The old development announcement strategy seems to be en vogue these days as the duopolists try to turn their big boats and use FUD* to keep people from jumping ship. Today, we get an announcement about the Canon R5.
Basically, the rumored specs seem to have been right. The upcoming R5 looks to be Canon's serious 5D update in mirrorless clothing:
- Sensor-based IS
- New 8K video capability in newly designed sensor
- 20 fps burst capability with electronic shutter, 12 fps with mechanical
- Dual card slots
Not a lot else was announced about the upcoming camera, though. The photos show an articulating display, a thumb stick next to an AF-On button, the return of the rear vertical dial, and basically a more DSLR-like design/style than the original R. The new sensor has been rumored to be 45mp—which lines up well with the 8K capture—though there's no confirmation from Canon of that.
If the R5 weren't enough to FUD about, Canon also teased a 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L lens (there's that f/7.1 again!), as well as 1.4x and 2x teleconverters. Moreover, the FUD is vague in date ("release during 2020"), though Canon did say that samples of all the FUD products will be on display at WPPI in Vegas and CP+ late this month. Given that, you'd have to guess late spring deliveries.
I should point out that it's interesting that both Canon and Nikon are now consistently bundling DSLR announcements with mirrorless announcements, and vice versa (Canon also announced the Rebel 8i DSLR). Both companies appear to be trying to say that you can have it your way. Of course, so far the nuance gets in the way of that: the current Canon RF products aren't the same as the DSLR products (e.g. R versus 5DmIV, though the upcoming R5 seems to suggest that we'll get there), and even in Nikon's world they're not exactly equivalent (e.g. Z6 versus D780 or Z7 versus D850).
*FUD = Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. It's a form of marketing that attempts to get people from buying competitor products because "it's coming..."
