What will Canon bring to the table with the EOS R1?

[Joules]

If it was removed, then why do you think the A1 still has a 30 minute limit? I assumed it was because of the legal issue, but maybe it's because of a heat issue and Sony picked the 30 minute number to make people think it was a legal issue and therefore better "hide" a heat issue (albeit not as bad) that they have as well?

On the a1 it certainly is a limitation of the hardware, likely geting too hot. There is a bunch of recent Sony cameras that do not have the 30 minute limit anymore.

As for Canon, they either just maintain it as a mean of differentiation (Canon's second favorite thing in the world, following cash of course ) or they use some legacy hardware or software that they haven't updated since the tax got removed. Maybe the video encoding hardware is sourced from a provider that baked the limit into the hardware. And Canon also being a big fan of recycling may use that chip until they run out of stock or it becomes cheaper to switch sources to a newer design.

There's a bunch of possible explanations, but they are all speculation. Having to charge higher prices in EU countries is no longer an excuse to not offering unlimited recording though.

 

[Pape]

Would be cool if they can put global shutter to R7 too. they need it if wanting make smaller full frame camera what M serie ones.
Global shutter is now expensive ,but all they need is new production line and things may be very different. Can save money when no need mechanic shutter.

 

[arbitrage]

Seems like overheating isn't going to be an issue with the A1....

 

[juststeve]

Seems Canon is moving a lot more bits around than the Sony A1 at 8K. The 8K RAW figure is 2600 Mb/sec and for H265 4:2:2 10 bit it is from 680 to 1300 Mb/s. And those figures are for DCI and courtesy B&H. Could that mean there is a difference in output quality? Still photographer here. Don't know much about videoh.

 

[David - Sydney]

I think at least similar 20fps mechanical as the 1DX III so that would mean the same LP-E19 battery, so it's going to get bigger than an R5 with a vertical grip, and it wil have the smart-controller for both portrait and landscape orientation. They may decide to remove the two joysticks as it is not really necessary anymore.

The rear touch screen can move the focus point much faster than the joystick but that is only in landscape orientation. Does the smart controller provide equivalent control?
I am finding that I don't use the joystick very much now on my R5. Too many other options with 3 wheels/dials (plus lens ring) and the touch features of the LCD.

 

[Billybob]

Personally, I would like to see the following features: 1) quad-pixel AF; 2) Integrated Vertical Grip; 3) 30-40 MP sensor with excellent high ISO quality; 4) top fps of 25 fps with no drop in bit depth; 5) an electronic shutter with adjustable speed so one can go silent at lower speeds; 6) Spot metering linked to focus point; 7) global shutter to remove rolling shutter; 8) two type B CFExpress slots, 9) Rugged construction and weather sealing similar to 1D series.

To me it's all about AF performance: locking on, tracking, stickiness. Tony Northrup in his rushed initial A1 review reports disappointing birding results. The camera needs to be better not worst than the A9.

So, for the R1, 20fps electronic is plenty. Quad-pixel AF if it truly provides AF improves, yes! Read speed has to be dramatically improved over the R5. When the speed of the target speeds up, and moves erratically, the R5 is hopeless. The A9 is almost as good as an OVF in keeping up. I don't know if Canon can design around Sony's stacked-sensor patents--it took long enough for Canon to circumvent the patents that prevented it from improving sensor DR--but Canon needs to speed up this significant juncture.

And let's stay with the type B CFE cards. Two slots preferably, but I can live with one.

Body style is not that important to me except that I don't want a hulking 1DX beast of a camera. If a built in battery grip is required (why?), let's keep the entire package close to the same size of a R5 with optional grip or not much bigger.

I for one, like 45+ MP. When I was still in the Sony camp, I begged for a 36MP sensor, but now that I've seen the A1, I've gotten greedy.

Add the super-fast flash sync for icing, and keep the price under $7k U.S., and I'm there.

 

[padam]

The rear touch screen can move the focus point much faster than the joystick but that is only in landscape orientation. Does the smart controller provide equivalent control?
I am finding that I don't use the joystick very much now on my R5. Too many other options with 3 wheels/dials (plus lens ring) and the touch features of the LCD.

From what I've seen, it pretty much combines the advantages of the two, it works with the rear LCD as well for pulling focus in video and of course for portrait orientation you have a second smart controller on the grip.
I still like to enjoy manual lenses and with the magnified view, the touch and drag moves the area in reverse direction just like it was on previous R models. It is (still) useless like this, and makes the joystick useful...

 

[EOS 4 Life]

You want 30FPS? It has to be compressed raw or heif or jpg.

30 FPS HEIF would be quite impressive.
I highly doubt A1 could do that

 

[EOS 4 Life]

Doesn't seem necessary , especially as the R1 is probably stills focused

R1 should be a high-speed shooter.
If it shoots 30 FPS then that would be as demanding as video

 

[EOS 4 Life]

IDK who Sony is fooling, but the A1 isn't a sports camera and shouldn't be priced like one.

R1 is priced like a flagship.
Sony has decided that their flagship camera should be a jack of all trades camera.
It is the one camera for people who only want one camera.
I am not sure if Canon or Nikon need to respond to it with a similar camera.

 

[navastronia]

R1 is priced like a flagship.
Sony has decided that their flagship camera should be a jack of all trades camera.
It is the one camera for people who only want one camera.
I am not sure if Canon or Nikon need to respond to it with a similar camera.

The R5 has similar specs and costs $2500 less; simply being expensive doesn't make something a flagship. Where is the tough build and vertical grip?

 

[SteveC]

The R5 has similar specs and costs $2500 less; simply being expensive doesn't make something a flagship. Where is the tough build and vertical grip?

Sure it can be a flagship. Just not of a first rate navy.

 

[kaihp]

Given that motorsports seasons are going to start(WRC has already started and both F1 and MotoGP are expected to have longer seasons than normal) and high probability of Olympics being cancelled(as mentioned before) even if Canon announces R1 I expect to see it being used to cover motorsports season.

You're thinking 2022 motorsports seasons, right? The R1 surely won't show up before the start of the 2021 seasons (MotoGP starts at the end of March)

 

[EOS 4 Life]

The R5 has similar specs and costs $2500 less; simply being expensive doesn't make something a flagship. Where is the tough build and vertical grip?

Top price indeed determines whether or not something is a flagship.
Sony gets to decide what they present as a flagship.
You get to decide if it is worthy of that designation.

 

[Chaitanya]

You're thinking 2022 motorsports seasons, right? The R1 surely won't show up before the start of the 2021 seasons (MotoGP starts at the end of March)

For 2021 season F1 is committed to hosting 22(it was supposed to be 23 but China has been dropped ) races this year and 20 races for MotoGP draft 2021 calendar. I remember in promotional videos of one of 1Dx series of cameras featured a trackside photographer covering Monaco GP couple of days before launch. Even in case of latest EF 70-200mm f2.8L it was in use with F1 trackside photographers(it had changed paint so it was quite easy to spot, watch the post race celebrations of Monaco GP 2018)
So if Canon launches or is planning to launch R1 we will certainly see it being used by trackside and team photographers in motorsports.

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[Bert63]

Seems like overheating isn't going to be an issue with the A1....

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In Northrup's test it overheated in 16 minutes.

Then he put it into "disregard all heat warnings and cook the internals" mode and he was running about an hour. This is no different from the Sony solution in previous camera bodies - if you don't like heat warnings you can adjust the point at which they come on...

 

[kaihp]

For 2021 season F1 is committed to hosting 22(it was supposed to be 23 but China has been dropped ) races this year and 20 races for MotoGP draft 2021 calendar. I remember in promotional videos of one of 1Dx series of cameras featured a trackside photographer covering Monaco GP couple of days before launch. Even in case of latest EF 70-200mm f2.8L it was in use with F1 trackside photographers(it had changed paint so it was quite easy to spot, watch the post race celebrations of Monaco GP 2018)
So if Canon launches or is planning to launch R1 we will certainly see it being used by trackside and team photographers in motorsports.

Ah, so what you're saying that the R1 would be used for F1 and MotoGP this year before the actual announcement and launch, right?

In that case we're in violent agreement. I thought you meant that the R1 would be announced/launched before the F1 & MotoGP 2021 seasons kicks off.

 

[Chaitanya]

Ah, so what you're saying that the R1 would be used for F1 and MotoGP this year before the actual announcement and launch, right?

In that case we're in violent agreement. I thought you meant that the R1 would be announced/launched before the F1 & MotoGP 2021 seasons kicks off.

Yes, we should see R1 trackside at WRC, MotoGP, and F1 if Canon is close to launch or announcing R1 this year. Getting feedback from photographers to work out the kinks(these should be firmware fixes) for final launch.

 

[LSXPhotog]

Have you experimented with the HEIF file format at all ?
Looks to have similar editing flexibility to raw but with small file size like jpegs.

I have no desire to deal with HEIF files until their natively supported in file explorers and don't need to be tossed into Adobe Bridge/Photoshop/Lightroom just to look at them...at that point, I just shoot RAW.

 

[LSXPhotog]

I struggle to understand these arguments about file size. A 128 Gb CFx card will hold about 2,800 RAWs and the cost of hard drives goes down every day. The one time you need to crop in and save a picture is worth it. You don't take an Instamatic to a wedding because you seldom need high resolution but you take a high-end camera because it minimizes the number of times you have to say I'm sorry that your first kiss was fuzzy because I lost track of time and was in the back of the church when it happened! The reason professional photographers buy the best is that you prepare for every eventuality that you can so if your 45Mp sensor saves your behind once, it's worth it and all the wasted file space is forgotten.

It's has nothing to do with storage and space and everything to do with processing power. I have modern i7s in my laptops and a Ryzen 7 in my desktop - unpacking 2,000-4,000 cRAW or RAW files from the R5 is cumbersome still...and in Lightroom, they can take hours to create previews for - so I often don't. This isn't enjoyable, especially when I only have 10-15 minutes where I can come into a media tower and offload my cards and start quick processing for whoever I'm working for. With the 1DX, this was never a problem at all because of the 20mp resolution where I shot RAW exclusively at all my races. I could offload the card, import to Lightroom, filter by rating, throw a quick edit on all of them, and start the export and deliver quickly. This process - an incredibly large use case for professionals - is dramatically slowed down. So this is why I would love to have the option to say "I don't need 45mp right now" and be able to shoot 20-24mp when I wanted. Ask any wedding photographer if they prefer a D750 or a D850....or a A7III or an A7RIV....or an R6 or an R5. I think an overwhelming majority will take the D750, A7III, and R6.