Canon 5DS and 5DS R Review

Full-format EOS 5DS and 5DS R put the spotlight on the medium format

Rumours about a 50-megapixel full-frame DSLR from Canon have been haunting the Internet for a while and they’re true! With the EOS 5DS and 5DS R (without low-pass filter) Canon puts the “only” 36 megapixel DSLRs from Nikon in the shade and – at least in terms of resolution – opens up to the medium format. Canon is thus setting a new standard in the 35mm sector and it has to be seen whether the lenses can do justice to this.

With the EOS 5DS, Canon wants to appeal above all to professional photographers who need a particularly high image resolution. [Photo: Canon]

The 35mm full-format sensor of the Canon EOS 5DS resolves 50.6 megapixels. This corresponds to the pixel density of a 19.6 megapixel APS-C sensor. [Photo: Canon]

In addition to the viewfinder that covers 100 percent of the image field, the Canon EOS 5DS also offers an 8.2 centimeter screen with a reinforced protective glass surface. [Photo: Canon]

On the top, the Canon EOS 5DS has a status display with rich information. [Photo: Canon]

The Canon EOS 5DS R does without a low pass filter in order to further increase the usable resolution. But this increases the risk of Moiré. [Photo: Canon]

The two models EOS 5DS and EOS 5DS R differ only in the low-pass filter in front of the sensor, which the EOS 5DS R does without. This makes even better use of the high resolution of the sensor, but makes it more susceptible to moiré. So if the following is written about the 5DS, this always applies to the 5DS R as well. Although the resolution of 50.6 megapixels initially sounds like correspondingly small pixels, since it is a full-format sensor, the pixel density corresponds to a 19.6 megapixel APS-C sensor. If you want, you can set the image section to 1.3 or 1.6 times crop, even the viewfinder image, which normally covers 100 percent of the image field, is darkened and shows the corresponding image section. With 1.3x crop, the image resolution is 30.5 megapixels.

To process the large amounts of data, the EOS 5DS has a Dual Digic 6 image processor that can process five images per second at full resolution. Special mechanisms are designed to ensure a smooth mirror stroke and damped release noises, both primarily to prevent vibrations. The mechanism prevents the mirror and shutter from stopping abruptly and gently brakes them, providing the necessary damping.

Just because the EOS 5DS has a very high resolution doesn’t mean you have to do without a powerful autofocus. On the contrary: the high resolution even requires particularly precise focusing. The autofocus module of the DSLR works with 61 measuring points, 41 of which are designed as cross sensors. The EOS iTR (intelligent Tracking and Recognition) technology is designed to provide precise focus tracking even on faces or other moving subjects. The light meter works with 150,000 RGB+IR pixels, and there is even a flicker detection function to ensure constant exposure in changing light conditions. In order to use the 50.6 megapixels directly from the camera without using a raw converter, Canon has developed the new image style “Details”, which is supposed to work out the finest details particularly well. But there are also modes such as multiple exposure, HDR, an integrated timer and a time-lapse recording function on board. On the back, the EOS 5DS has an 8.2 centimetre display with a reinforced protective glass surface. The robust housing is partly made of a magnesium alloy, and seals are designed to enable use in all weathers.

Canon EOS 5DS Datasheet

Canon EOS 5DS R Datasheet