Canon Unveils the EOS R1, a 24MP Flagship Camera Built for Pros

After a long wait, a development announcement, and an extensive teaser campaign, Canon has fully unveiled its new flagship EOS R System mirrorless camera, the Canon EOS R1.

The EOS 1-series legacy finally makes its mirrorless debut. Described by Canon as “ahead of the game,” the Canon EOS R1 is a 24-megapixel camera aimed squarely at professional photographers in photojournalism, sports, and wildlife.

At the heart of the new camera is a Canon-developed back-illuminated stacked 24.2-megapixel sensor and a new DIGIC X and DIGIC Accelerator processing pipeline. The full-frame sensor promises improved readout speed, reduced rolling shutter, and improved autofocus performance.

Thanks to the more robust processing engine and the fast sensor, the R1 can read and analyze large volumes of information, which forms the core of its autofocus system. Canon says the camera can understand and differentiate between various sports, predict body movement, and deliver Canon’s best autofocus performance. The sensor also has a new design with different cross-type autofocus pixels, which improves its performance when shooting vertically.

Like the R3, the R1 also includes Eye Control AF, which lets the photographer move the autofocus area through the viewfinder by looking at where they want to focus. This feature now works even better, thanks to a new larger electronic viewfinder. Up from 5.76 million dots on the R3, the R1’s OLED EVF has 9.44 million dots. It’s also larger, going from 0.76x to 0.9x magnification.

Returning to processing, Canon hopes to separate the R1 from its competition in this area. Although the R1’s sensor may be just 24 megapixels, the camera can upscale images to 96 megapixels in camera, although only with JPEG files. Deep learning algorithms also drive new in-camera noise reduction features. Alongside the AI that assists autofocus performance, there’s quite a bit of novel AI technology in the R1.

In other ways, the R1 is a bit more traditional. It sticks with a typical image sensor, albeit a stacked one — no global shutter sensor here. The R1 is still Canon’s fastest camera, though, able to shoot at up to 40 frames per second (full-resolution RAW images with full autofocus) using the electronic shutter. The camera tops out at 12 FPS when using its mechanical shutter. The R1 promises a huge buffer (over 1,000 frames) and can shoot up to 20 frames in its half-second pre-capture burst mode.

The R1 has two CFexpress Type B card slots, both of which use the CFexpress 2.0 standard rather than the new CFexpress 4.0 standard. As of yet, no camera uses CFexpress 4.0, despite the potential performance gains it offers. The camera has a full-size HDMI port and independent mic and headphone jacks.

As for video, the R1 can shoot 4K/60p footage. It can also record 6K resolution video, which is tied to RAW recording, a relatively resource-intensive way to shoot video. Alongside a faster sensor readout, which means reduced rolling shutter, the R1 has a distinct advantage over the R3 for video: the ability to capture Canon C-Log2.

Pricing and Availability

The Canon EOS R1, first teased in and now fully unveiled today, will not, won’t arrive in stores until sometime this fall. When it lands following its lengthy teaser-to-launch period, the Canon R1 will cost $6,299, putting it into the same price category as the Sony a9 III ($5,999). The Canon EOS R1 will launch for $200 less than the R3 did in 2021, although that camera is now down to $4,500 following a permanent price reduction and subsequent Canon discount.

Image credits: Canon