“Ahead of the game” is the marketing strapline for the exciting new Canon EOS R1 flagship mirrorless camera.
With its integrated vertical grip design, the EOS R1 is very clearly the mirrorless equivalent of the EOS-1DX Mark III DSLR camera. It is designed to be the ultimate full-frame professional-level sports and wildlife camera.
The equally new 45-megapixel EOS R5 Mark II is positioned as the company’s high-resolution offering, with the Canon R1 instead focusing almost entirely on out-and-out speed.
It features a brand new 24.2 megapixel full-frame back-illuminated stacked CMOS sensor with a 16 point low-pass filter, up from 20 megapixels on the EOS-1DX Mark III, and the very latest DIGIC X processor and DIGIC Accelerator dual image processors.
The native ISO range runs from 100-102,400, which can be expanded to ISO 50-204,800, and the top shutter speed is 1/64,000sec when using the electronic shutter. In-camera upscaling enlarges up to 4x the initial resolution with no degradation in quality, while deep learning noise reduction reduces noise by 2 stops.
Burst shooting speeds are rated at 40fps continuous shooting with the electronic shutter or 12fps with the mechanical shutter. Pre-continuous shooting up to 20 frames (Raw or JPEG/HEIF) is available before fully pressing the shutter button.
It has a blackout-free electronic viewfinder with 9.44M dot resolution and 0.9x magnification. The upgraded eye control AF feature lets you select focus points or subjects to track simply by looking at them in the electronic viewfinder.
Compared to the R3 model on which this feature first made its debut, eye control AF on the R1 offers improved performance thanks to a higher pixel count sensor, improved LEDs, larger eye detection area, an updated detection algorithm, and 2x faster eye movement detection speed.
The new Dual Pixel Intelligent AF system offers an advanced tracking algorithm that can detect subject crossing/upper half of body and avoid obstacles by estimating the head area.
The new Action Priority subject tracking mode uses deep learning tech for football, basketball and volleyball to detect where the action is and move the AF point to that subject at up to 60fps. It can quickly detect and identify multiple people, status of joints and ball positions and automatically determine the main subject and action poses, depending on the sport.
Subject tracking can now recognise horses, aeroplanes and trains in addition to people, animals and motorsport vehicles when shooting both photo and videos.
The Registered People Priority mode can detect and prioritise up to 10 faces even in side profile, useful for sports, news and weddings, with the ability to save 10 files on a memory card each with 10 registered faces.
Cross-type AF is supported for the first time on an R-series camera, with both vertical and horizontal line detection on-board. The Canon R1 can focus down to -7.5EV and it has a special 2-stage AF-On button.
There is up to 8.5-stops of image stabilisation available via a combination of the camera’s in-body Image Stabiliser which works in tandem with the attached lens’s own stabilisation system. High precision white balance and metering with up to 6,144 metering zones ensures that even the smallest of subjects are perfectly exposed.
The key video specs for the Canon R1 are 6K 60p RAW in-camera, 4K 120p, 4K 60p oversampled from 6K, and 2K or Full HD at 240p in XF-HEVC S / XF-AVC S formats. It offers 16+ stops of dynamic range, minimal rolling shutter, Canon Log-2 / Log-3 / HLG profiles, custom pictures, proxy movie support and 4-channel 24-bit audio.
You can shoot video and stills at the same time on the EOS R1, even whilst using continuous shooting. It has a full size HDMI port and dual CFexpress type B memory card slots along with a 2.5Gbps Ethernet port, Wi-Fi 6E connectivity and dual threaded FTP transfer.
The Multi-Function Shoe provides data communication and power for accessories such as the ST-E10 Speedlite Transmitter, DM-E1D Stereo Microphone, and AD-P1 Smartphone Link Adapter, as well as acting as a traditional hotshoe for existing Speedlites and triggers via the AD-E1 Multi-Function Shoe Adapter.
Canon claim that the R1 outperforms the similar EOS R3 model in every area whilst weighing in 100g lighter. The Canon R1’s magnesium alloy body is both dust- and weather-resistant, just like the EOS-1DX Mark III, with both cameras offering the same level of weather-proofing as each other. whilst being around 300g lighter than its DSLR equivalent.
The Canon EOS R1 is priced at £6999 body only in the UK and €7999 in Europe. It is made in Japan.
We were able to briefly test a beta version of the EOS R1 camera, paired with the Canon RF 400mm f/2.8 L IS USM prime lens. So read on for our Canon R1 review so far, complete with full-size sample JPEG and RAW photos for you to download and evaluate.
This is a selection of sample images from the Canon EOS R1 camera, which were all taken using the 24.2 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.
The Canon EOS R1 enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We’ve provided some Canon RAW (CR3) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).
Listed below are some of the rivals of the Canon EOS R1.
The Canon EOS R3 is a professional full-frame mirrorless camera for sports and action photographers that features a 24 megapixel stacked BSI sensor, 6K/60p Raw and 4K/120p video recording, 30fps burst shooting, eye-control autofocusing and a dual-grip design. Read our in-depth Canon R3 review complete with full-size sample photos and videos to find out just what the all-action R3 is capable of…
The EOS R5 Mark II is the eagerly awaited successor to Canon’s hottest full-frame camera, the R5, which was released way back in 2020. Still offering 45 megapixel resolution and 8K video, the R5 II ups the ante by greatly improving the auto-focus system, burst shooting speeds, image stabilisation and video recording performance. Check out our Canon R5 Mark II review so far, complete with full-size sample JPEG and RAW photos!
The X-H2S is the fastest, most capable APS-C sensor camera that Fujifilm have ever released, but it’s also by far the most expensive. Find out exactly what this new flagship camera is capable of and who it’s aimed at by reading our complete Fuji XH2S review complete with full-size JPEG, Raw and video samples.
As the spiritual successor to the popular D850 DSLR, the new Z8 full-frame mirrorless camera could turn out to be one of the most important products that Nikon have ever released. Read our in-depth Nikon Z8 review, complete with full-size sample photos and videos, to find out more about this mirrorless marvel…
The Nikon Z9 is a professional level, full-frame mirrorless camera for photographers and videographers that features a 45 megapixel stacked BSI sensor, 8K/30p and 4K/120p video recording, 30fps burst shooting and a dual-grip design. Read our in-depth Nikon Z9 review complete with full-size sample photos and videos to find out just what this flagship camera is capable of…
The new OM-1 flagship is both the last ever Olympus camera and the first ever OM System camera. Confused? Well no need to worry, as we take an in-depth look at what this new Micro Four Thirds flagship has to offer in our OM System OM-1 review, complete with full-size sample photos and videos…
“The power of one frame” – that’s the ethos of the new Sony A9 III, the first ever full-frame mirrorless camera to feature a global shutter. Why does that actually matter? This technological leap forwards allows the A9III to shoot at up to 1/80000th shutter speed with no distortion, provides flash-sync at any shutter speed, and offers a 120fps blackout-free burst mode at full 24 megapixel resolution. Read our early review of the revolutionary Sony A9 III to find out more, complete with sample photos.
