The info I received last weekend on a Canon 75MP+ DSLR being field tested seems to have shake a few trees and we are now hearing via Northlight Images that a source claims the sensor is a non-Bayer multilayer sensor. Essentially, this would mean that the camera would output a roughly 25MP image created from each of the red, green and blue channels (for a combined total of 75MP) – much like what we see from the Sigma Foveon sensor.

A Canon patent application from May 2013 demonstrates the technology with each photosite housing three individual pixels – one for blue, green and red, as seen in the above patent diagram colored in by Northlight. Extending this technology example to a 75MP sensor would yield 25 million photosites for a total of 75 million pixels, which result in a final 25MP image file produced by the camera.

While I was led to believe from my prior source that the camera in testing produces image files containing over 75MP, it is certainly possible that this caveat lies in the details that I don’t have at the moment.

That said, either design would shake up the market a bit and could change what we have come to expect from the megapixel war among camera manufacturers. I am certainly looking forward to camera announcements this fall.

We’ll keep the rumors and leaks coming as we close in on official announcements.

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