The New Canon 5DS, 5DS R: Candid Thoughts from the Specialists at B&H

"Lead change! With their 50.6-Megapixel Sensors, both the Canon 5DS and 5DSR take the lead as the highest resolution full-frame cameras on the market! This is truly an exciting boost to the EOS line and I look forward to seeing results from the camera. Interestingly enough, both cameras have crop modes of 1.3x and 1.6x, which drop the effective megapixels used, while creating 'smaller' files at 30MP and 20MP respectively."

"Like the luxury-car horsepower race, the megapixel battle is alive and well! And, just like the fact we don’t need 400 horsepower to reach legal highway speeds, we don’t need 50.2MP to make a good photograph. Having said that, technology exists, so I guess I need to embrace it while I save up for faster computers and bigger hard drives. Pro Canon shooters rejoice! You knew it was coming—something to challenge the previous title holder, the 36MP Nikon D800—and it is here!

"I am sure the image quality will be a thing of envy for those who don’t have it, and bravo to Canon, like Nikon, who packs its premier high-res sensor into semi-pro bodies instead of the larger, more expensive, pro bodies. I like this trend, as it allows more photographers to experience the sensors without breaking the bank for more speed, weight, and size than they might need or want.

"And, like the horsepower race, I will keep driving my current camera and dreaming of the images I could make with this new behemoth! If you are getting one, enjoy it and stop making me jealous!"

Sure, the 50MP file size isn't going to benefit anyone trying to work quickly, shoot sports, or those who like to take thousands of images at a time. It will, however, benefit those who appreciate working at a slower, more methodical pace.”

"The megapixel war is officially back and Canon has entered with a powerful champion. Canon shooters have long awaited this high-megapixel unicorn and it has finally come. Personally, I have been waiting over three-plus years for Canon to produce a camera like this and I am excited. This is not a 5D Mark III replacement, as many seem to think. The video features and high ISO limits (which may yet change before the release date) do not point in that direction. Instead, this camera is the new megapixel king and for all of you who are like me and love BIG RESOLUTION, here it is.

"What I find interesting is the release of two versions 5DS and R. Our experience from other manufacturers trying this approach is that it can really confuse customers.

"A question that will need to be resolved (pun intended) over the next few months is how the current Canon and third-party lenses will perform on this new high-resolution sensor. As we have already seen, when the resolving power of the sensor increases, any issues from focus to lens resolution to shutter shake become more prominent. It is hard to hide flaws at this level. I am looking forward to seeing how the L Series Version II lenses from Canon perform on the 5DS/R. Who knows, this may even challenge Zeiss to start another line of OTUS lenses.

"As a trained digital tech, a word to the wise—computer processing power is going to be of prime importance when dealing with these (hopefully) gorgeously big files. For those who are used to working with highly retouched medium format files, you know what I mean. The media space and RAM needs for viewing, processing, retouching, and storing these files will be demanding—especially with all the advantages of the 35mm form factor, combined with a tried-and-true autofocus system at 5 FPS—they will not slow you down. However, imagine 60MB+ files out of camera, once converted to PSD or TIF and add some layers the file size quickly approaches half a gig or more per file. I have a feeling we will see many people needing to upgrade their computers and storage in order to keep up with the files from the 5Ds/R.

"In conclusion, as of late, I have been a mirrorless fanatic, nevertheless, I am eager to check out the 5Ds/R’s potential and look forward to getting my hands on one."