Canon 5DS R Image Quality

As expected, image quality is very similar from these two close siblings, however the 5DS R's lack of an optical low-pass filter does produce slightly better sharpness than the 5DS. But more aliasing artifacts are visible as well, such as the stronger moiré patterns in the Samuel Smith bottle label logo (click on the crops to access the full resolution images).

The 5DS R's 50-megapixel resolution advantage over the 22-megapixel 5D Mark III is clearly on display here (pun intended), with the 5DS R capturing significantly more detail. The 5DS R's Fine Detail Picture Style setting is also very evident, rendering the image with fantastic sharpness and clarity without the unsightly sharpening halos seen around high contrast edges from the 5D Mark III.

The resolution advantage compared to the 36-megapixel Nikon D810 isn't quite as stark as the previous comparison, but the 5DS R easily resolves more fine detail with fewer sharpening artifacts to boot, though the Nikon's rendering looks a little more contrasty and vibrant. Moiré patterns are much more evident from the AA-filterless D810 in the red-leaf fabric as well, though that's because the pattern's frequency happens to match the D810's resolution better, and we'd expect to see the subtle moiré patterns in the 5DS R image to become stronger at a different distance.

In terms of raw pixel count, the resolution from the 51-megapixel Pentax 645Z is closely matched to the Canon, but its 4:3 aspect ratio gives it more of an advantage here over the 3:2 5DS R (we frame this shot vertically, and the Pentax's vertical resolution is 6192 pixels vs 5792 pixels for the Canon, about 7% higher). The Pentax also doesn't have an optical low-pass filter but has larger pixels thanks to its medium-format sensor, giving it an overall edge in detail here especially when combined with Pentax's more aggressive processing. The 5DS R produces more accurate colors and fewer sharpening artifacts, but the 645Z is still the king among cameras we've tested thus far in terms of resolving power. Still, it's amazing the Canon 5DS R is able to challenge this medium-format camera!

The 42-megapixel Sony A7R II compares well to the 50-megapixel 5DS R, but as expected, the Canon resolves a bit more detail in most areas. Both do a great job with sharpening, producing very crisp images with few sharpening artifacts, however the Canon image looks perhaps a touch more natural with slightly lower contrast and more accurate color. It's really a personal preference, though, as both cameras produce truly outstanding image quality at base ISO.

Like we saw at base ISO, the two close siblings show very similar results at ISO 1600, however the AA-filter-less 5DS R still produces slightly better detail and sharpness, but the subtle moiré patterns in the red-leaf fabric are a little more visible.

The resolution disparity between these two models is still quite stark here at ISO 1600, with the 5DS R easily continuing to out-resolve the 5D Mark III despite the image degradation due to noise and noise reduction processing. Unsurprisingly, noise is quite a bit higher from the 5DS R, however the 5D Mark III appears to be applying slightly more aggressive default noise reduction.

At ISO 1600, the 5DS R continues to out-resolve the D810, though luminance noise from the Canon is higher. The 5DS R however seems to do a bit better at controlling chrominance noise, while still doing a slightly better job at rendering the red-leaf pattern. (The much stronger moiré pattern is interfering quite a bit in the D810 image.)

The Pentax 645Z still manages to produce slightly better detail overall at this sensitivity, thanks in part to its larger pixels and the lower noise they produce, however the Pentax's default noise reduction softens the image a bit more than the Canon's, and smears the pattern in our tricky red-leaf fabric. The Canon continues to offer more accurate colors.

This comparison is harder to call. The 5DS R still captures marginally better detail at ISO 1600, but it produces a noisier image. The Sony image is cleaner, however its noise reduction processing generates slightly unnatural artifacts in flat areas while the Canon's noise "grain" is more consistent and film-like. The Sony's rendering of the red-leaf pattern is also softer, but it does a little better with the pink fabric. Both cameras produce subtle moiré patterns in the red-leaf fabric, but the 5DS R's is more visible (again, the appearance of moiré patterns will vary with subject and distance, as well as lens and aperture).

Once again, the two siblings produce very similar results at ISO 3200, but the 5DS R still has a slight edge in sharpness at the expense of more aliasing artifacts.

The 5D Mark III produces a much cleaner image at ISO 3200, though the 5DS R is still able to hold onto better detail in most areas, but it's really smearing the red-leaf fabric at this sensitivity. (When eyeballing their raw files without noise reduction applied on screen at 100%, the 5D Mark III looks to have roughly a one stop advantage over the 5DS R in terms of noise at higher ISOs.)

Noise levels are higher from the Canon at ISO 3200, and while the 5DS R continues to out-resolve the D810, at least in higher-contrast detail, its default high ISO noise reduction produces more unwanted artifacts than the Nikon's, and blurs our red-leaf fabric much more as well.

Both cameras here produce significant amounts of noise "grain", with the Canon producing slightly more. The Pentax's processing produces a more natural-looking image in most areas, particularly in the mosaic crop, but the Canon still delivers more accurate colors. Both cameras struggle with the red-leaf fabric, however the Pentax manages to resolve the thread pattern much better, though contrast is a bit better from the Canon.

At ISO 3200, the Sony produces a cleaner, more contrasty image than the Canon, though the 5DS R's noise "grain" remains more consistent and natural-looking. But this time the Sony arguably does a better job at rendering fine detail than the Canon in most areas. And the Sony clearly wins in the red-leaf fabric.