A bit over a year ago I published an article about the announcement of the Canon 5DS entitled The New 50MP Canon 5DS DSLR: What It Is And What It Isn’t. And at the end of the article I had said the following:
If you are like me though, and are simply looking forward to being able to upgrade from a 5D Mark II or 5D Mark III to something similar, but with slightly more pixels, a better auto-focus system, and possibly built-in Wi-Fi, there is still hope yet. There is talk going around the rumor mill of a 5D Mark IV still to be released around August of this year that offers roughly a 24MP sensor, faster frame rates than the 5DS, higher ISO functionality, 4K video capability, a new, more advanced auto-focus system, and perhaps all at a price handle under US$3,000. Stay tuned…
So what is the point of mentioning these old details again? Well, although Canon never announced an update to the 5D Mark III in August of 2015 as I had suggested, it seems like the long awaited release of a new Canon 5D body is more eminent this year. It could happen a few months from now in August, which is a month prior to the upcoming Photokina camera show in September in Cologne Germany, or it could be announced at the Photokina fair itself. In addition, I just saw a rumored specification list for the 5D Mark IV, which suggests the following and very much resembles what I had been talking about last year:
• 24.2MP Sensor
• 61 AF Points (41 crosstype)
• DIGIC 7+ (Single)
• 7fps
• ISO 100-51,200 (expandable options)
• 3.2″ touchscreen LCD
• CFast/SD card slots
• Wi-Fi built-in
• GPS built-in
• BG-E20 battery grip
• LP-E20 battery
• Slight weight reduction
If the above list is correct, this means we may finally get all those things I had been hoping for including Wi-Fi. It also sounds like it could at least get a 24MP sensor. It definitely will have an improved auto-focus system over the existing 5D Mark III since it will no doubt be utilizing Canon’s newest dual pixel autofocus sensor design which was included on the 3 most recent bodies released from Canon, the 70D, 80D, and the 1D X Mark II. Sadly the 5DS did not/does not contain a dual pixel autofocus sensor though.
Apparently the 5D4 could also get a newer generation DIGIC 7 processor, which makes sense because the new DIGIC 7 chip was already released and introduced in Canon’s latest PowerShot G7 compact camera announced in February. The 5DS is running 2 of the DIGIC 6 processors, which are now already a generation older. The newly released 1D X Mark II is also running 2 of the older DIGIC 6 chips.
Historically, newer processors normally mean less noise at high ISO settings. The current 5D Mark III is running a DIGIC 5, which is already 2 generations old now. Also, the 5DS only goes up to ISO 6400 and the 5D Mark III stops at ISO 25,600. So if the 5D Mark IV offers ISO of 51,200, while running a much newer DIGIC 7, then that will be a huge jump up in high ISO capability and perhaps with lower high ISO noise as well.
The mention of a possible 7 frames per second in burst on the 5D Mark IV would only be a slight improvement over the current 5 frames per second of the 5DS. It isn’t huge, but still a bit higher than the burst rate on the existing 5D Mark III as well, which is at 6FPS. All in all, it sounds like they will be fulfilling everything on my 5D wish list in some form or another.
As for 4K video, some of the rumors I saw in the past said yes, it will have it. At this point it is a complete unknown though, but I do think it is quite likely it will get 4K as well. I am quite happy though shooting all my 4K video now with a little Sony a6300 and don’t think I would want to shoot video again with a bigger, heavier Canon body again anyway. But for some photographers, 4K on a 5D camera will be a welcome addition.
The only thing that isn’t so welcome is the possible change from a CF card slot to a CFast card slot. This means having to buy all new memory cards again, and the CFast cards are quite pricey when compared to standard CF and SD cards these days. But the main reason to put a CFast card slot into a camera in my opinion would only be to support the fast memory recording needs of 4K video. So that would perhaps confirm that 4K is quite possibly on the table too.
It also could get a new, lighter weight battery design and battery grip type. And if it does then this means, if you are upgrading from a 5D Mark III and/or a 5DS, none of your existing batteries or your battery grip will be interchangeable with the new Canon 5D Mark IV.
So there you have it. Would the above spec list satisfy your needs? Is there something else you would wish for the new 5D Mark IV to have? Please share your thoughts below.