Canon EOS R5 to have a 26.2-megapixel sensor? That can’t be right, can it?

Well, this is interesting, although it’s probably a typo. Canon Watch has received an image that appears to be a page from a legitimate product brochure printed in German. This isn’t unexpected, with an announcement expected so soon, but it claims that the EOS R5 has a 26.2-megapixel sensor. The maths just doesn’t add up.

Although Canon hasn’t specified the stills resolution of the upcoming EOS R5 mirrorless camera, there’s just no way that it could be this low. So, where has this 26.2-megapixels come from? Have they accidentally leaked the resolution for the upcoming EOS R6 instead, ruling out the previous 20-megapixel rumours?

The text in the publication reads (Google translated)…

A new asset in image quality

New standards in high-resolution photography and a phenomenal 8K video quality that is second to none. With its electronic shutter at 20 frames per second – or mechanically at 12 frames per second – the EOS R5 raises the image quality to a whole new level. The EOS R5 is perfect down to the last detail and convinces with finesse. With an 8K full-frame sensor and internal filming at up to 30p and dual pixel AF in all 8K modes.

But the specs listed to the side clearly show a 26.2-megapixel CMOS full-frame sensor. As Canon Watch points out, it doesn’t appear to be fake. But there’s no way a sensor could be this low resolution and still legitimately claim to be able to shoot 8K video.

8K UHD video at 16:9 is 7680 x 4320 resolution. This means that even if it’s a 16:9 sensor, it would require a minimum of 33.2-megapixels to shoot 8K video. But it’s not, it’s a full-frame sensor, with a 3:2 aspect ratio. So if it’s 7680 pixels wide, that means 5120 pixels tall, for a minimum of 39.4-megapixels.

So, where could this 26.2-megapixels have come from? Could this actually be the sensor for the EOS R6, also expected to be announced next month? Or this this for another camera Canon will announce that nobody officially knows about yet? Or, is it none of those and it was just a typo?

Time will tell, I suppose, but I think we can be reasonably confident that this isn’t the sensor that’s going inside the EOS R5, given the big deal Canon has made about 8K raw video.

[via Canon Watch]