A lot of rumors about Canon expressing interest into manufacturing medium format cameras have surfaced recently. With the recent decline in the popularity of compact cameras and the brand's recent move into the security and industrial camera field, it would make sense for the Japanese manufacturer to tap the medium format market.
Its quite long shot but we might soon hear an announcement from Canon at the nearing Photokina 2014, either confirming or shutting down all speculations. A few years ago Canon was interested in purchasing Swedish medium format brand Hasselblad, now another round of rumors have come up reporting that Canon is already investing in a European medium format manufacturer. Could it be Phase One perhaps?
Elsewhere, Sony, who manufactures sensors for Hasselblad has been rumored to be working on a medium format system of their own. It could possibly be the exact image sensor that can be found in the Hasselblad H5D-50C.
Information on the sensor are posted at canonrumors.com:
Sensor Type: 50 Megapixels CMOS (8272 x 6200, 5.3 × 5.3 μm)
Sensor Dimensions: 32.9 x 43.8mm (sensor is physically 70% larger than a Full Frame sensor)
Image Size: RAW 3FR capture 65MB on average. TIFF 8 bit: 154MB (on the Hasselblad H5D-50c).
We'll just have to wait a few more days for Photokina 2014 to arrive. Canon is still on track with the highly anticipated release of the 7D mark ii, expected announcement in Sepetember at Photokina.
Until then, here are a few features speculated to be found in the new 7D:
No built-in wifi on the new model, no touch screen either (though a monitor cover will come with it), the top plate of the 1Dx wont we appearing in the new model either despite ongoing rumors. Additionally, an improved auto-focus system with a dual-pixel autofocus feature has been confirmed (beneficial to the sports and nature photographer) and finally, whopping 12 frames per second burst rate.
