High-megapixel Canon DSLR coming next year?

Canon is rumored to challenge Nikon’s 36-megapixel D800E and the upcoming D4X with a “big megapixel camera”, but not sooner than 2014.

Canon is delaying the launch of a camera with a bigger megapixel count, meaning that the D800E still has no real competitor. At least this is what the rumor mill is suggesting, as the Japanese company is still too quiet when it comes to this side of the market.

A high-megapixel Canon camera may become a reality in 2014, as an update for the 1D X or 5D Mark III.

High-megapixel Canon DSLR included in the 2014 roadmap

According to sources who have been right in the past, Canon is indeed working on a new DSLR with lots of megapixels. However, the camera is not coming before the end of 2013. It is said that the company is testing cameras with more than 40 megapixels, though the exact number of the final version’s pixels remains unknown.

The company has important plans for 2013, as it will release no less than three DSLR cameras. However, all of them will be aimed at the APS-C market and will not have a high-megapixel count.

Additionally, several lenses are being cooked in the oven. The four new EF lenses will all be released by the end of this year and they will all replace older gear. The source is not too sure about this, but there will be no new lenses, just updates of current glass. Apparently, one of the new EF optics is a ultra wide-angle zoom lens.

5D Mark III replacement or update?

There are no given names for the new camera, but speculation points toward the EOS 5D X tag. It is suggested that the 5D Mark III will be the one to be updated with a smaller, high-megapixel camera body. The source has confirmed that it is very unlikely for Canon to directly replace the 5D Mark III, so an update is the most likely scenario.

Another suggestion is that the company will actually update the 1D X and that the camera will be called 1D XS or 1DS X, though this is just a long shot, at least until more information is revealed.

This is an important year for Canon, the company having opened its first experience center called Canon Image Square, where visitors can take the company’s gear for a spin and learn how to become better photographers.