Canon 4D Official Leak

Apparently our posts on the possible costs of the Canon 5D replacement attracted some attention at Canon. I have an old friend high up in Canon USA who frequently travels to the home offices in Japan, and he contacted me yesterday with some "allowable leaks." The news is good for Canon fans. The 5D replacement, which will be called the 4D (even Canon balked at the implications of "3D," apparently), will be out by August. It is slated to have an innovative full-frame 31-MP CMOS sensor with switchable IS in-the-body. But the real news is that the full 31-MP is reserved for a "big print" mode, usable only up to ISO 800; the real meat is a half-rez 15.5-MP mode in which the camera gives it highest image quality and best high-ISO performance. In this mode, the camera is said to better the sharpness and resolution of cameras that have no anti-aliasing filters (think Leica M8).

The 4D will be 19% lighter and approximately 30% smaller than the current 5D. Although the eventual cost will be $2,995, there will be a generous $1,000 rebate for at least the first month after introduction and possibly as long as three months, to counter the formidable challenges expected from Sony and Nikon—making the introductory cost a very aggressive $1,995. "Canon has no intention of relinquishing the leadership position it has gained from decades of innovation and superior products," quoth my contact. The introductory price in the U.K. (where it will be called the 4AD)? A mere £1,049.

______________________

Mike

Comments

[Mike Johnston]

Oh, and a P.S.: Happy April Fool's Day!

Mike J.

[David A. Goldfarb]

What's the date today?

[Bobbo]

This MUST be an 'April Fool' because there is NO WAY ON EARTH that we, in the UK are going to get a decent camera at the same effective price as in the USA.....And, Canon is one of the worst offenders,..when the original 300D was launched as the "First camera under a thousand dollars", it was cynically launched at the same time in the UK as "....first under one thousand pounds".....ie, TWICE the effective price!!

[charlie d]

I was just going to write April Fools!!!! You shoulda let it fly for a while Mike.

;-)

[Sean]

I almost sent a link to a pal, that is until I realised the date!

[Peter]

The first clue is that no Japanese company (or Asian company for that matter) would ever release a product with a 4 in the name.

[Wayne Dobson]

Sounded good anyway! I like that 19% lighter and 30% smaller. Forty per cent lighter and smaller would be better. I should have known right there that is was a joke. The camera companies are bent on producing behemoths like the Nikon D3. Even the 5D is way too big and heavy to carry around.

[Paul Nakroshis]

Cruel Mike, just cruel. You totally had me!
So mean.

Ha ha ha!
-paul

[Nick]

Most Excellent :-)

[Brommers]

can't beileve this - nikon is gonna be kicking itself!!!!!!!!

Take that D3!

I always knew canon was the best, and that everyone else was rubbish!

[Arie Vandenberg]

This sounds like a "Mike" kind of camera. He just needs somebody to actually go out and build it.

Arie V

[Ignacio Soler]

You got me! I was reaching for my credit card. You sure know how to dream.

[Stephen Gillette]

That explains it! The 4D! And to think that I almost ordered a 5D on Amazon this morning when I saw the new price ($1499 w/IS Kit Lens). Wow. Obviously, now I'm waiting for the 4D. August, you say?

[david emerick]

Damn it!! You had me and I have been playing jokes on folks all day!!

Shazam!

d

[Dominic]

That sound ideal for chasing these recently discovered little blighters:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/epeng001.shtml

- I presume the 15.5 MP mode is also high speed - ideal for flight pictures?

[Chris Norris]

I swear I woke up today and told myself I wouldn't get fooled by anything. Dammit. I was starting to get really excited. That's twice. The other was a great post on A Photo Editor about how Annie Leibovitz inked a deal with Flickr.

[alexmv]

Ha, ha! Nicely written and presented. I see at least a few on dpreview.com did not catch the joke (it always pays to check the comments).

Now, what do you all think about the 1D Mark III RS and the F7 statements at http://www.digitalcamera.jp ?

Alex

[DV]

I was just going to write that I was buying it no matter the price... Now I am disappointed that it is a 1st April joke.
I gave up the digital after spending and wasting almost two years with it, and I am again so very happy with my film cameras (SLR, TLR and 2 rangefinders), but I would eagerly welcome a nicely updated 5D... Gosh...! Well done, I guess! :)

[Paul McEvoy]

that's not cool at all. 31mp. I shouldn't have fallen for that.

Did this camera have weather sealing btw?

[Greg Smith]

Truth,we need to remember, is often stranger than fiction.....

(this was a good one, though, Mike. My lust
for a 5D is such that I was believing, I was believing....)

[Susheel Chandradhas]

Good one... I nearly started saving up...

[Dave Sailer]

Do early north country purchasers have a shot at getting the furry blimp with built in dual hand warmers? How about the optional matching bunny slippers? I've always, always wanted a pair of bunny slippers with a famous brand multinational logo on them. Oh please, please! Also, any news about a left handed version for us two-fisted shooters?

[Thanks]

Thanks for the heads-up. I quickly called B&H and cancelled my order yesterday for a Canon 1Ds MARK-III. You're friends leak is a $ saver. Thanks again.

[Mike Johnston]

"The first clue is that no Japanese company (or Asian company for that matter) would ever release a product with a 4 in the name."

So then Canon would never call a camera the "40D" and Olympus would never call one the "OM-4T"? There are lots more counter-examples, Peter....

Mike J.

[Jason]

Very funny...I wonder how many bloggers bit and did a write-up of their own, referencing TOP? LOL

[Mario Traversi]

Really Mike.. Shame on you!! Where is the eye-controlled focus, the MLU dedicated button, the contoured battery grip that doesn't have the stupid foot that goes up the camera battery-side..
Admirable attempt at a first of april laugh though.. but please, brush up your skills.. You could have REALLY had us by talking about the fool-frame Digital-M Leica.. :-)

[Seinberg]

Damn you! I got really excited!

[Peter Hovmand]

Well, thanks Mike, pretty funny! Though a tiny bit unrealistic. Like the idea of the two modes, though. But I happen to know Nikon is already working on the case ... :)

[Mike Johnston]

"that's not cool at all. 31mp. I shouldn't have fallen for that. Did this camera have weather sealing btw?"

Oh, yes. Can be used underwater down to two meters.

Mike J.

[Mike Johnston]

"Very funny...I wonder how many bloggers bit and did a write-up of their own, referencing TOP? LOL"

None, I hope...I did put the first comment up right away, along with the post.

Mike J.

[Howard Cornelsen]

"...no Japanese company (or Asian company for that matter) would ever release a product with a 4 in the name."

Peter--why not?

TIA.

--HC

[Alexander Kiel]

A very good April Fool. I don't get it until I reached the silly price point of an introduction of 2,000 $ and a normal price of 3,000 $. This will never happen :-)

Alex

[JeffH]

Ha, Ha, April Fools!!!

[Andy]

Yes its the 1st April

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrxmpihCjqw

[Joe]

The deep-six spec was "30% smaller". The size and heft of the 5D is just right for me. I believe that Canon has the chops to deliver the rest, but there's the feeling of a good battle coming to the DSLR world!

[alexmv]

Regarding the issue Asian companies and the number four, in both Chinese and Japanese the pronunciation of "death" and "four" are the same. For example, in Japanese, both are "shi" (approximate sound in English= "she" as in "he, she, and I"). For this reason, some buildings avoid using four in their room numbering systems. It is equivalent to the some people's aversion to thirteen.

However, as the Olympus example above shows, not all East Asians follow this traditions. Another case would be the Nikon F4. [Then again, given the fact that many sports shooters started migrating to Canon around the time Nikon introduced the F4, perhaps there is something to this superstition business. ;-) (To forestall the charge of flame bating, I have an F4 and use it with my AIS lenses.) ]

[Emery Ku]

Howard--

I suspect that Peter's comment is in light of the fact that (in Chinese, at least) the word for 'four' sounds almost the same as the word for 'death.' I found some further details on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_in_Chinese_culture#Four_2

For this reason, some buildings in asia used to number the 4th floor as the 5th, just as in western cultures, the superstitious would sometimes skip the 13th floor.

--Emery

P.S. I half-fell for the prank, too. What an amazing camera the '4D' would be... ::sigh:: Maybe Mike's joke-article will encourage camera makers to consider making a similar product?

[Joe Sawicki]

LOVED the 4AD reference at the end. Thanks for the laugh!

[michael]

I fell for it. Sheesh...

BTW, I live in Chinatown and my building's elevator skips 4; there is a 3 and a 5.

In Mandarin, death and four are intonations of the same character. Every character has four intonations; Vietnamese has six. And you thought French was difficult.

[Jason]

"...no Japanese company (or Asian company for that matter) would ever release a product with a 4 in the name."

Um...off the top of my head from Canon: 40D, 450, 400, Powershot 460, 430EX (flash) and Nikon: D40, D40x.

[David]

i showed the post to my wife and told her this was the one i've been waiting for. sigh.

[Roger S]

Jason, those aren't four, those are forty or four-hundred. In Japanese there are usually two readings for a given character. For "four" it's shi or yon.

Forty is four-tens or yon-jyuu. No "shi" sound there. Ditto 400.

Also, I wonder if the F4 would have been pronounced "yon" as well- F-Yon. I don't really know camera Japanese.

[Gary Shepard]

And to think I was about to pre-order it, along with a full compliment of L glass using the B&H link on your website.... BWAHAHAHAHA!

[日本]

ありえない情報です。
仮にあったとしても4D,6Dは開発コードです。
発表は夏にあります。
５DⅡという名称ではないです。
それは５Dに代わる上位モデルとなります。

[Mike Johnston]

残念、それは冗談だった。4 月1 日は"エイプリル・フール" ここにである。真実はこの発表へない。

Mike J.

[Dieter Muschket]

I really wanna sell my olympus E - 510 and get a 40D