Canon 5DS and 5DS R are Canon’s most exciting cameras in years

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Canon has just unveiled a pair of new DSLRs – and we reckon they’re the most exciting cameras the company has launched in years.

The Canon EOS 5DS and 5DS R each offer 50.6MP full-frame sensors – the largest sensors in terms of both resolution and physical size you’ll find on any DSLR camera on the market. The idea is to deliver the sharpest, most accurate photographs.

The Japanese photography giant has been trailing behind its rivals for the past few years, at least when it comes to sensor size. While Nikon’s D810 and Sony’s mirrorless A7R both have 36MP full-frame sensors, Canon’s previous highest-resolving camera was the 23MP 5D MK III.

Although number of megapixels isn’t the big deal it once was – any camera that’s into double figures will be enough for most casual shooters – many serious landscape and fashion photographers will appreciate the extra detail that can be served up by a high-res sensor.

Two of a kind

The two cameras are almost identical, but the 5DS R model comes without a low-pass filter – something that should allow it to deliver even more detail (at the expense of an increased chance of moiré when photographing repeating patterns).

Each has 61-point autofocus;150,000-pixel metering for more accurate exposure; up to 5fps continuous shooting; an ISO range of 100-6400 (expandable to 50-12800); and the ability to shoot in various cropped modes (because you’re not going to need all those 50.6MP all the time).

The Canon 5DS and 5DS R will be available from June 2015, priced at £3000 and £3200 respectively. Alongside them, the company unveiled a new weatherproof EF 11-24mm f/4L wide-angle zoom lens, which should particularly suit landscape and architectural photography. It’ll be available from March, priced at £2800.

The two new full framers are far from the only new snappers announced by Canon today: they also unveiled the entry level EOS 750D and 760D and the mirrorless M3.

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Tech journalism's answer to The Littlest Hobo, I've written for a host of titles and lived in three different countries in my 15 years-plus as a freelancer. But I've always come back home to Stuff eventually, where I specialise in writing about cameras, streaming services and being tragically addicted to Destiny.