Hot on the heels of Sony launching its professional sports and wildlife flagship mirrorless camera, the formidable Alpha 1 and Nikon announcing the development of the Z 9, Canon has hit back and brought us news of a game-changing rival that could really make waves in the photo world.
That’s right, in development and cooking soon is a brand new professional full-frame mirrorless camera from Canon called the EOS R3. Canon has actually been quite forthcoming about details of the new cameras and although we don’t yet know the full specification, what has been released should peak the interest of serious Canon shooters everywhere.
Canon has explained the R3 will include; ‘an entirely new 35mm back illuminated stacked CMOS sensor – developed by Canon.’ What’s more, this brand new sensor will be combined with Canon’s cutting edge DIGIC X imaging processor, enabling the R3 to offer amazing performance. How amazing? Well, Canon has confirmed the R3 will offer a blistering burst rate of 30 frames per second, putting this camera firmly in the sights of professional wildlife and sports photographers who need that speed to capture split second moments.
That’s not all, as the innovation continues when it comes to the autofocus system, with the R3 set to become the first EOS digital camera to feature a ground-breaking Eye Control Function, which Canon explains; ‘enables users to simply select and move the AF point using their eye via the viewfinder. This instinctive feature offers professionals natural and speedy control over AF. Reducing the time to focus, which is usually done with a multi-controller/button, this feature is again perfect for photographers looking to capture the most important subject for their frame at speed – whether that’s during a news conference or photographing a team sport.’
As you can see from the press images released by Canon, the EOS R3 will have a more square format that is similar to the brand’s 1DX pro-level DSLR cameras, rather than the more typically camera shape seen on the R6 and R5 full-frame mirrorless models. This confirms the R3 will feature an additional shutter button for when photographers are shooting in the portrait format and Canon has also confirmed the R3 users can expect; ‘the same durability and dust and water resistance as provided in Canon’s legendary EOS-1 series bodies.’
Other features to be confirmed on the EOS R3 are Canon’s acclaimed Dual Pixel AF technology, along with Face Detection and tracking features and multiple connectivity features that will allow professional sports photographers to transfer files whether they are pitchside or poolside. At present, no release date ot pricing information has been revealed.