Canon Reportedly Field Testing a 46MP DSLR, Possibly the 3D
The frenzy of Photokina 2012 is coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean crazy camera rumors are going anywhere. A big one currently floating around is that Canon is working on a DSLR with a massive number of megapixels. Northlight Images writes that we may see a preview of the camera at PhotoPlus 2012 in New York, which starts October 24.
We’re told to expect to see a ‘preview’ of a ‘high MP EOS DSLR’ at the upcoming PhotoPlus show in New York (Oct 24-27). Although the current official line is that 20ish MP is a ‘sweet spot’ for DSLRs, D800 specs, price and performance is considered ‘worrying’ in some market areas.
Nikon’s D800 has a highly-acclaimed 36.3MP sensor. Here are the specs that Canon will reportedly respond with: 46.1 megapixels, 5fps continuous shooting, 16-bit RAW images, and an ISO range of 100 to 12800.
I’m told it’s possible we’ll see an “in development” announcement sometime in 2012 for a large megapixel DSLR from Canon. I have heard both 39mp and 46mp prototype(s) are out in the field.
One of the names being thrown around for this new camera is the “Canon EOS 3D”. While it would certainly fit in with the naming conventions of the company’s other high-end DSLRs, the fact that “3D” usually means “3-dimensional” would make things confusing for consumers. They’d probably expect to see a camera with two lenses and sensors:
There was also a random “4D” spotting recently. There’s a video on the Amazon product page for the Canon 6D that seems to show a “Canon 4D” mention in an iOS EOS Remote app (19-second mark). It could just be some random mockup that doesn’t mean anything, but the fact that this was an official Canon video has the photo world buzzing.
It’s highly unlikely that the sighting shows anything more than a random placeholder text that some designer chose to use. After all, Japanese camera companies don’t think very highly of the number 4.
Image credit: Mockup photograph by TogTech
