A Closer Look at the $30,000 Canon Camera That Shoots ISO 4,500,000

Back in July 2015, Canon announced the Canon ME20F-SH, a multi-purpose camera with a $30,000 price tag and a max ISO of 4.5 million. This 11-minute video is a closer look at the camera’s features and abilities.

We’ve already shared some sample footage shot at ISO 4,560,000 with the new camera. Canon has yet another demonstration in the video above.

Canon’s Brent Ramsey starts out by standing in a completely dark studio room that’s lit only by a small tealight candle. At ISO 800 with the camera, the candle is clearly visible but you can’t see much else.

At ISO 4,560,000, we can see Ramsey and all the details of the studio — all with the light being emitted from a single tiny candle.

Here’s how much the ME20F-SH outperforms the $4,499 Canon C100 Mark II cinema camera in the same situation with a lower ISO:

Ramsey goes on to say how the Canon ME20F-SH’s low light capabilities are due to the gigantic pixels on the sensor. Compared to the full frame sensor in the Canon 1D X DSLR, which has 18.1 megapixels, the Canon ME20F-SH only has 2.26 megapixels. However, each of those pixels is 7.5 times larger than the ones in the 1D X, and this allows the ME20F-SH to be much more sensitive in low light.

(via CanonUSA via CanonWatch)