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Canon Rumored to Dominate the Megapixel War Once Again. Nikon and Sony to be left behind?

by 10 Comments

Megapixel_War

Photography newcomers may not be aware, but until 2012 a fierce war took place. A war that lead to the demise of many loved cameras and the birth of many more advanced models – the megapixel war (or the ultrapixel war).

Temporarily put to rest with the release of Nikon’s record-smashing 36MP D800, it seems that the ultrapixel war will soon be making an impressive comeback.

By now we know that Canon, Nikon and Sony are all working on high-megapixel cameras, expected to be released during 2015, but Northlight Images claim Canon is set to take the lead this time around. While Sony is said to be developing a 46MP sensor, which will likely be used by Nikon as well, Canon is rumored to found the “over 50MP DSLR” club.

It is the new design of the 7D Mark II‘s 4.2 micron pixel that will allow the creation of the 52MP full frame sensor. Utilizing the 4.3 micron pixel design, used in Canon’s 18MP cameras, would result in a record-tying 46MP sensor.

Far from the 75MP sensor that has been mentioned in previous rumors, should this new sensor turn out to be real it will undoubtedly add fuel to the Canon-Nikon(-Sony?) debate and make forums moderators work overtime.

Some photographers will be disappointed to see the camera manufacturers invest their time and resources reigniting this war, but I for one am looking forward to seeing how these new sensors will perform.

Prior to the release of the D800, a lot was said about how 36MP is way too much and that it could never yield quality results with such a high megapixel count. However, ever since I picked up one of these cameras my D300s has seen very little light of day. DxOMark also ruled the then-new “monstrous” sensor as the best it has ever tested.

As far as I’m concerned, these new sensors are an exciting upgrade to existing models and I can’t wait for them to be officially announced. But while there is a significant step up from 24MP, or even 36MP, to 46 or 52 megapixels, I can’t help but wonder if the slight difference between 46MP and 52MP will be noticed by anyone other than Canon’s marketing department.

Whatever your views are on this matter, ready yourself – war is coming.

[via Northlight Images via CanonRumors]

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  • I wish we could have a dynamic range war instead. Something that would actually be useful to the majority of us.

  • Steve Duffey

    One thing to consider, can the current lineup of lenses take advantage of all this resolving power of the higher megapixel cameras.

    • Shai Schcolnik

      and what about diffraction limiting the smallest usable aperture? As diffraction isn’t influenced by by lens design it wouldn’t matter if the lens is sharp enough. the D800 reaches it’s diffraction limit at about f8 while the D800e reaches it at about f5.6. So why bother with so many megapixels (on such small sensors) when we can’t stop down our aperture and still get the maximum resolving power?

  • JOhn C

    Noise reduction wars. I know they have made progress in this, but I’d love shooting in a “badly” lit room without a flash, a shallow depth of field and a slow shutter speed.

  • Peter

    Unless ISO sensitivity goes up at least proportionally with the resolution increase, all this is going to be of little use. As resolution increases, you need shorter shutter speeds to counteract camera shake, motion blur caused by subject movement and vibrations from the shutter mechanism. Otherwise it will be impossible to actually make use of the full resolving power in practice.

    Also, many lenses don’t even fully resolve the 36 megapixels of a D810, so new larger lenses will become a necessity. And once they start to do that, they might as well release a low-cost medium format system, similar to what Pentax did.

    • Art Meripol

      If I can get a ‘better’ hi res image and keep all my current glass then I won’t have to buy that expensive medium format body and make the huge investment in glass it would require. Until then, when a job needs it, I’ll just rent the medium format. It’s still about telling a story with the camera rather than about the camera.

  • novainvicta

    The 36MP Sony sensor (also in the Nikon D800) does have two stops more dynamic range than the 22MP sensor found in the Canon 5d MKIII I.e. 14 plays 12. The biggest issue for more MPs is resolving that resolution most of the current crop of lenses will struggle.

    Dynamic range and colorimagery are two areas that equally need improvement with for me DR top of the list not more MPs. The human eye can see 20 stops of dynamic range (with some adjustment with sudden change) so we have a long way to go yet.

  • AnonymousCoward

    Dominate the megapixel wars? The difference between 46 and 52 megapixels is about 6% per linear dimension.

  • sickheadache

    Your Article is False! Canon is using Sony’s 50mp Sensor. Sony produces the only 50mp Sensor.Canon uses Sony’s MP Sensors in these Camears…GX7, the Two new 5D’s and their upcoming new Mirrorless Camera…THE internet is your friend..please learn how to use it..before writing a false story!

  • Alf

    Rather then spending time on trying to push the mpixel war, why dont they rather support their existing cameras with program upgrades to improve their preformance like Fujifilm.

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