(Credit: René Ramos; Canon)
Canon just introduced two highly anticipated cameras, the EOS R1 and EOS R5 Mark II. The R1 was expected, as Canon announced its development earlier this year. Likewise, it was a safe assumption that the 4-year-old R5 would see a follow-up model, so the Mark II was not a matter of if, but when.
The two new cameras share a lot of tech in common, including a next-generation autofocus system that can recognize the movements and actions you see in select team sports, internal Raw video capture, and advanced in-camera upscaling and noise reduction.
Feature for feature, the EOS R1 and R5 Mark II aren't that different. The two cameras share a lot of tech, including Stacked BSI CMOS sensor architecture with both mechanical and electronic sync for flashes, eye-controlled autofocus, and a dual processing system that includes a newly developed Digic Accelerator processor alongside the already powerful Digic X chip, but they are quite different on the outside.
EOS R1 Comes With a Gripped Body Style
The R1's form and function follow earlier 1D series SLRs—the EOS 1D X Mark III being the most recent. Like the 1D series, the R1 is a relatively large camera with an integrated vertical grip, huge battery, and construction that can handle the needs of photojournalists working in conflict zones, and sports photogs who may need to cover an NFL game in the rain or snow. A representative from Canon tells us you "can hammer a nail with the camera, practically."
The EOS R1 has an onboard Ethernet port with support for 2.5Gbps transfers. Ethernet is useful for photogs covering live events who'll need to jack in and transmit photos to an editor or wire service in real time. Canon cites the need for this type of in-the-moment transfer as one of the reasons its engineers chose a 24MP count for the sensor—the lesser pixel count makes for smaller file sizes and a high ISO 102400 ceiling. For storage, the R1 includes dual CFexpress (Type B) card slots. It supports a few different file formats: full-quality 14-bit Raw, Compressed Raw (C Raw), JPG, and HEIF.
The large body style allows Canon to use a bigger viewfinder in the R1 versus the R5 Mark II. Its OLED EVF is one of the largest in any camera, its magnification rating is 0.9x and is backed with a staggering 9.44 million dots of resolution and a smooth 120fps refresh rate, an ideal figure for tracking subjects in motion. The 0.9x size matches the best we've seen from competitors. For example, Sony's similarly minded a1 and high-pixel a7R V are EVFs of the same size and resolution.
The stabilized 24MP sensor means that the top video resolution is 6K60—it uses the full width and crops down to 16:9. For context, that translates into an 18MP video frame up to 60 times per second. Raw format recording is supported, along with HEVC compressed video with a host of bit rates and encoding methods, including All-I, Intra, and LongGOP. We don't have an exact figure on rolling shutter readout but we know that the sensor scans quickly enough to support 1/320-second sync with external flashes for photography, which puts it in the 3.1ms ballpark.
EOS R5 Mark II Appeals to Event Photogs and Videographers
The R5 Mark II follows the tradition of the 5D SLR series, the company's first digital line with a full-frame format image sensor. Its construction is strong, and weather sealing is included, too, but the camera isn't as ruggedized as the R1. It also omits an integrated grip and Ethernet, though you can add an external grip with a network connection, and is traditionally a camera used by working photographers and advanced amateurs. It also has two card slots but splits them between CFe (Type B) and UHS-II SDXC.
The 45MP sensor matches the original R5 in pixel count but is a fresh chip. Like the R1, it uses a stabilized Stacked BSI CMOS architecture to support fast readout speeds for 1/250-second electronic sync, indicative of a better-than-4ms rolling shutter scan time, with a maximum ISO 51200 sensitivity.
Despite the high pixel count, the R5 II supports brisk capture rates for photography, up to 30fps with tracking using the electronic shutter. And even with 45MP of data for each of those frames, the R5 Mark II is rated for up to 230 14-bit Raw images in a burst when using a CFe (Type B) card and 95 shots with SDXC UHS-II. Compressed Raw (C-Raw) is also an option; it halves file sizes so images aren't quite as malleable when editing, but extends the buffer capacity to 580 frames when using either type of card. Lighter file formats are available too; you can drop down to 8-bit color sampling for JPGs, or use 10-bit HEIFs.
The R5 Mark II enjoys an EVF upgrade as well. It gets the same 0.76x, 5.76 million dot OLED finder that Canon uses for the EOS R3. The R5 II's EVF is a little smaller to the eye but competitive with others in its class (the Nikon Z 8 is a smidgen larger to the eye at 0.80x). It supports either a real-time exposure preview or an optical viewfinder simulation mode that opens shadows and lowers contrast so you can get a clearer view of your scene.
The R5's smaller size is appealing to event photographers who often use two bodies in tandem. And while its new LP-E6N battery provides more power than older versions of the power pack, it's no match for the R1 in longevity. Even so, creators upgrading from an older Canon will appreciate that the LP-E6N uses the same form factor as earlier iterations, so you can grab an older power pack and run the camera in a pinch, albeit with some restrictions on function. The LP-E6N is a strict requirement if you want to record video at 8K quality, for example. And in a note of good news for pros with multiple cameras, the LP-E6N will work in older Canons too, though you'll need to wait for forthcoming firmware updates for compatibility.
For video, the R5 II leverages its pixel count and brisk scan rate to record at up to 8K60 in a Raw or compressed format, with 4K60 S-Raw as an option for creators who don't want to deal with huge 8K files. In either of these modes, the full width of the image sensor is utilized. Compressed video is also full-width, though you can choose to do both using up to the full width of the sensor. If you opt for compressed 4K you have the option to record in a cropped mode if you prefer, plus push the frame rate higher. The R5 II does 4K120 slow-motion with or without sound and goes as high as 240fps at 2K/1080p quality. It's also worth mentioning that the R5 Mark II supports waveform exposure monitoring for video, a feature omitted from the R1.
Loads of Shared Technology
The R1 and R5 Mark II have their share of differences, but since they use the same processing engine, there's quite a bit of shared tech between them. For one, both use the same autofocus engine and interface. It's a new variation on Canon's long-running Dual Pixel CMOS AF system.
The focus system builds on what's already out there—intelligent subject recognition is now an expected feature in cameras, and the Canon lineup already recognizes and tracks people, birds, animals, and vehicles. However, we're told that the R1 and R5 Mark II are even more tenacious at keeping up with moving subjects. For example, they can better keep track of moving targets that are obstructed during a sequence. If you're following a player on the pitch and another passes in front of them briefly, the R1 and R5 Mark II are quicker to revert back to the original subject.
The bodies also introduce a new focus mode made specifically for sports photography: Action Priority AF. This focus mode has been trained with machine learning to recognize the common motions athletes go through when playing soccer, basketball, or volleyball and can recognize both athletes and the ball for these sports.
In Action Priority, the focus system jumps to a player making a photo-worthy moment. It can determine if a soccer player is taking a shot on goal, making a pass, or bouncing the ball off their head, finds the basketball player taking a jump shot, going for a rebound, or passing, or a volleyball pro performing a dramatic spike or a more common toss motion to call out the highlights. This takes some of the work away from the photographer, as it's less crucial to get the focus box on the subject for these types of movements, and the focus system is less likely to jump to a player who may be nearer to the camera but not participating in the play. It sounds promising in theory, and we're eager to see how well it works in practice. We asked Canon if Action Priority would be expanded to recognize other sports, like American football, but did not immediately receive a response.
Even without Action Priority, you'll be able to tackle other sports and subjects. You can leave the camera to its own devices in setting the area of interest for focus or select a focus point manually. For the latter, you've got a couple of options, including a small 8-way focus selector stick or via the swing-out touch screen, as well as Eye Control AF, a feature introduced with the EOS R3 and, up until now, exclusive to it.
Eye Control tracks the movements of the photographer's eye using a set of infrared lights positioned around the viewfinder and moves the focus point to the area of the image at which you're looking. The feature proved to be a little shaky in the R3—for some photographers it worked incredibly well, but others (myself included) encountered issues. With the R3, the focus point jumped around erratically with my eyes. Canon tells us that it's improved the implementation this time around; the R1 and R5 Mark II are twice as effective, and the system now works better with people who have differently shaped eyes and wear glasses. Its engineers went as far as to create an "artificial eyeball" to test and develop this version of Eye Control, so I'm eager to see if it translates to improved reliability.
Canon is also adding a pre-shot buffer to the R1 and R5 Mark II. In this mode the camera continuously buffers a half-second of action when autofocus is active and saves it, plus shots going forward, when you start to take a sequence of images. It's handy for capturing unexpected scenes; for sports, there's a little less need to anticipate action, and wildlife photogs may find it useful to get shots of birds taking flight. Pre-shot is available for video recording now too, with your choice of a 3- or 5-second buffer.
The cameras have new tools that promise to improve your post-capture workflow. During playback, you can use blur detection to automatically apply a star rating to the sharpest image in a sequence, a useful tool when cycling through hundreds of images in a sequence captured at 30 or 40fps.
The cameras also include upscaling for images, similar in concept to Adobe's recent Super Resolution tech. It boosts the file size to 96MP for the R1 and 179MP for the R5 Mark II and, unlike the multi-shot sampling available in cameras like the Sony a7R V, works from a single exposure, without the need for desktop software. I'm eager to see how well upscaling works for wildlife images, as it's often hard to get close enough to a small animal to capture it in clear detail, even when using a super telephoto lens.
Finally, Canon has added a neural network noise reduction mode, restricted to Raw capture. This feature processes out a JPG or HEIF in-camera and promises to do a better job preserving detail and color fidelity versus the standard noise reduction engine. Again, this is a feature we've seen in desktop software like Adobe Lightroom, but typically, cameras are restricted to basic, lossy noise reduction in camera. Canon showed us an example of a model captured at high ISO, and I was able to see more detail in their hair, along with less splotchy color in their skin tones, with the neural network noise reduction when compared with the same image processed in real-time at time of capture. You'll likely use this feature on a selective basis as it's only available during image review, not real-time capture, but it can help you get clearer low-light images out of the camera.
Pricing and Availability
The EOS R5 Mark II is coming to stores first, with late August targeted for availability, at a $4,299 body-only price. A kit with the RF 24-105mm F4 L IS USM costs $5,399. There are three grip options for the camera, the BG-R20 ($560) holds an additional battery and includes vertical exposure controls, and the BG-R20EP ($750) does the same plus adds an Ethernet port. For video, the CF-R20EP ($600) is a dedicated cooling fan for long-form video recording and includes Ethernet, too, but does not offer vertical controls.
The EOS R1 is coming this autumn, with likely timing for November. It's available as a body only for $6,299, with no kit options available.
We hope to review both cameras when they're available, so stay tuned to PCMag for more details.
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