There’s best and there’s second-best…
When I first became a professional photographer, a friend told me I should either buy Canon or Nikon. I didn’t want to own anything made by a photocopier manufacturer, so I chose Nikon!
I now have a Nikon Z8 and a Sony ⍺1, but what about the Canon EOS R1? It’s been three years since the release of the R3, and the R1 is now supposed to be Canon’s flagship mirrorless camera. Am I tempted?
The short answer is no. It’s packed with all the latest features, but its major failing is the sensor size. I’m used to 45-50MP in a full-frame camera, not 24MP!
Key Points
If you want to know all the specifications of the R1, you can always visit the Canon R1 page on its website, but let’s start with a quick summary of the major pros and cons on paper.
Pros
Eye AF
40 fps
20 frames/half a second of pre-continuous shooting
Hi-res EVF
AF-ON buttons with fingerprint-reading sensors
Three custom presets
1/64000th of a second electronic shutter
100% AF coverage with cross-type sensors
Virtually unlimited buffer
Rugged and weather-sealed
Action Priority AF mode
Cons
Low resolution
Heavy
Bulky
Very expensive at an MSRP of $6,299!
Body and Handling
One of the strengths of Canon cameras over the years has been the ergonomics. They’ve had big, sturdy bodies that sit comfortably in the hand with plenty of buttons to access common tasks.
The R1 is no exception, mixing elements from the mirrorless R3 and the old 1D X Mark III DSLR. Here are a few neat features:
pre-continuous shooting for half a second (in in HEIF, JPEG or even RAW)
AF-ON button that doubles as a trackpad
9.44M-dot OLED viewfinder (comparable to the ⍺1’s)
A new green tab in menus for all shooting and playback customisation
dual CFexpress type B card slots (not a mix of CFexpress and SD slots)
LP-E19 battery worth 700 shots per charge (60% more than on the R3)
However, the price for all that is a body that weighs 100g more than the R3 and is 8mm wider and 7mm higher. You might say these are trivial differences, but the picture changes when you compare the R1 to other high-end mirrorless cameras without built-in battery packs, such as the Nikon Z8 and the Sony ⍺1.
If you want to be able to shoot wildlife handheld with a long lens, there comes a point when all that weight is just too much. With a smaller camera like the ⍺1, I can basically hold it for longer before my arms get too tired!
Now, I do most of my photography on game drives from a safari truck, but there are still times when I want to walk around and photograph birds in flight, for example, so I prefer the flexibility of the ⍺1 or Z8.
If I want to shoot in portrait mode or I’m going to be out all day in the bush, I can always bolt on the optional battery pack.
Optics
The R1 has at its heart a new 24.2MP stacked CMOS sensor. It has a much faster readout speed than the R3 at 2.8ms (1/360th) versus nearly 5ms. That allows the R1 to eradicate rolling shutter and achieve a Raw frame rate of 40 fps. That beats the R3’s 30 fps—although it can rise to 195 fps if you lock the autofocus and exposure.
In addition, the sensor has cross-type photosites across the entire frame, which is a first for Canon. This should make it easier to detect both horizontal and vertical lines.
I haven’t had a chance to play with the R1 yet, so I don’t know what the actual images look like, but I’m sure it’ll provide the kind of image quality you might expect from a flagship Canon camera.
At this stage of the mirrorless race, the major manufacturers—Canon, Nikon and Sony—all produce high-end cameras with nothing much to choose between them in terms of sharpness, contrast, dynamic range, colour saturation, rolling shutter effect and low light capability.
Apart from the ⍺1’s lack of pre-release capture, the only difference seems to be in the trade-off between speed and resolution. Sony now makes the sensors for the Nikon Z9 and Z8 as well as their own models, and the benefit is a 45-50MP sensor with a high enough readout speed to support frame rates of up to 30 fps. In fact, the ⍺9 III now has a global shutter that offers up to 120 fps!
It seems to me that Canon has tried its best to match that kind of performance but has ultimately had to throw in the towel. It has resigned itself to producing a camera that doesn’t beat the competition hands-down.
The only way Canon engineers could find to offer a 40 fps camera was to compromise on the sensor resolution. That’s all very well if you’re a sports journalist looking for a replacement for your old 1 DX Mark III, but it doesn’t quite cut the mustard for a wildlife photographer.
Birds and animals are often skittish and observed from a distance. Without a high-resolution sensor, it’s harder to crop in during post-production, and that’s a crucial part of the workflow.
Autofocus
The addition of cross-type AF across the entire frame is a useful benefit that should speed up focus acquisition for a range of subjects. However, the R1’s big advantage over its Nikon and Sony competitors is Eye Control Auto Focus (or Eye AF).
This is the same as what you got on the R3 and should really be called Mind Control AF! Sensors monitor the movement of your eye and automatically move the focus point to whatever you’re looking at in the frame. It needs to be calibrated beforehand, and many users have complained that it just doesn’t work.
However, it’s a potential game changer. Autofocus has always been one of the key determinants of which camera you should buy, and if the R1 can manage to iron out the kinks in the system and make it work seamlessly for everyone, that would give the camera a unique selling point that the competition would struggle to match.
It makes it much quicker and easier to select between multiple subjects, which is crucial in fast-moving situations. It also works in conjunction with the subject detection system so that you don’t have to look at the subject the whole time to keep it in focus.
If you’d prefer a different AF method, you can always use the touchscreen to tap on a particular subject or move the AF point by brushing your thumb over the AF-ON multi-controller button.
Another new feature is Action Priority AF mode. This is very useful for sports photography as the camera uses machine learning to analyse a scene and work out the most important subject in complex situations, such as who the player with the ball is. However, it’s only been trained on sports so far, so it doesn’t apply to wildlife photography. Shame…
Video
Canon cameras have always had a good reputation for video, and the R1 offers many different formats and protocols. Here’s a quick summary of the main options:
Movie types
MP4 Video: 4K DCI/ UHD (17:9 / 16:9), Full HD (16:9)
4K/ Full HD: HEVC S/H.265, Audio: Linear PCM / AAC
4K/ Full HD: MPEG-4 AVC S/H.264, Audio: Linear PCM / AAC
6K RAW: 12-bit CRM Audio: Linear PCM / AAC
Movie sizes
6K DCI (17:9) 6000 x 3164 (59.94, 50, 29.97, 25, 24, 23.98 fps) RAW, Light RAW
4K DCI (17:9) 4096 x 2160 (59.94, 50, 29.97, 25, 24, 23.98 fps) LGOP / High Quality intra frame / intraframe / light intra frame
4K UHD (16:9) 3840 x 2160 (119.88, 100, 59.94, 50, 29.97, 25, 23.98 fps) LGOP / High Quality intra frame / intraframe / light intra frame
2K DCI (17:9) 2048 x 1080 (239.76, 200, 119.88, 100, 59.94, 50, 29.97, 25, 24, 23.98 fps) LGOP / intraframe
Full HD (16:9) 1920 x 1080 (239.76, 200, 119.88, 100, 59.94, 50, 29.97, 25, 23.98 fps) LGOP / intraframe
Canon Log
Custom Picture: C1: Canon 709
C2: Canon Log 2
C3: Canon Log 3
C4: PQ
C5: HLG
C6: BT.709 Standard
C7 - C20: User Defined
The Canon EOS R5 used to have so many problems with overheating that the company had to bring out the R5 C model with a cooling fan in place of the IBIS system. However, the R1 has no such problems—unless you want a high frame rate.
The maximum recording duration is six hours, and there’s no 4 GB file limit with an exFAT formatted memory card. Heat is only a problem with high bitrates, and the camera will shut down after 46 minutes of shooting in Full HD 240p or 15 minutes in 4K 120p LGOP.
The video functionality is improved by a few other specific options:
Dual Pixel Intelligent AF with Eye/Face Detection and Tracking AF
Pre-recording (3 or 5 seconds)
Frame grab
Time-lapse movie recording
Movie digital IS coordinated control
False colour waveform monitor, zebras, tally lamp
Verdict
There’s no doubt that the Canon EOS R1 is a very capable camera. It offers Eye AF, 40 fps and a bundle of attractive features, plus access to Canon’s whole range of mirrorless RF lenses.
However, it’s let down by the resolution of the sensor, and this is especially disappointing given the three-year wait since the R3. As a result, the press coverage has focused on the lack of game-changing features rather than its overall strengths.
That might be a little unfair, but I just can’t recommend a camera that only has a 24MP sensor, no matter how clever it is in other ways. And that’s a shame. Let’s hope Canon solves its sensor problems for the next release. Its engineers might make a breakthrough, or it might have to go crawling to Sony for access to global shutter technology.
After all, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em…!
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