More murmurings from the interweb of rumor mills. Here is a set of fresh Canon rumors.

TL;DR:
Canon’s teasing us with fancy lenses, delayed cameras, mystery models, and a retro throwback. No one knows what’s coming when, but it’ll be shiny, pricey, and probably require a firmware update within the first week. Classic Canon.

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Canon kicked off 2025 like a kid tossing confetti with the EOS R50 V, the RF-S 14-30mm f/4-6.3 IS STM PZ, and the RF 20mm f/1.4L VCM – the latter being their widest f/1.4 ever. A bold start. But of course, the real fun is just beginning.

More announcements are expected before July (maybe), and again in late August or September (possibly), though Canon’s calendar remains as cryptic as ever.

EOS R7 Mark II

Expected around late August. It’s moving “up-market” – Canon-speak for “more expensive” – and clearly aimed at wildlife and sports shooters who’d like to avoid mortgaging their house for full-frame gear. High-end RF-S zooms might show up too, if Canon feels generous. See here for all EOS R7 Mark II rumors.

EOS R6 Mark III

Still MIA. People thought it might appear in May, but alas. Rumor has it there’s a hiccup with the LP-E6P battery — because what’s a Canon launch without a battery-induced delay? Forum threads are already lighting up, and we’ll hear more once the smoke clears.

Full-Frame “V” Camera

Canon seems to be cooking up a full-frame “V” camera – think PowerShot V1 and EOS R50 V, but beefier. Most signs point to an R6 Mark III base. This might be Canon’s way of saying goodbye to the EOS R5 C, without actually saying goodbye. Oh, and an R7 V? It was a thing… maybe still is… but probably isn’t. Rumors are so ephemeral ;-)

EOS R10 & Others

A new APS-C camera line is expected, though what or when is anyone’s guess. The R10 could use a facelift — it’s been sitting unchanged since 2022. Later this year, we might get a longer zoom PowerShot V (V3 perhaps), and Canon may dust off the “G” series, or whatever it’ll be called now.

Also, word on the street: a retro-style ILC is coming to celebrate 50 years of the AE-1. Expect that in late 2025 or early 2026 — because nostalgia always sells.

As always, keep the salt available.

[via CR]

Some news from the interweb of eager rumor mills. The Canon EOS R7 Mark II is in the spotlight (again).

Canon’s once-glorious 7D line – the go-to for wildlife photographers who wanted a “diet 1D” – might be soon released in a new iteration as the EOS R7 Mark II. The rumor mill is spinning up claims that this new body could be a “baby R1,” which sounds adorable until you remember Canon isn’t exactly in the habit of handing out pro features to the masses.

So what’s the buzz?

Sensor Drama: There’s a tug-of-war between fantasy and feasibility. A stacked 40MP APS-C sensor would make sense if Canon were in a particularly generous mood – which they’re not. The safe bet is a stacked, BSI 32.5MP sensor: enough resolution to keep bird nerds happy, but with faster readouts to finally stop those nasty rolling shutter gremlins.

Speed & Buffer: 30-40fps bursts sound great until your buffer throws in the towel after a second. Canon might fix that with better memory and CFexpress Type B support. Might. Autofocus will also supposedly get a brain upgrade with AI-driven subject tracking – because it’s 2025 and we’re all legally required to say “AI” at least twice per paragraph.

Video Specs: No, you’re not getting 8K or Canon Log 2. That’s reserved for the adults over in R5 Land. Expect a healthy 4K60p from 7K oversampling, maybe 4K120p (cropped), and some very polite 10-bit color. No active cooling, because again, you’re not paying R5 prices.

Ergonomics & Build: Canon’s likely to steal some hand-me-downs from the R5 II – nicer grip, tweaked controls, hopefully a joystick that doesn’t feel like a wobbly Lego. Better EVF, brighter LCD, maybe even a battery grip that does something useful.

Price & Release: Expect to pay more than the original R7’s $1,499 – think sub-$2K, but not by much. Release window? Somewhere between “Q3” and “whenever Canon feels like it.”

In short: the R7 Mark II is shaping up to be a solid middle child – not quite flagship, not quite entry-level, but with just enough sparkle to keep you refreshing rumor blogs. That’s if the rumors hold up to reality. Time will tell.

[via asobinet]

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A new version of Nik Collection has been released. A 30‑day trial is available.

Nik Collection 8 expands Photoshop’s photo‑editing potential across all seven plugins thanks to new integration and powerful features

Version 8 unlocks the full power of Photoshop masks, and upgrades make Nik Color Efex better than ever. Plus, Nik Silver Efex has been rethought to ensure effortless black‑and‑white images.

Paris (France): DxO today unveils Nik Collection 8, the latest version of its celebrated creative plugin suite for photographers. This new release brings a completely redesigned Photoshop panel, powerful new masking functionality, and significant improvements to Silver Efex and Color Efex, delivering a more dynamic editing experience.

“With Nik Collection 8, we wanted to enhance both creativity and efficiency,” said Boris Oliviero, Product Director. “We’ve re‑imagined the Photoshop workflow, making it easier than ever to apply powerful effects, refine local adjustments, and move seamlessly between plugins.”

POWERFUL NEW MASK OPTIONS

Photographers can now import masks directly from Photoshop into any Nik Collection plugin, making full use of Photoshop’s powerful selection tools. A new feature in the Local Adjustments panel also lets users transfer masks effortlessly between plugins. And when ready, photographers can send masks created in Nik Collection straight back to Photoshop for further refinement.
With Nik Collection 8, your masks remain accessible at every step of the workflow, whether they originate from Photoshop or a Nik Collection plugin.

A SMARTER, MORE FLEXIBLE RETURN TO PHOTOSHOP

Bringing edits back into Photoshop is now more intuitive. Users can choose to:

• convert edits into a Smart Object for non‑destructive editing;
• apply changes to the current layer or create a new one;
• generate a new layer with a mask, providing additional flexibility.

SEND EDITS AS LAYERS TO PHOTOSHOP

Photographers can now send their Nik Collection edits directly to Photoshop as a new Photoshop layer while continuing to work inside Nik Collection. This allows users to test multiple ideas for an image without breaking their creative flow, and have all of their edits immediately at hand once back inside Photoshop.

BRAND‑NEW PHOTOSHOP PANEL FOR MAXIMUM EFFICIENCY

Nik Collection 8 introduces a fully customizable and dockable Photoshop panel, replacing the traditional Nik Palette. This new design allows photographers to save screen space by choosing which plugins to display, and launch any plugin with a single click for a more fluid workflow. Plus, all of the essential controls for managing layers and masks are immediately accessible.

MAJOR UPGRADES TO NIK SILVER EFEX

Nik Silver Efex, the industry’s leading black‑and‑white editing tool, gets significant usability and feature boosts:

• Color Reference Image: view the original color image while working in black and white.
• Streamlined interface: matches Nik Color Efex and Nik Analog Efex, keeping filters on the left until used.
• Better logic when applying presets: only relevant filters appear on the right when a preset is selected.
• New Local Adjustments: ClearView and Selective Tones can now be applied locally.
• New Filter Looks: every filter now includes pre‑defined options for quick application.

NEW COLOR MASKS BRING PRECISION EDITS TO NIK COLOR EFEX

Targeting local adjustments just became more powerful as the suite now lets photographers select a range of colors for changes. Click on the desired color, tweak the handles as required, and start making adjustments.

QUICK EXPORT UPGRADED FOR A FASTER WORKFLOW

It’s now quicker to switch to TIFF format when using the Quick Export button, and export options are instantly accessible so users can tweak the configuration directly without navigating a menu.

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY

Nik Collection 8 is available today from the DxO website (shop.dxo.com) for macOS and Windows:

• New license: 159,99 $/€ – 145,99 £
• Upgrade from Nik Collection 6 or 7: 89,99 $/€ – 79,99 £

On May 2, 2025, Canon published a new patent application that outlines multiple wide-angle prime lens designs, seemingly developed for sensors around 1.4 inches in size. The application suggests a focus on compactness, with provisions for integrating an ND filter, iris diaphragm, and shutter – a configuration particularly suitable for video-oriented imaging devices.

Patent Overview

• Publication Number: P2025070387
• Publication Date: May 2, 2025
• Title: Optical System and Imaging Device
• Application Date: October 20, 2023
• Applicant: Canon Inc.
• Applicant ID: 000001007

The patent describes a small, lightweight wide-angle optical system that arranges key optical elements – such as the iris diaphragm, neutral density (ND) filter, and shutter – in optimal internal positions.

Background

Modern imaging devices, including digital cameras, smartphones, vehicle cameras, and security systems, require compact lenses that maintain high image quality across wide angles of view. Smartphone cameras, in particular, rely heavily on fixed-aperture prime lenses made with plastic-molded aspherical elements. These lenses are also expected to house an ND filter, iris, and shutter, all while maintaining a short overall length, especially important for video applications.

Previous designs (e.g., Patent Document 1) struggled to accommodate these components without increasing the lens diameter. Positioning the ND filter and shutter too close to the aperture limited internal space, while placing them farther away resulted in a bulkier external design.

Canon’s latest approach attempts to solve this by efficiently integrating all components in a compact form factor.

Design Notes

The optical systems described here appear to support an ultra-wide angle of view, roughly equivalent to 20–24mm in full-frame terms. While the image height seems modest for a 1.4-inch sensor like that used in the PowerShot V1, this is likely intentional – reserving part of the sensor area for electronic image stabilization.

Interestingly, only Example 3 assumes a different sensor size.

The PowerShot V1, for context, features an 8.2–25.6mm f/2.8–4.5 zoom lens, which encompasses the optical system type discussed in this patent – though it’s physically much larger. If Canon applies this new design to the V series, we might not see a huge leap in performance. Still, there’s hope for a truly compact model with a non-protruding lens, which would be a welcome development for vloggers and mobile content creators.

Example 1

• Focal length: 9.47
• F-number: 2.88
• Half angle of view: 47.57
• Image height: 10.36
• Overall length: 27.22
• Back focal length: 7.41

Example 2

• Focal length: 11.68
• F-number: 2.88
• Half angle of view: 41.11
• Image height: 10.19
• Overall length: 27.14
• Back focal length: 7.56

Example 3

• Focal length: 6.75
• F-number: 1.85
• Half angle of view: 46.56
• Image height: 7.13
• Overall length: 18.77
• Back focal length: 3.35

Example 4

• Focal length: 8.41
• F-number: 2.88
• Half angle of view: 50.47
• Image height: 10.19
• Overall length: 29.95
• Back Focus: 7.16

[via asobinet]