Canon’s New Camera shoots at ISO 4,000,000

Canon’s $30K ME20F-SH camera has a full-frame CMOS sensor and employs the EF mount system. 

The Canon ME20F-SH. Yesterday, Canon announced a two-megapixel camera (for 1920×1080 HD video at 60p, 24p, and 30p) with an ISO equivalency of 4 million. The camera has a price tag of $30 grand, and you’ll need to wait until December to buy it. Canon claims it’ll capture accurate colors with little to no noise in low light, or down to 0.0005 lux (for reference, that’s similar to a night with partial cloud cover and no moonlight). Nighttime surveillance and security, cinematic production, reality television, and nature/wildlife documentaries are just some of the ME20F-SH's many possible usage applications.

The camera's 35mm-sized full-frame CMOS sensor has pixels which are more than 5.5 times the surface area of the pixels on the CMOS sensors featured in top-of-the-line DSLRs like the 1D X. The modular body employs the same EF mount (Cinema Lock type) as Canon's SLR cameras and Cinema EOS System-series of professional digital cameras, allowing users to make use of the Company's extensive lineup of interchangeable EF lenses.

Canon’s ME20F-SH did not suddenly come forth out of the blue. We announced it’s prototype back in 2013. Here’s a video of results from the 2013 camera and video results from the new sensor.

The big question for still photographers, is whether some of this low-light capability will filter down to Canon’s DSLR cameras. It may already have. Rumor has it that the upcoming Canon EOS 5D Mark IV may have an ISO range of 100-204800 ISO compared to the Mark III’s current range of 100-25600 ISO — a four-stop gain. Although the Nikon D4s and the Sony A7s are already touting ISOs of 409600, it will be interesting to see how low the noise/sharpness is at these ISOs when all three cameras are compared together. “NightScape” style photographers who currently use the Sony A7s tell me that they typically shoot at ISO 12800 and are not bothered by the noise. Their real joy comes from being able to do live view composition and focus (at ISO 409600) — the camera can literally see in the dark!