Preview: Canon EOS R1

Wednesday 17 July 2024, 12:06 by Elja Trum | 2,414 views | 1 comment

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

The Canon EOS R1 is Canon's brand-new flagship. It sits one step above the Canon EOS R3 and is the mirrorless successor to the professional Canon EOS 1D line. Last week, I was able to put the camera through its paces.

Canon EOS R1 specifications

- 24.2-megapixel full-frame BSI CMOS sensor
- Sensitivity: 100 - 102,400 ISO (expandable: 50 - 409,600)
- Image stabilisation up to 8.5 stops
- DIGIC X processor and DIGIC Accelerator
- Electronic viewfinder: 0.64-inch OLED (9.44 million dots)
- Display: 3.2-inch (2.1 million dots)
- Video: up to 6K at 60 fps
- Up to 40 photos per second (12 with the mechanical shutter)
- 2x CFexpress memory card slots

The first thing that stands out about the R1 is how big it is. It is a huge beast of a camera. In terms of size, I think it is comparable to, for example, the Canon EOS 1Dx.

Canon EOS R5 mark II versus Canon EOS R1
Personally, I find a camera like this rather large, but there are plenty of photographers who will be very happy with it. It is probably just a matter of getting used to it.

Huge viewfinder

The second thing that stands out, as soon as you press the camera to your eye, is the huge electronic viewfinder. It has a magnification of 0.9x, which is truly enormous. The large and bright viewfinder (9.44 million dots) is very pleasant to work with.

When taking your photos, there is no 'blackout'. The image does not go black, but remains visible while you take photos. If you want, you can set it so that a black image briefly indicates that you have taken a photo.


The Canon EOS R1 is a camera made for news and sports photographers. For news photography, this is mainly because of its many networking options. You can send photos quickly.

Sports photography

For sports photographers, it is clear too: this camera can take up to 40 photos per second. It is incredibly fast. Inside the camera, just as in the R5 mark II, you will find the new DIGIC Accelerator processor alongside the usual DIGIC X processor.

Both cameras also have the new version of Dual Pixel CMOS, Dual Pixel Intelligent AF. This version of Dual Pixel autofocus has, for the first time, rotated pixels on the sensor too (1 in 4). This makes the autofocus work better when the camera is held in portrait orientation.

The R1 also has the new 'Action Priority' function. This automatically selects the most important player during a football, basketball or volleyball match. The camera follows the ball, looks at the people in possession of it and focuses on them.

Other sports should also be added in the future through firmware updates.

Pre-shooting

Like the R5 mark II, the Canon EOS R1 also has a handy pre-shooting function. As soon as you half-press the shutter button, the camera starts taking photos continuously. You barely notice this, apart from the counter showing the number of photos still available.

The R1 can store up to 20 photos in its buffer. When you press the shutter button fully, the 20 photos that have already been taken are saved too. If you do not press it, those 20 most recent photos are simply deleted from the memory.

This handy function makes it possible to wait for the right moment in, for example, sports photography. As a photographer, you do not have to predict when something is going to happen. You follow your subject and, when something happens, you press the shutter button. You then still have the moment that has just passed captured.

You have 20 photos at your disposal, so depending on the speed you have set, this gives you a buffer of at least 0.5 seconds, at 40 photos per second.

Eye control

The EOS R1 also offers eye control. When you enable this, a yellow circle appears in your electronic viewfinder. You can move this circle around the viewfinder simply by looking somewhere.

When you half-press the shutter button, the autofocus automatically takes over the point you were looking at for focusing. It is not that precise, though. If you look at a person's body, the camera automatically selects that person's eye as the focus point.

This function was already found in the Canon EOS R3, but it is now twice as sensitive. I found it worked well during my tests. I can easily imagine this becoming the standard way of focusing for many photographers.

Provisional conclusion

The Canon EOS R1 is an impressive camera. In terms of size, but certainly also in terms of its capabilities. The question is perhaps whether you actually need the extra options this camera offers in practice.

The Canon EOS R5 mark II comes incredibly close in terms of the available functions. For video, the R5 mark II even seems like the better choice to me.

Whether the R1 is worth the extra cost depends entirely on how you are going to use the camera. As a news or sports photographer, I understand why you might choose the Canon EOS R1, but those are fairly specific target groups.

Canon has managed, in my view, to move its flagship over to the mirrorless R series as well.

Price and availability

The Canon EOS R1 will be available from November 2024 at a recommended retail price of 7499 euros.

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