50MP FF DSLR for $1300 and $1500.

I am a Nikon user but feel very tempted to get one of those Canon 5DS or 5DS-R with their new low price.

Interesting. The 5D Mark lV is more expensive now. Great price on that 5DS/-R.

Unless you have some high quality EF lenses already or can adapt other high quality lenses that will fit an EF mount (with sufficient functionality and the ability to utilize the resolution), the cost of obtaining a usable 50mp photographic instrument may be much higher than the cost of just the camera body. The 5DS/R is not known for stellar dynamic range or high ISO performance.

People are always complaining about dynamic range. In my opinion about the biggest non issue in photography. The Canon 5DS series are good cameras, but are now "tainted" because they are DSLRs and so "completely out of date". I am also confident they are fine in any ISO up to 3200, which is fine for most people. If you have EF lenses and you want 50MP, then I think it is a great way to get it. Or you could pay $3500+ for an R5...

The 5DS/R is not known for stellar dynamic range

According to dxomark actually worse than an Nikon D700 - a camera I owned and that certainly disappointed in that aspect.

 

$2400 discount - Canon apparently can't get out of the DSLR market fast enough. Canon essentially sells them at current used prices (or below) - one can only hope there are not too many left on Canon's shelves.

50 MP is tempting and nice price, even if the sensors are an older generation. I have the 5DMKIV 31 MP and the A7RIII at 42 MP with a Metabones 5 so i can use all the Canon lenses. Not sure how much an extra 8 MP is worth for me, especially since I can easily stitch together paneramas. Well, yes 50 MP would be nice. Might be real fun and a low buy in price. Of course there is the A7RIV at 62.5MP. around $2800 and that price might drop as the newer models are coming out seemingly every year or so. And of course there is the new R5 with that bigger price tag. Maybe in 8-10 years the R5 will be $1300. If your vested in Nikon you will be needing lenses too.

 

For me, I might have buyers regret becasue of noisy sensors by todays standard, after the novelty of 50 MP wears off. STill, it's very tempting, after all if you get your exposure right noise may not be that big of an issue.

With respect to dynamic range, I have had reasonable experience using recording medium with limited dynamic range. I shot with Velvia and Provia quite extensively (a long, long time ago) which certainly qualifies as a films with limited exposure tolerance. My first interchangeable lens digital was a Canon D60 (the old 6mp camera), which had rather limited highlight recovery, and lifting shadows would quickly bring up objectionable noise. The Canon 5D mk I had significantly better dynamic range which resulted in far more flexible files than did those from the D60. The files from the Sony sensor in my Olympus EM-5III are even better (16year difference in tech mitigated by a sensor 1/4 the size of FF). Small differences in DR or high ISO performance are not very meaningful in the real world but larger difference can provide noticeably more flexible files, and allow you to hold back exposure to maintain highlights and lift the shadows without undue noise.

 

If I still had a bunch of Canon L lenses, the current price of the 5DS would be compelling. My very limited tolerance for carrying anything heavier than M43 would preclude such a venture.

According to photonstophotos, the dynamic range of the 5Ds falls midway between that of the 5D III and the 5D IV.

 

My own view is that the value of extra MPX depends on three things: how large you print, how severely you crop, and where the resolution bottleneck is in your process (in particular, lens vs. sensor).

All Nikon lenses adapt extremely well to Canon DSLRs, except the "G" series, where you have to guess at aperture. Stopped down metering techniques must be used and manual focus of course. I have adapted many Nikon lenses to Canon over the past 15 years, but am now down to just the Nikon 8mm f2.8 AI-S on the 5DSR.

 

Early reports of significantly inferior DR compared to the 5DIV have since been shown to be overblown. Shooting at the lowest possible ISO to achieve the highest possible resolution has been my own photographic mantra for 35 years and this of course is where the 5DS/5DSR absolutely shines.

 

P.S. The 5DS and 5DSR are virtually gone from Canadian stores without ever experiencing massive price drops so I can only assume that they will be gone soon in the US too. The last camera to be blown out like this was the 5D II back in 2011 and they were gone very quickly.

Edited October 23, 2020 by John Crowe

I gave into temptation and ordered a 5DS and it arrives from B&H tomorrow. I would have gotten it sooner but each time I got a notice it was in stock I would go to the B&H website and the 5Ds was gone but the 5Ds R would remain in stock for another day or two before going out of stock. I don't think my skill level is good enough for the 5Ds R and I saved $200 to buy another lens. This will be a significant upgrade from the 6D/70D combination I've been using. My next next upgrade will be for better glass as EF lens prices seem to be coming down which is good for me.