Canon 5DS Leaked Specs Reveal A High Megapixel DSLR Geared For Color Accuracy

Canon’s announcing a new pro-level DSLR camera next week, according to CanonRumors, and now specs have leaked that reveal what we can expect. The 5DS (and 5DS R, a variant with the low pass filter removed, which should provide greater detail for landscape photographers at the expense of higher moiré) should offer a generous 50.6MP full frame sensor, dual DIGIC6 processors and an ISO range of 100-6400. That range sounds very limited at the top end, but this camera is made special for photographers looking for color accuracy rather than low-light capabilities.

The Canon 5DS will also reportedly have a 61-point AF system, which is likely similar to or the same as the one currently available on the 5D Mark III and the 1D X. It’ll offer 5FPS continuous shooting, a special “fine detail” picture style mode, 1.3x and 1.6x crop shooting modes, time-lapse movie capture, anti-flicker, and interval timer and a bulb timer. It’ll also have a magnesium alloy body designed to be sealed against both dust and rain.

As mentioned, an “R” variant will do away with the low pass filter, which is also called an anti-aliasing filter and which is used in digital cameras to prevent moiré, which is the appearance of weird patterns on materials that contain repeated details, like tweed or gingham clothing, for instance. That’s going to be much better for photographers who do wide landscape shots, however, since low pass filters work by blurring fine details before they reach the image sensor in order to prevent that moiré effect from appearing.

Canon is also putting a very strong color filter array on these cameras, which limits noise-free low-light shooting, but which also should produce much more accurate color capture vs. Canon’s existing camera offerings. The 5DS (and 5DS R) are aimed at a specialist audience, so this makes sense, while a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV will offer even higher sensitivity and better low-light performance, and should arrive some time later this year.