After way too long of a wait, we finally have a sequel from the famed Canon 5D Mark III. While Canon has enjoyed plenty of success with that camera, it certainly has felt a little old in recent months, especially in comparison to the newer mirrorless Sony A7RII and Nikon D810 DSLR. Thankfully, we have quite a few new things to get excited over in the Canon 5D Mark IV so let’s take a look.

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Canon has upped the resolution to 30MP, less than the 36MP D810 and far less than the 42MP A7RII but still more than enough for most shooters and this should help them in low light results. Canon has struggled in their sensor technology so I remain skeptical that this new sensor will deliver the high dynamic range and crisp black levels of the competition.  We have a similar 61pt AF system with 41 cross type points this time with High Density Reticular AF for better tracking, dual pixel autofocus which is great for video/live view, and larger coverage across the frame. Shooting speed also gets a small bump to 7fps and the camera now comes standard with Wifi, GPS, and NFC as well as USB 3.0. 

At last we finally have 4k video though it comes with some strings attached. The format is mjpeg similar to the Canon 1DXII which is an aging format with massive file sizes with the advantage being super high bit rates of 500Mbps. Additionally, 4k video will yield a massive 1.7x crop factor for 1 to 1 pixel sampling. 1080p video at up to 60p will thankfully still have the h.264 option for more efficient recording. Video will be 4.2.2 8 bit in camera but unfortunately you will NOT be able to output 4k video over the HDMI output. An added touch screen will also simplify control in video and certainly help with controlling the dual pixel AF system which has been one of the best autofocus systems for video I have ever used. Don’t expect to see any video features here like focus peaking, zebras, and log recording as Canon is still keeping those exclusively for its video camera line.

Overall, the camera gets a nice bump and should be a worthy upgrade. That said, Canon is still hard at work setting strict limitations to its cameras seemly to protect other cameras in the market. This strategy is a polar opposite to Sony for example who threw almost every major professional feature in its consumer friendly Sony a6300 that costs under $1000. That said, the 5D Mark IV is set to be a major hit and I’m looking forward to getting it in my hands for a full review so stay tuned. The Canon 5D Mark IV is set to begin shipping in September at $3,499.

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