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It’s Official! Canon Releases Development Announcement for the EOS R1
What a day! Finally! It was long rumored and hinted but until now, Canon has not released an official development announcement for the new flagship camera of the EOS R series – the EOS R1. It will be Canon’s flagship camera in the RF-mount system and also its flagship mirrorless camera.
The announcement released today, didn’t give much information in regards to technical specifications.
All we know is that it will have an additional processor, called DIGIC Accelerator, besides the DIGIC X processor.
From the picture Canon released, we can see that the camera has a built in battery grip, which I love a lot. Unfortunately, we can’t see the backside. i am curious what kind of screen they will offer and if it can tilt and articulate or just do one of it.
Below I will brake down the different parts of the announcements step by step.
The EOS R1 is a mirrorless camera geared toward professionals that brings together Canon’s cutting-edge technology and combines top-class performance with the strong durability and high reliability sought in a flagship model. This camera will dramatically improve [In comparison to EOS R3 (released in November 2021)] the performance of both still images and video and meet the high requirements of professionals on the frontlines of a wide range of fields including sports, news reporting, and video production.
This sounds like that the R1 will be a highly pimped version of the R3. Which would also mean that the sensor resolution will be around ~24 Megapixels. Which is not bad, but I was more hoping towards a higher resolution sensor like the one in Sony’s a1 with 50 Megapixels. I hope Canon surprises us and offers something comparable.
This camera employs the newly developed image processor DIGIC Accelerator in addition to the pre-existing processor DIGIC X. The new image processing system, composed of these processors and a new CMOS sensor, enables large volume of data to be processed at high speeds and delivers never-before-seen advancements in Auto Focus (AF) and other functions.
This sounds like the R1 won’t have the long rumored global shutter but will come with very high readout speeds close to a global shutter. I am curious what the never-before-seen advancements in Auto Focus will be. I think it will be mainly tracking in regards to use of AI.
By combining the new image processing system and deep learning technology to an advanced degree, Canon has achieved high-speed and high-accuracy subject recognition. For example, subject tracking accuracy has been improved so that in team sporting events where multiple subjects intersect, the target subject can continually be tracked even if another player passes directly in front of them. In addition, the AF “Action Priority” function recognizes subject movement by rapidly analyzing the subject’s status. In moments during a sports game when it is difficult to predict what will happen next, this function automatically determines the player performing a certain action, such as shooting a ball, as the main subject and instantly shifts the AF frame, thereby helping to capture decisive moments of gameplay.
This part tells us that Canon focuses with the R1 mainly on sports photographers and more so in team sports with people like Basketball, Baseball, and so on and less towards car racing.
The combination of the new image processing system and deep learning technology will help to improve image quality. Canon implements the image noise reduction function, which has been previously developed and improved as part of the software for PCs, as a camera function to further improve image quality and contribute to user creativity.
I guess we can look forward to have exceptional noise free images as Canon implemented now the noise reduction function they used in their computer software, straight into the camera. This makes it easier, as you don’t have to process the images with Canon’s software and then use Lightroom or another image cataloging and editing software.
Canon is working on field tests for this camera, and will support capturing definitive and impactful moments at international sporting events to be held in the future.
Going forward, Canon will continue to expand the EOS R SYSTEM lineup of fascinating cameras and RF lenses, thereby continuing to meet the demands of a wide range of users and contribute to the development of photography and video culture.
This confirms the rumor that certain photographers already have their hands on the new flagship camera and testing it out in the wild. Release is planned for 2024. Maybe it will be available in limited amounts for the Olympics this year?
Peter is an award-winning photographer who travels all over the world to capture the beauty of our planet as well as the achievements of humanity. Follow Peter on his travel blog Gate to Adventures for more amazing places to go and explore.
