with what you do with the pictures afterwards in post-production; I know exactly what I can do with the 5D Mark III files. That continuity has continued in the 5DS. I was handed the camera, got on a flight to Cape Town and was out using it the very next day without having to think about the camera controls. There are a few differences, but nothing that causes any problems. PN: When you launched the EOS 7D Mark II you explained that it was partly a result of extensive consultations with customers, does this also apply here? MO: Absolutely. We have a lot of incredible photographers who work with us on a regular basis, which is one of the pillars of our Ambassador programme – we have the ability to talk to photographers about what they want and what they
don’t want in terms of resolution, file sizes, button positioning etc. We bring in the top management from Canon Inc. so they hear directly from photographers, it’s a critical part of our development cycle. In this case, we sat down with the 22-megapixel EOS 5D Mark III and asked professionals where theywanted it tobe. In the endwe decided that 50megapixels offered the best resolution from this sensor, so that’s what we have delivered. Every step of the way, photographers were validating the technology decisions we were making. MO: We spent time looking at how the pixels work. If you take the resolution of this model and compare it to the 7D MkII on an APS-C sensor, the pixel size is roughly the same and the extra DIGIC processing means we get the 5fps. But it’s all about the sensitivity of the pixels. The technology is there to go higher, but the current processing speed and data rate is where we felt the next ‘sweet spot’ was for sensor technology. PN: What are the practical issues of squeezing 50megapixels on to a full-frame sensor?
PN: Is the form factor the same as the EOS 5D Mark III? MO: There are a couple of little tweaks but fundamentally it’s
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Issue 17 | Photography News
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