Canon EOS Rumors

Canon EOS R7 Mark II to Drop The Mechanical Shutter?

Craig Blair
Craig Blair
56 Comments
3 Min Read

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

The stuff that hits our inbox about the Canon EOS R7 Mark II and/or EOS R7 V are all over the place. It’s been a while since we’ve had a hard time parsing wishlists with what might actually be true.

Contents

A couple of days ago we received information from a retailer that we know, but they have had some overzealous employees in the past.

No Mechanical Shutter?

One of the most interesting and fairly consistent claims is that the EOS R7 Mark II won’t come with a mechanical shutter.

Eventually, there won’t be an RF mount camera with a mechanical shutter, it’s just the way things are going to evolve. Nikon made the choice years ago with their professional Z8 and Z9 cameras.

Canon chose to keep the mechanical shutter in what they consider their professional cameras in the EOS R5 Mark II and EOS R1.A decision we’re happy they made for this generation of pro cameras. It’s almost guaranteed that the next iterations won’t have one anymore.

The Canon EOS R3 Mechanical Shutter

The EOS R7 Mark II is a great place to start.

We think the prosumer 7-series would be a great place to start removing the mechanical shutter from the RF line-up. The sensor in the EOS R7 Mark II is going to have the readout speed to handle what is rumored to be a 40fps eletronic shutter.

The mechanical shutter mechanism is probably one of the pricier parts of a camera body outside of the image sensor and DIGIC processors. It’s also a moving part that will die eventually if used enough.

I’ll always love the sound of a mechanical shutters and it was fun to blind guess what camera made the sound.

I do hope Canon doesn’t spend any time on coming up with a a fake mechanical shutter sound. Car companies didn’t get the memo!

Rumored Canon EOS R7 Mark II Specifications

  • 32.2mp APS-C Sensor
  • No mechanical shutter
  • 40fps in electronic shutter
  • 6K RAW Video
  • Active cooling
  • EOS R5 Mark II body size and layout

Summary

We don’t know the source, but the way the information was presented and that it wasn’t sent anonymously we think made it worth posting. There is no historical blueprint to go off of here.

We hope to hear more soon from this source to be able to raise the confidence level.

Just a random thought, what if the EOS R6 Mark III is the first to drop the mechanical shutter?

Go to discussion...

TAGGED:
Share This Article
Avatar photo
ByCraig Blair
Craig is the founder and editorial director for Canon Rumors. He has been writing about all things Canon for more than 17 years. When he's not writing, you can find him shooting professional basketball and travelling the world looking for the next wildlife adventure. The Canon EOS R1 is his camera of choice.
Previous Article Canon RF 100-300mm f/2.8L IS USM $8549 (Reg $9499)
Next Article Fujifilm Introduces The Range-Finder Styled FUJIFILM X-E5

56 comments

  3. I guess that for the younger generations whose first encounter with photography is mostly from the mobile phone, the transition to a camera without mechanical shutter could well be more natural. For those of us old enough to start photography first with a camera, the shutter sound and feel would be a nostalgic throwback more than for usage reason. And yes, haptic feedback (@David-Sydney) would be good for me too.
  4. I guess that for the younger generations whose first encounter with photography is mostly from the mobile phone, the transition to a camera without mechanical shutter could well be more natural. For those of us old enough to start photography first with a camera, the shutter sound and feel would be a nostalgic throwback more than for usage reason. And yes, haptic feedback (@David-Sydney) would be good for me too.
    I believe that electronic shutters have the option to make a slight sound when they click. Either way, mechanical shutters will fade out...
  5. I believe that electronic shutters have the option to make a slight sound when they click. Either way, mechanical shutters will fade out...
    The R5ii and R1 allow you to choose simulated sounds for the ES.
  6. While the latest specs seem really encouraging, especially the R5Mkii size and layout for the body, if combined with a CF Express and decent Buffer, I really hope they don't drop the mechanical shutter on this generation.
    While I fully appreciate that this will come eventually, personally I'm not quite there yet on things like rolling shutter and the protection that the mechanical shutter provides when changing lenses.
    I know at least one Nikon shooter that moved to the R5mkii over the Z8/9 due to a combination of mechanical shutter and the lure of the RF100-500.
    I really hope the R7 Mkii finally delivers a worthy successor to the 7Dmkii and allows me to retire mine.
  8. Re: I do hope Canon doesn’t spend any time on coming up with a a fake mechanical shutter sound.
    To each their own, for me I am the exact opposite. I have the audible click enabled on my R6 Mark II as it's reassuring to hear it is shooting away when the machine gun is audible. Often I am too busy staring at the subject to check my peripheral vision can see the white border lines flashing in the EVF when the shutter is firing. One less place to look in the viewfinder when I am shooting is a plus for me. All electronic shutter mode cameras should have the option to enable sound when the shutter is fired. What would also be VERY useful is to have the option to leave the electronic level marks visible during electronic shutter firing. It annoys the crap out of me that the level disappears during shooting especially when panning.
  9. To each their own, for me I am the exact opposite. I have the audible click enabled on my R6 Mark II as it's reassuring to hear it is shooting away when the machine gun is audible. Often I am too busy staring at the subject to check my peripheral vision can see the white border lines flashing in the EVF when the shutter is firing. One less place to look in the viewfinder when I am shooting is a plus for me. All electronic shutter mode cameras should have the option to enable sound when the shutter is fired. What would also be VERY useful is to have the option to leave the electronic level marks visible during electronic shutter firing. It annoys the crap out of me that the level disappears during shooting especially when panning.
    Same here, I have it on the lowest volume setting. It is just the right amount of feedback for me, especially when I set down the camera and something pushes the shutter button. 30fps + CFe will full up your card really fast when that happens!
  10. If Canon drop the mechanical shutter on the R7mk2 then I hope they improve the sensor readout speed significantly. As a wildlife photographer who likes to shoot small song birds, the electronic shutter is often useless due to the rolling shutter causing bird wings to look deformed. ES is fine for me 95% of the time, but the other 5% of the time I either need an MS or an ES with faster readout.
  11. If Canon drop the mechanical shutter on the R7mk2 then I hope they improve the sensor readout speed significantly. As a wildlife photographer who likes to shoot small song birds, the electronic shutter is often useless due to the rolling shutter causing bird wings to look deformed. ES is fine for me 95% of the time, but the other 5% of the time I either need an MS or an ES with faster readout.

    Readout speed won't be an issue with Canon going forward. It's even easier to do than with full-frame cameras. Less heat and all that.

    I recently needed a mechanical shutter. There were weird halogen lights at a venue.... 4 or 5 of the lights were flickering at different rates. I had to switch to mechanical.

    Is there a way to solve that annoyance? I don't know.

    For wildlife.... there won't be an issue, not even with wing beats of birds.
  12. If Canon drop the mechanical shutter on the R7mk2 then I hope they improve the sensor readout speed significantly. As a wildlife photographer who likes to shoot small song birds, the electronic shutter is often useless due to the rolling shutter causing bird wings to look deformed. ES is fine for me 95% of the time, but the other 5% of the time I either need an MS or an ES with faster readout.
    Absolutely - that is the primary reason for using the mechanical shutter. But if the readout is much faster than the present R7, then it really isn't needed any more.
  13. Genuine question: If the rolling shutter of a CMOS sensor is faster than the mechanical shutter, is there still any benefit left to the latter?

    I don't mean things like sensor protection when one changes lenses, but photographic benefits.
  14. Absolutely - that is the primary reason for using the mechanical shutter. But if the readout is much faster than the present R7, then it really isn't needed any more.
    Oh 100% yes I agree, best case would be if they give the mk2 a faster readout and remove the mechanical shutter entirely. Another bonus with that would be for the raw burst mode (or pre-shot or whatever it's called). I would love to use it to get shots of birds taking off from a perch, but rolling shutter makes it useless to me as it currently stands.
  16. This is terrible news! Us R7 users have grown used to our machine gun like staccato of shutter noise and use it to communicate in the wild via Morse code.
    Just buy a used 1D X – the sound will carry much farther.
  17. Readout speed won't be an issue with Canon going forward. It's even easier to do than with full-frame cameras. Less heat and all that.

    I recently needed a mechanical shutter. There were weird halogen lights at a venue.... 4 or 5 of the lights were flickering at different rates. I had to switch to mechanical.

    Is there a way to solve that annoyance? I don't know.

    For wildlife.... there won't be an issue, not even with wing beats of birds.
    If the electronic shutter truly can’t handle this special case, then it’s perfectly fine to stick with the traditional mechanical shutter design—even if it’s just the same mechanical shutter from the R7M1.
  18. If they can get the readout time down to sub-5ms, get rid of the shutter, no problem. The only time I ever use mechanical shutter on my R5ii is for flash, and that's maybe 3-4% of usage for me. BUT, the R7 is not a portrait/flash kind of camera, so nobody is ever going to miss it.
  19. — even if it’s just the same mechanical shutter from the R7M1.
    Oh no. Please, not that shutter. It is very badly damped, both when it comes to sound and to vibrations. I rather take the shutter from 7DII if we are going to reuse a prior design. Even including the mirror swapping up and down, the 7DII felt and sounded much better damped than the R7.
    And I got my first full-day >500 shots with the R7 ruined because of shutter-shock.

Leave a comment

Please log in to your forum account to comment

LATEST POSTS

Canon RF 300 f/2.8 with a Built-in Extender?
Canon Patents
Canon PowerShot V1 $649 (Reg $849)
Deal Zone
Oben GH-30C Carbon Fiber Gimbal Head $169 (Reg $299)
Deal Zone
Eric Fossum Receives the 2026 Draper Prize for his Invention of “Camera on a Chip”
Industry News
Ricoh GR IV Goes Monochrome
Industry News
Peak Design Carbon Fiber Tripod
15% Off Peak Design Gear at B&H Photo
Deal Zone