Canon-4k-dslr-5d-mark-iii-224x156The mysterious 4K Canon DSLR -- or some other widescreen Canon HDSLR -- has been spotted in the wild... literally. Stephen Oachs from Aperture Academy was shooting wildlife in Kenya (with a camera, not a gun) and spotted a Japanese cameraman using the unreleased Canon 200-400mm with built-in teleconverter and Canon 600mm lenses. The cameraman was also using the as-yet-unnamed 4K a mysterious DSLR, which has a widescreen LCD and a new "RATE" button. I've lightened and blown up Stephen's image for as much detail as possible:

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Here's how Stephen came to spot the camera:

While photographing a Cheetah on a Thompson Gazelle kill, we first spotted the Japanese Canon employee. He stood out because of the array of naked lenses (no skins/coats/protection) and the bright colored sticker labels on the tops... Scott did his best to speak with the man who, via his driver helping to translate English to Japanese, confirmed he worked for Canon and that it was the upcoming 200-400mm Canon lens... Three days later, in another location of the Masaii Mara, where we were shooting wildlife, we again ran across the Japanese man. This time we noticed the 600mm Canon lens prototype and the new camera body, so we decided to take a few pictures, first just to zoom in to see what it might be. We quickly realized that this camera was something not yet released, thus we decided to share the images on this blog.

More analysis at planet5D, where Mitch thinks the camera looks more like a 7D than a 5D. I agree with that, though I think that doesn't mean it's a 7D by any means -- the 5D is an older camera and has been improved upon ergonomically since its release. Also note that there's a removable battery grip attached -- it is not a "full size" DSLR. And the image is definitely real -- you can download the RAW .CR2 image below.

UPDATE: Via Film and Digital Times, here's the 4K DSLR prototype, which shares the 16:9 LCD but has some definite differences:

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I'm not sure if this a 4K DSLR or the next 5D... upon further review, it seems like it's something other than the 4K solution. Thoughts?

Link: Follow-up Post RE: Prototype Canon Products Written About on This Blog - Aperture Academy