Canon-4k-dslr-5d-mark-iii1-224x196Just as I was writing about the possible new features of Magic Lantern Unified, it's been confirmed that the replacement for the Canon 5D Mark II will be announced on February 28th. Does this make me any less excited about Magic Lantern? Absolutely not! This next Canon camera will not be for everyone, and there's a major hurdle for plenty of people: price. Let's look at the confirmed specs so far.

These rumors should now be treated as fact, but there are still plenty of specs we're not sure about yet. From the Canon Rumors website:


  • 22mp
  • 61pt AF
  • 100% VF
  • 3.2″ LCD
  • Dual CF/SD Card Slots
  • Price: Around $3500 USD
  • Announcement on February 27 or 28, 2012 (Depending where you are on earth)

 

The dual card slots are a welcome addition for those upgrading from SD only cameras and have plenty of media lying around. They should also provide simultaneous recording/backup just as on the Nikon D800. It looks like Canon has produced a worthy adversary to the D800, with the obvious exception of megapixels - which for your own personal needs may vary. It's certainly possible that this camera could be a stop or so better than the D800 in low light performance, but I won't speculate on that until I see some actual pictures or footage.

Canon will also be announcing the Rebel T4i (if they decide to call it that) and a video optimized zoom in the near future. That camera will surely be a huge seller, but we've got to wait for more concrete details before we can decide the extent to which its video features are crippled from the higher-end cameras.

Does this mean you should sell your camera immediately? No, certainly not. First, availability will be at least a month or two after announcement. That puts us into April/May territory. Not having a camera for two months is a deal-breaker for many people selling right away. Second, it's quite a bit more expensive than the 5D Mark II body. Canon has not yet discontinued the 5D Mark II, so it's likely they will continue selling it even after the new camera is released.

It's also hard to say if prices for the 5D Mark II will change. Canon's recent sales can be attributed to overstock and an attempt to offset losses - they've since risen closer to their pre-sales price. It's not clear what will happen, but it's safe to assume that there will be more than a few used 5D Mark IIs floating around.

I'm sure it will be said at some point, somewhere, so I'll address it now: a camera alone will not make your film. There, it's been said again, but that doesn't mean the camera won't make your life on set, and in post, that much easier. In the end, camera advancements are exciting because many of them allow us to do things that have never been possible in the history of moving pictures. Let's just be positive and let the gear-heads be gear-heads. I've got a post in the works that addresses this very issue coming sometime in the future.

As I said before, I don't think this camera will have a clean HDMI, but I'm hopeful it will have the intraframe codec of it's bigger sibling, the Canon 1DX. What other unconfirmed features would any of you like to see in the Canon 5D Mark III/X?

[via Canon Rumors]