More features and specifications for the Canon EOS R3 have emerged

[R1-7D]

That is interesting! 4k HQ in the R5 is down sampled 8k. If that's by definition. that's a pretty big doozy there! That might confirm both 8k and a 45mp sensor!!!

OR...could this just be a poorly constructed sentence by Canon's marketing people who are unaware of the implications of what high-quality (aka "HQ") 4K means? In other words, does the above sentence imply that there are two 4K quality modes -- HQ 4K and oversampled 4K -- or does it mean that Canon's 4K is simply high quality because it's oversampled?

 

[maulanawale]

The non-matching dual card slots really sucks especially at this price point. Makes me feel the resolution will be low as well. The R3 was looking to have a lot of potential for my next purchase until this news dump.

On the flip side, I really like the new body.

I used to spend more money on my camera gear until Canon started dragged their feet with the switch to mirrorless. The R5 is great but I've always been a 1 series fan. The R3 looked like a great compromise but now I feel I'll just wait.

Although I agree that non-matching card slots is a bummer, I don't necessarily see it as a confirmation of low-ish resolution. The Sony A7RIV has dual SD card slots, and even with Sony's poor buffer handling, with a fast enough SD it is just about usable with its 61Mpx ( I got rid of it because the buffer is wired to short circuit the camera ). So if the R3 was 45Mpx a UHS-II card would likely be just fine if the buffer is well implemented.
Hopefully not long now until we know!

 

[Emyr Evans]

And what if...it is dual digic?

Canon have stated ONE Digic X - exact same as R5.

 

[H. Jones]

I know we're all just throwing stuff at a wall right now, but I am increasingly hopeful that Canon will actually surprise us and break the mold a bit here.

I mean, the market for 1-series users remains for... the 1-series. The CF Express + SD card slots speak to a more consumer philosophy along the lines of the EOS R5. The eye control and flip screen speak to a more consumer philosophy. The removal of the lower rear LCD and removal of WFT accessory point(no backwards compatibility for those who already dropped $600 on one) speak to more of a consumer philosophy.

If Canon has always continued the 1-series to be exactly what it's always been since the beginning of time, why would they turn the 1-series into a 3-series?As some others have said, if this camera "bridges" the R5 and 1-series, I still bet that it will match or exceed the resolution of the R5.

I mean, what kinds of consumers buy the 1-series? Historically, you see it being sports and wildlife consumers, who would both appreciate additional reach, since this is the market that also often ends up buying the 7D, which was always formerly considered to be a consumer's 1D. If Canon makes the R3 about 50 megapixels, the 1.6x crop mode will be very close to the 7D Mark II resolution, which would be a huge boost for this camera towards that market.

If the 1-series R1 turns out to suddenly be high-resolution with tons of untested cutting edge tech, you could lose a lot of the routine "pay whatever it takes" 1-series buyers who know what they can expect and can trust their cameras, while appealing more towards consumers who are worried about resolution, who will ultimately buy the R5 or the R3 because it costs less.

I know AP photographers who are routinely infuriated by their A9s and use their old 1-series cameras. Those are the commercial customers who both have a limitless budget for the 1-series and do not want to be blindsided by tech the way the AP and Sony forced them into.

 

[EOS 4 Life]

I think the way Canon releases information is brilliant.
Releasing it all at once risks media outlets focusing on one thing or another.
Releasing it a little at a time forces the media to report on everything and keeps it in the news longer.

 

[padam]

Although I agree that non-matching card slots is a bummer, I don't necessarily see it as a confirmation of low-ish resolution. The Sony A7RIV has dual SD card slots, and even with Sony's poor buffer handling, with a fast enough SD it is just about usable with its 61Mpx ( I got rid of it because the buffer is wired to short circuit the camera ). So if the R3 was 45Mpx a UHS-II card would likely be just fine if the buffer is well implemented.
Hopefully not long now until we know!

The difference is that it does not shoot 30fps.
So it will be a lower megapixel count camera, that's pretty much a given, we just don't know how much.

People don't consider the upsides though: the better low-light AF, the internal RAW video which is way more useful if it is lower resolution (8K RAW is just unnecessary), also it will probably work up to 60p like on the 1DX III, but I guess they will not disable the AF in that mode.
That would make it the most powerful stills camera for video in Canon's lineup, I guess it may still have issues in that 60p RAW or full sensor 4K 60p mode, but up to 30p it should handle it no problem, which is what one would use for longer recording anyways.

The A1 does not shoot oversampled 4K internally, RAW is line-skipped and only external as well, 4K60p is line-skipped again.

So as a hybrid camera, the R3 may be more powerful than an A1 or a Z9.

 

[Tremotino]

My speculation....

Canon is not stupid enough to put out a new camera with essentially the same specs as the R5, and then expect people to buy the roughly $2000 more expensive version. The R5 is meant for those wanting that "all-arounder" - the camera that does everything really well, but is not specialized. Their top of the line, integrated grip cameras are specialized cameras meant mainly for news and sports shooters. There is no reason to think that has changed. The input from that target market has clearly for many years now seems to be - keep the MPs low. Speed and convenience are far more important than high MPs which are not needed. Despite what so many gear-heads seem to think, keeping the MPs low is not being "5 years behind, or "inexcusable in 2021" or whatever similar comments are being used. Many pro photographers think 24 MP or similar is perfect or "the sweet spot" when it comes to MPs. Sony A9 II and the Nikon Z 6 II are 24 MPs and are new cameras and apparently not 5 years out of date.

What has changed, however, is that Sony, with their A1, has gone higher MPs with their flagship. Nikon's Z 9, their new flagship, is rumored to be high MPs as well. So, I think Canon has mapped out a strategy to continue to target their news and sports "series 1" users - with the R3. High speed, low MPs. And then with a "flagship" camera that is more in line with Sony and Nikon, with higher MPs, that being the upcoming R1.

Of course, I have no special insight and can be completely wrong, but I do think people in foruums almost always ignore the taget market for a product. And the target market seems to be sports shooters. So the camera will be geared for that market, not for those looking for a slightly better R5.

This is also in my opinion the way it will go. The R1 will have the BSI stacked sensor of the C line. And the R3 will be the old R1 aka successor of the 1Dx line. But obviously there is a chance that the 8k sensor of the future C line is already ready for production and the R3 may profit from it... We will see.

 

[Cyborx]

WHAT IS CANON DOING?? Why releasing a camera that cannot meet the specs of the R5 that is on the market for a year already? Basically what they have built is an R6 with a battery grip and some fancy knobs. I don’t get it. Really... Canon, you’ve lost me here....

 

[EOS 4 Life]

the internal RAW video which is way more useful if it is lower resolution (8K RAW is just unnecessary), also it will probably work up to 60p like on the 1DX III,

I would not bet on that.
R3 is below the 1DX III.

 

[Ozarker]

I never understood what people like about SD cards. SD cards are so flimsy. An SD card will break if you put it into your back pocket together with your keys.

I guess it's a Darwinian thing.

 

[EOS 4 Life]

An SD card will break if you put it into your back pocket together with your keys.

Who does that?

 

[EOS 4 Life]

On the other hand, why do a BSI sensor for only 20MP full frame sensor?

Isn't BSI more valuable when the individual pixels get really small, so the gaps between them take up more of the surface area?

A9 II is only 24 MP

 

[Ozarker]

Who does that?

Exactly. Well, we know of one guy who does. Heck, I don't think I've ever put my keys in my back pocket. I wouldn't put any card in any pocket with keys.

 

[EOS 4 Life]

It seems to me over the years Canon has put the highest mp sensor in the 1D bodies that it can and still get the processing speed it needs for the highest fps.
I believe that the processing speed of the camera will determine how many mp Canon goes with.
If Canon isn't using the next generation of processors most likely it will be close to the 1DX III, especially if they are planning on 30 fps.
I think you are right that it does seem closer to the 1DX III.

Canon already stated that it is a new stacked BSI sensor.
There is no previous generation sensor that they could use unless they went with Sony.
None of those Sony sensors have DPAF so we know they did not do that either.

 

[padam]

I would not bet on that.
R3 is below the 1DX III.

It has a low megapixel stacked BSI sensor with a fast readout, so it should be able to easily outperform the 1DX III or video. The rolling shutter up to 4k30p is very bad on the 1DX III (and of course on the R6), at the minimum it would be fixed and matched in other regards that alone makes it better.
But I think it should also be able to shoot 4k120p in a 1:1 sensor crop mode as well, that would be a big upgrade as well.

Is it as well-built? Probably not, but people are willing to give that up for the tilt-screen, new RF-mount, etc.
Making a slightly cheaper camera that is overall better after 1,5 years by having the next generation sensor is simply moving with the times.

It is still very much an expensive camera despite not having the highest specs for stills shooting, let's not forget about that.

And the writing on the back suggests that it will still overheat in some modes.
I wouldn't be at all surprised about that, since full sensor 60p RAW recording to the CFExpress card will produce plenty of heat, more demanding than the line-skipped 4k60p on the R5 or the A1 (and I guess Z9).

 

[EOS 4 Life]

So as a hybrid camera, the R3 may be more powerful than an A1 or a Z9.

I believe it will be but the one thing it will not do is save video to both cards since the cards do not match.
However, I am OK with RAW to a CF Express and a low res proxy to anSD like the R5 does.

 

[maulanawale]

The difference is that it does not shoot 30fps.
So it will be a lower megapixel count camera, that's pretty much a given, we just don't know how much.

People don't consider the upsides though: the better low-light AF, the internal RAW video which is way more useful if it is lower resolution (8K RAW is just unnecessary), also it will probably work up to 60p like on the 1DX III, but I guess they will not disable the AF in that mode.
That would make it the most powerful stills camera for video in Canon's lineup, I guess it may still have issues in that 60p RAW or full sensor 4K 60p mode, but up to 30p it should handle it no problem, which is what one would use for longer recording anyways.

The A1 does not shoot oversampled 4K internally, RAW is line-skipped and only external as well, 4K60p is line-skipped again.

So as a hybrid camera, the R3 may be more powerful than an A1 or a Z9.

That's true, but still, should be able to swallow the files if the camera is somewhere in the 30ish MPX zone wouldn't it?

Anyway, I agree with the rest of your observations. There's more to it than MPX if the rest is as good as we're all expecting it to be.

 

[padam]

I believe it will be but the one thing it will not do is save video to both cards since the cards do not match.
However, I am OK with RAW to a CF Express and a low res proxy to anSD like the R5 does.

Yes, I wonder what's going to be the catch here apart from the overheating and 30-min internal recording limit.
Because that's really not far off from the C500 Mark II, which doesn't even have 4k120p.

Maybe it is indeed not that low in terms of megapixel count and it does not shoot full sensor oversampled 4k60p like the supposedly higher-end 1DX III and the price isn't that close to the 1DX III, it is really annoying to just keep guessing.

 

[blackcoffee17]

WHAT IS CANON DOING?? Why releasing a camera that cannot meet the specs of the R5 that is on the market for a year already? Basically what they have built is an R6 with a battery grip and some fancy knobs. I don’t get it. Really... Canon, you’ve lost me here....

A bunch of 5D DSLR cameras (R5 equivalent) had higher resolution than 1D series. But the 1D was better in everything else. So nothing new here.

 

[Nemorino]

I wonder why no one mentioned the improved low light AF:

AF down to -7.0 EV

Eos R/R5 have -6 EV.
Because the sensor is used for AF, this could be also a hint of improved low light performance of the sensor.