New 24.2MP Stacked CMOS Sensor. The Canon EOS R1’s ultra-fast redesigned 24.2MP full-frame stacked CMOS sensor has a back-illuminated design that lets in plenty of light, giving you high clarity and sharpness, and smooth color rendering. The combination of a native ISO range of 100-102,400—which can be expanded to 50-409,600—and a Neural-Network Noise-Reduction system mean you’ll get exceptionally clean files, even when you’re working in low light. You get a 2.8ms full-sensor readout rate when shooting stills, making it just about twice as fast as the previous-gen R3’s sensor.

Dual DIGIC Processors. A new DIGIC Accelerator front-engine processor works in tandem with the tried-and-tested DIGIC X processor to ensure high-speed performance across the board. This dual-processor setup truly shines when you engage the newly designed autofocus system, which allows the camera to identify the subject of your shot and the type of action they’re performing for improved tracking priority.

Optimized for Capturing Fast Action. The EOS R1’s combination of sensor and processors give you blackout-free continuous shooting at up to 40 fps in 14-bit mode with an electronic shutter and continuous shooting at up to 12 fps with the mechanical shutter. A pre-continuous shooting mode gives you the option of capturing up to twenty JPEG, HEIF, or RAW frames a half-second before you fully press the shutter release. This mode can also pre-capture either three or five seconds of video.

Dual-Pixel Intelligent Autofocus. This camera incorporates an updated iteration of the advanced Dual-Pixel autofocus system previously seen in the EOS R3. This system includes an Eye Control AF mode that tracks your eye movement to pinpoint your desired subject, lock on to it, and follow it. A new Action Priority AF mode uses machine-learning technology to try and predict and track the most important subject in a scene. Finally, Pre-Registered Person Priority lets you register up to ten people that the autofocus system will then automatically prioritize—a useful feature if you want to focus on a specific athlete during a game, on the bride and groom during a wedding, or on a particular musician in an ensemble. You can change registered subjects’ AF priority through a simple menu.

In-Camera Image Processing. An extensive suite of built-in deep-learning driven image processing features offers functionality similar to what you’d find in post-production software. Neural-network noise reduction improves a RAW image’s quality without compromising any of its detail. The in-camera upscaling feature can double the size of an image in portrait or landscape orientation, producing a 96MP image when applied to JPEG- or HEIF-format photos taken on the R1. Finally, blur/out-of-focus image detection identifies and adds a metadata tag to photos in which the primary subject is in focus, making it easier to decide which of your images are keepers.

Pro-Grade Video Performance. Although the EOS R1 is ostensibly a still camera, it also boasts serious video capabilities. While its 24MP sensor doesn’t allow for 8K capture, it can internally capture up to 6K 60 fps RAW footage using the full sensor width in the 1.89:1 aspect ratio, and 4K 60 fps MP4 footage using a 6K oversampling area with 10-bit 4:2:2 sampling. You also get 4K 120 fps and FHD 240 fps high-speed capture. Canon designed the R1 to easily slot into workflows that use its Cinema EOS cameras. It includes Canon’s C-Log2 and C-Log3 gamma curves and supports the XF-HEVC S and XF-AVC S file formats. There are false color displays and zebras, although there isn’t a waveform display. A full-size external HDMI port supports clean 4K output at up to 60 fps, and audio in and out are available through standard 3.5mm jacks for both microphones and headphones. You can connect digital audio inputs to the Multi-Function Shoe, which gives you discrete control over each of the four-channel inputs’ volume levels.

Sensor-Shift Image Stabilization. The built-in five-axis image-stabilization system compensates for eight stops of camera shake, making it great for shooting hand-held at lower shutter speeds. There are three stabilization modes: in-body sensor-shift, optical, and an electronic Movie Digital system designed specifically for video. This camera’s image stabilization works in tandem with lens-based optical image stabilization on native RF lenses and adapted EF lenses to give you up to 8.5 stops of correction in the center of the frame and up to 7.5 stops around the edges.

Updated Build and Controls. The updated OLED live viewfinder has an impressive 9.44m-dot resolution, 0.9x magnification—the highest of the EOS series to this point—and 120 fps refresh rate that make it useful for easy eye-level composition in a variety of viewing situations. According to Canon, this EVF is three times brighter than the one found on the previous-gen EOS R3. The 3.0-inch, 2.1m-dot rear touchscreen LCD monitor allows you to pull focus in video mode and make quick adjustments in the camera’s menu system, while its vari-angle design makes it great for vlogging and other front-facing recording applications, and for shooting at high and low angles. A built-in vertical grip makes horizontal- and vertical-orientation shooting comfortable, a top status LCD lets you quickly and easily review camera and shooting settings, and the camera body’s tank-like magnesium-alloy build and weather sealing keep out the elements and dust. Finally, the smart controller that acted as a trackpad and AF-On button on the EOS-1D X Mark III and R3 gets a third, partially customizable function activated by half-pressing it.

Comprehensive Connectivity. Integrated Bluetooth Low Energy and Wi-Fi 6E/Wi-Fi 6 let you use Canon’s Camera Connect app to instantly transfer images to your mobile device so that you can easily share them on social media, in email, and to the cloud. You can also use it to shoot remotely. There’s a 2.5GBASE-T Ethernet interface and an RJ-45 port for fast, secured wired connections. Users of select smartphones may also share files over 5G mobile networks when their phone is connected to the R1 via USB, and there’s a GLONASS- and QZSS-compatible GPS module for easy location tagging. A USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port allows for tethering, file transfer, and in-camera battery charging, while the aforementioned full-size HDMI port lets you output high-quality video to external monitors and recorders.

Memory and Power. The EOS R1 has dual CFexpress Type B memory card slots, which are great for 6K video and high-speed, high-res burst shooting. Dual Shooting mode enables simultaneous capture of 17MP JPEG stills to one card and FHD 30 fps video to the other card without disrupting the video. The camera is powered by the popular LP-E19 battery, which will give you approximately 700 shots per charge, compared to 440 shots on the EOS R3. Unlike the previous-gen EOS R3 and EOS-1D X Mark III cameras, this camera isn’t compatible with older LP-E4N or LP-E4 batteries.

Adaptability. You can use the Canon AD-E1 Multi-Function Shoe Adapter to use select legacy shoe-mounted accessories, such as the Canon ST-E3-RT Speedlite Transmitter – V2 and Canon Speedlite EL-1, with this camera’s Multi-Function Shoe.

Q & A