Camera review
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Big numbers Naturally, the sensor is the headline-grabbing statistic, with the 50.6-megapixel full-frame sensor somehow ludicrouslymaking the Nikon D810’s 36.3-megapixel offering seem inadequate. You don’t really appreciate just how big the resulting files are until you see the pixel dimensions: 8688x5792. We’re going to need a bigger hard drive. By comparison, files out of my 5D Mark II, which I’ve comfortably enlarged to A2, measure 5616 pixels on the LONG side. Mockingly, the EOS 5DS also offers 1.3x and 1.6x cropped options, which produce 30.5- and 19.6-megapixel files respectively. There’s also a 1:1 ratio option. Hasselblad should probably look away now. As Nikon D810 users will be quick to tell you, however, owning a DSLR with a grand pixel count isn’t always an A0‑sized bed of roses. Such sensors are far less forgiving, in terms of both camera shake and optical quality. It’s fair to say that you need to be confident of your hand-holding ability, even if you’re into the realms of what may be considered safe hand-holding shutter speeds. Buy an EOS 5DS and your tripod may well spend less time rattling around in the boot of the car. Canon engineers were clearly well aware of the perils of creating this megapixel monster and set about countering
camera shake by designing a new mechanism that controls the movement of the reflex mirror. As a result, both cameras feature a new Mirror Vibration Control System that sets out to reduce vibrations caused by internal movements. Cams are used to drive the mirror up and down, reducing the ‘slapping’ effect that other, non-damped mirror mechanisms can suffer from. As luck would have it, a quieter overall shutter sound is a welcome by-product of this engineering feat. Naturally, I have no idea how the camera would perform without this feature installed, but even with it on board, I still found that camera shake was quite easy to induce, although it’s important to point out that I was using a pre-production version. With such large file sizes, not to mention the camera’s ability to shoot at up to five frames-per-second for more than 500 JPEGs, the 5DS needs some serious on-board processing power, which is duly provided in the form of Dual DIGIC 6 processors that chunk through data at a suitably rapid rate. Videographers may feel that with all this processing power Canon could have been a little more lavish with video functionality, but any talk of 4K was quickly dismissed by the Canon hierarchy, who went on to explain that the 5DS is all about the still image.
Getting creative When it comes to capturing still images, the EOS 5DS bristles with features. The autofocusing systemoffers a very healthy 61 points, 41 of which are cross-type, while moving subjects can be tracked both in terms of colours and faces using Intelligent Tracking and Recognition AF, or iTR to its friends down the pub. Likewise, accurate exposures are highly likely with the 150k pixel RGB+IR metering sensor that also incorporates Flicker Detection to optimise the exposure under artificial lighting. While all of this technology is, without doubt, fiendishly clever, the latter is worthy of special mention. Rubbish old human eyesight can’t pick up variances in artificial lighting, which is constantly changing its level of brightness, albeit by pretty minuscule amounts. The 5DS, however, identifies these variances and takes the picture only when the light source is at its brightest. This all happens in a matter of milliseconds. Alongside the new sensor, there’s also the new Fine Picture Style. This is provided to draw out every last ounce of detail from the sensor and, like other Picture Styles on other EOS cameras, can be fine-tuned to your own preferences. Talking of fine-tuning, alongside the pre-requisite PASM exposure modes, there are also three Custom functions on the exposure mode dial, so you can have favourite settings ready to go. You want more creativity? There are the in-camera Multiple Exposure and HDR modes that appeared on the EOS 7D Mark II, and an integral timer that allows you to create time-lapse movies capturing as many frames as your battery – and your patience – will allow.
Owning aDSLR with a grand pixel count isn’t always an A0-sized bed of roses
THIS PAGE All the images on this page were taken with either the EOS 5DS or 5DS R by Canon Ambassadors. I’m not this good at photography!
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Issue 18 | Photography News
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