canon eos 5ds (5ds r)
Supersize your megapixel count with Canon’s ultra-high-resolution specialists
based on a mighty 50.6Mp image sensor and dual DIGIC 6 processors, the 5DS is designed to be especially rigid, with a particularly smoothaction shutter unit. It’s all in pursuit of delivering spectacular image resolution, with minimal degradation from camera vibrations. The 5DS R version goes further still, cancelling the anti-aliasing effect of the low-pass filter for even greater resolving power. This comes with slightly more risk of moire patterning and false colour.
The AF system has 61-points, of which 41 are cross-type and five are dual cross-type for ultimate accuracy. Even so, it’s a shame that the image sensor doesn’t feature Dual Pixel AF, which would have been great for Live View shooting. A hidden cost in upgrading to a 5DS or 5DS R is that you need scarily sharp lenses to make the most of the cameras’ potential. You can find a list of recommended lenses on Canon’s website, and you’ll notice there are several previously popular choices that don’t make the grade.
performance
As you’d expect, the 5DS blows all of the other cameras out of the water for its resolution lab scores. But, additional resolving power from the 5DS R is merely marginal. There’s a price to be paid for all those megapixels, in that image noise is clearly noticeable even at medium ISOS, and the standard range tops out at a lowly ISO6400. Despite dual processors, the sheer amount of image data involved results in a fairly slow 5fps. If image size and sharpness is all that matters, the EOS 5DS is the obvious choice.
£2,949/$3,499