Canon unveils fast flagship mirrorless camera EOS R1 for $6,300

Canon has officially unveiled the new mirrorless camera EOS R1 – the first flagship model in the EOS R family. The new product is equipped with a full-frame sensor and is aimed at professional photographers, photojournalists, including those working at sports events, naturalists, etc.

Image source: Canon

The developers equipped the EOS R1 with a 24.2-megapixel back-illuminated (BSI) sensor, which allows you to take high-quality images in low-light conditions. The full-frame sensor provides increased data readout speed, as well as reduced shutter time and improved autofocus performance.

Thanks to the new Digic Accelerator processor, Digic X main processor and fast sensor, the EOS R1 can read and analyze large amounts of data, which is the basis of Canon’s autofocus system. According to the manufacturer, the camera can distinguish between different sports, predict the movements of people in the frame and provide the best autofocus performance.

There is support for Eye Control AF, which allows the photographer to move the autofocus area through the viewfinder while looking at the spot he wants to focus on. The new camera makes this feature even better thanks to a larger OLED electronic viewfinder with 9.44 million pixels and 0.9x magnification.

Although the EOS R1 uses a 24-megapixel sensor, the camera can produce images with a resolution of up to 96 megapixels, but only in JPEG format. Machine learning-based algorithms are used to control the new noise reduction features. An artificial intelligence-based algorithm is also used to improve autofocus performance.

The EOS R1 is otherwise more traditional, but it remains Canon’s fastest camera as it can shoot at up to 40fps, producing full-resolution RAW images with autofocus when using the electronic shutter. When using a mechanical shutter, shooting speeds can reach 12 frames per second. The camera can take up to 20 frames in burst mode with a half-second pre-image capture.

The EOS R1 has two CFexpress Type B memory card slots, but both use the CFexpress 2.0 standard rather than the new CFexpress 4.0. Despite the potential performance gains, the CFexpress 4.0 standard is not yet used in any camera. In addition to this, there is a full-size HDMI connector and independent microphone and headphone jacks.

When it comes to video, the EOS R1 can shoot 4K videos at up to 60fps. The camera can record video in 6K format and also supports C-Log2 mode.

Retail sales of the Canon EOS R1 will begin this fall. Those wishing to purchase the new product will have to spend $6,299, which puts it in the same price category as the Sony a9 III, which costs $5,999. At the same time, the EOS R1 will cost $200 less than the EOS R3 released in 2021, which can now be purchased for $4,500.