5 months after its first announcement, the Canon EOS R3 has finally been officially launched, and now we know the missing parts of the professional camera data sheet. (Want to read our first impressions? Head over to our Canon EOS R3 practice test.) The EOS R3 is the most powerful mirrorless camera ever made by Canon and falls between the smaller Canon EOS R5 and the Canon EOS 1D X Mark III DSLR, although it is really the mirrorless successor to the latter. So what new things have we learned? We already knew that the EOS R3 was going to have a new stacked CMOS sensor and could shoot raw photos at thirty frames per second with full AF/AE tracking. Canon also previously discovered in a June "development announcement" that the EOS R3 would have new auto-following autofocus, an articulating touchscreen, 8-stops of In-Body Image Stabilization (IBIS) and the ability to shoot movies. 4K upsampled. But this full announcement gives us some key details, including its sensor's 24.1MP resolution, which helps us gauge exactly how advanced this action-oriented camera is, and how Canon's mirrorless technology stacks up against its Sony rivals. .
1. Has a 24,1 MP stacked sensor
As we suspected after some internet sleuths recovered EXIF data from some photos of the EOS R3 at the Olympic Games, Canon's new mirrorless camera features a stacked sensor with a 24,1MP resolution. That resolution might seem a bit stingy compared to the 1MP Sony A50, but the EOS R3 is primarily a sports and wildlife camera, and its resolution is higher than the 1MP Canon EOS 20.1D X Mark III, in the one professional photographers have gladly relied on. . the last eighteen months.
(Image credit: Canon) The most interesting thing about the sensor is that it's Canon's first "stacked" chip. Pioneered in Sony cameras such as the Sony A9 II, this design supports faster data read rates than standard BSI (back-illuminated) sensors, providing benefits for both continuous shooting and reduced rolling shutter in video. It's this stacked sensor that powers the EOS R30's 3fps shooting speeds, but also its ultra-fast maximum shutter speed of 1/64000th of a second. Canon has also confirmed that the EOS R3's electronic shutter can be synchronized with external flashes (up to 1/250th of a second).
2. Can record 6K raw video internally
Canon had revealed surprisingly little about the video powers of the EOS R3 until today. It certainly wasn't due to any hassle on Canon's part: the EOS R3 is shaping up to be a powerful professional camcorder. We already knew it would shoot upsampled 4K video and support Canon Log 3, a profile that gives color correctors improved dynamic range and editing flexibility. But now Canon has revealed that the EOS R3 can record 6K/60p raw video internally - a rare ability in mirrorless cameras - with the ability to capture in its CRM (Cinema Raw Light) format.
(Image credit: Canon) The Cinema Raw Light format comes from Canon cinema cameras and is a convenient way to reduce monstrous file sizes in raw video footage, without sacrificing image quality or rating margin. remarkable. The 4K/120p slow motion mode and the EOS R3's apparent ability to withstand the overheating issues that plagued the Canon EOS R5 in its early days may prove more useful to sports shooters. Canon says it can shoot up to six hours of standard frame rate video at a time, or 1.5 hours of 120p video (assuming you have enough memory card space and battery life).
3. You get the same viewfinder specs as the EOS R5
One of the most important camera features for professional sports photographers is the viewfinder. In January 2020, Canon told us that the reason it turned the 1D X Mark III into a DSLR, rather than a mirrorless camera, was the insurmountable problem of viewfinder lag with electronic viewfinders. As Canon told us, mirrorless technology "can never be as fast as a DSLR" because optical viewfinders work at the speed of light. Since the Canon EOS R3 isn't technically a replacement for the 1D X Mark III, it still can be. But it's still a bit of a surprise to see that the EOS R3 hasn't taken Canon's viewfinders any further; like the Canon EOS R5, it has a 5,76 million-dot electronic viewfinder with 0x magnification and a maximum refresh rate of 76fps. .
(Image credit: Canon) This is by no means your average viewfinder: In our Canon EOS R5 review we described it as "impressive and virtually indistinguishable from the optics found on digital SLRs." But that's still a notch lower than the Sony A9,44's 1 million-dot Quad-XGA OLED viewfinder, which has a 240fps refresh rate. Refresh rates determine how smooth movement in the viewfinder is, so this is an important spec for action shooting. The Sony A1 and Canon EOS R3 are very different cameras, but both are focused on sports and wildlife photography, and Sony is always ahead of the curve when it comes to EVF technology. In fact, a teardown of the Canon EOS R5 last year seemed to show that its viewfinder is made by Sony, which may be why Canon couldn't include a rival Sony A1 in the EOS R3.
FourMore the EOS R3 has a very high resolution rear screen
In a reverse viewfinder situation, the Canon EOS R3 easily outperforms the Sony A1 when it comes to the rear screen. We already knew that the R3's screen would be a fully articulating screen, which is ideal for video recorders. But Canon has now confirmed that the display has an impressive 4,15 million-dot resolution.
(Image credit: Canon) That's almost double the resolution of the rear screen of the Canon EOS R5 and a significantly higher resolution than the Sony A1,44's pitiful 1 million-dot monitor, which also only tilts up or down. For most professionals, a camera's viewfinder is arguably more important than the built-in screen (especially since videographers can add a large external monitor). But the quality of the EOS R3's rear screen is certainly a big plus for easily reviewing your images and navigating menus.
5. The multifunction shoe brings new accessories
Canon has added its equivalent of Sony's multi-interface accessory shoe, known as a multi-function accessory shoe, to the top of the EOS R3 and today introduces some of the accessories you can use with it. These two state-of-the-art media enable high-speed, two-way data transfer between the camera and compatible accessories. And the first new companions for the EOS R3 are a directional stereo microphone (DM-E1D) and a Speedlite transmitter (ST-E10). These two devices work with the camera instead of having to be charged separately, and the ST-E10 allows you to remotely control multiple Speedlite radio flashes.
(Image credit: Canon) One small downside to this new multi-shoe is that it doesn't create a completely waterproof seal, so you need the optional multi-shoe adapter accessory (AD-E1) if you want to establish a complete seal. However, it will be possible to mount other accessories to this adapter, including the Smartphone Link AD-P1 (arriving in 2022), which will allow you to mount an iOS or Android phone on top of and above the camera. Submit images via the new MFT Request.
6. Its burst shooting is on par with the Sony A1
Continuous shooting speeds depend on a wide range of factors, from ambient light to the lens you're using, so we have to take theoretical top speeds with a pinch of salt. But on paper, the Canon EOS R3 is certainly up there with the Sony A1 when it comes to speed and buffer depth. The EOS R3 can achieve maximum burst speeds of 30fps with full AE/AF tracking when shooting 14-bit RAW files, an impressive ability that has no doubt been unlocked by this new sensor stack.
(Image credit: Canon) Canon also revealed that its buffer can hold this for 540 JPEGs or 150 raw files, which should represent 18 seconds or five seconds of shooting, respectively. The Sony A1's numbers are similar here, with the flagship capable of sucking in around 400 JPEGs or 238 raw files, but that's something we'll have to test in the wild and there's still nothing to indicate how fast the buffer is. . delete. What's interesting about the Canon EOS R3 is that its mechanical shutter can “only” handle maximum burst shooting speeds of 12 frames per second. This is the same choice as the Canon EOS R5, lower than the 20 fps limit of the Canon 1D X Mark III – which I suggest that Canon thinks that the professions will have more than one computer on the electronic shutter for the prize of sight.
7. Eye Control's AF mode is a gimmick
Canon explained a bit more how its intriguing Eye Control AF system works, which moves the autofocus point to where you're looking in the viewfinder. And it looks like some limitations will make this a good niche, and maybe even just a fun gimmick. This new version of the "eye-guided AF" system we saw in the 1990s on the Canon EOS 3 SLR comes from Canon's medical division and is powered by eight energy-efficient LEDs in the viewfinder. These help track your eye and overlay that information on the camera sensor.
(Image credit: Canon) It was designed to help you acquire focus quickly, rather than following subjects around the frame. For example, at a race track, you can use it to choose a particular motorcycle to lock focus on, and then press the shutter button to start tracking the camera's focus. But Eye Control AF has some restrictions that may limit its usefulness in practice. The first is that it will need to be recalibrated for different scenes and lighting conditions. Another is that it may not work as well if you wear contact lenses or glasses. In other words, it could turn out to be the EOS R3's equivalent of the doomed Touch Bar we've seen on the Canon EOS R5, but we can't wait to try it out anyway.
8. It will cost less than the Sony A1 and 1D X Mark III
Finally, we now have a confirmed price for the Canon EOS R3 - it will be priced for the body only at €5,999 / £5,879 (around AU$9,500) and will be available to purchase from the end of November. It's not exactly...