NEW! Canon EOS R5 Mark II and EOS R1

On July 17, 2024, Canon announced two highly anticipated new digital cameras, the EOS R5 Mark II which is the successor to the hugely popular R5, and the EOS R1 which is their new top-end flagship sports/action mirrorless camera, taking the place of the previous flagship DSLR, the EOS 1DX Mark III. Before I get to a quick description of these exciting new cameras, let me mention that the EOS R5 Mark II (at $5,899) is slated to start shipping on August 20, 2024 and the EOS R1 (at $8,599) later in the year, sometime in November, and we are taking pre-orders for both at this time. In addition, if you pre-order the R5 Mark II before its shipping date, you can apply to Canon for some perks, a nice looking free jacket as well as a generous $500 cash-back offer on a number of pro-level RF ‘L’ lenses. See Canon’s CreatorLab website for the details!

Let me start with the R5 Mark II, which I anticipate will be the more popular of these two new cameras. Think of the Mark II as a refined and enhanced version of the R5, since at first glance, the cameras seem very similar. The R5 Mark II hasn’t changed much as far as the body and general ergonomics (which were very good, so no real change was needed) and the sensor is still at 45 MP, and the Mark II still has one CFexpress and one UHS-II SD card slot, but beyond that, there are many changes actually. First off, an obvious one when you are looking at the back of the camera and notice the huge new EVF eyecup: the R5 Mark II now has an enhanced version of the EOS R3’s eye-control AF system. This allows you to choose the camera’s focus point by merely looking at it in the EVF, a faster and more responsive way of working than using the AF point joystick, once you are used to working that way. Note that it does not have the R3’s (or the new R1’s) optical sensor in the AF-ON button, which gives you yet another way of moving the selected AF point, simply by sliding your thumb over the button in whichever direction you’d like to nudge the focus point.

Next up are sensor improvements, with the R5 Mark II now using a stacked CMOS design with a much faster readout speed than the previous sensor. This allows for 30 fps electronic shutter continuous shooting with no EVF blackout, reduced rolling shutter distortion when shooting video or electronic shutter stills, faster “deep learning” AF calculations (in conjunction with Canon’s new “DIGIC Accelerator” coprocessor) and recording 8K video at up to 60 fps. You can now use flash with the electronic shutter too at up to 1/160, or up to 1/250 (as on the R5) with the mechanical shutter. This new coprocessor also enables some new in-camera processing tricks, like “AI” image upscaling and “AI” noise reduction for a big boost in JPEG (or HEIC) image quality, especially at high ISOs. Autofocus subject detection and tracking reliability across many different kinds of situations and sports is said to be significantly improved.

Video enhancements include the addition of waveform, false-colour and zebra display options to help nail your exposure in challenging conditions, a tally lamp on the front of the camera, and the ability to record high quality video to its CFexpress card and simultaneously record lower resolution and more compressed reference footage to its SD card. In-camera RAW DCI format video recording to the CFexpress card is also possible for more flexibility in post when it comes to brightness or white balance adjustments. Full-HD footage (1920×1080) can be captured at up to 240 fps too, making for an easy 10x slow-motion if your final video will be shown at 24 fps. Finally, like Canon’s Cinema cameras, you can now record in C-Log2, which will make it much easier to seamlessly combine and grade footage from the R5 Mark II with that recorded on those.

Some of the R5 Mark II’s powerful new features require that you use Canon’s new LP-E6P battery pack ($119), one of which is included with the camera when you purchase it of course. This battery is backwards compatible with older bodies that use any of the previous LP-E6 generations and while the older batteries can be used in the R5 Mark II as well, some features will be limited or disabled. Battery life on the R5 Mark II should be slightly better than the original R5, when using the new battery.

There will be multiple battery grip options, from the basic BG-R20 ($499) battery grip, to the BG-R20P ($699) with a built-in Ethernet port, and finally the CF-R20EP ($569) with the Ethernet port and a cooling fan, designed to help with extended video recording sessions in hotter temperatures and at higher bit-rates. Note that the CF-R20EP grip does not include the vertical grip controls that the other grips do. Canon has also announced both small and large dedicated and fitted rain-covers for the R5 Mark II, for protection and use in truly horrible weather, and they are priced at $199 each.

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Next up, we have the new EOS R1. This new camera is not replacing the EOS R3, which remains at a lower price point, but rather improves on the already impressive R3 in many ways, to now make a camera that Canon considers to be at the pinnacle of sports/action/photojournalism photography. What I have found interesting is that for us, the EOS R5 was always a much more popular camera than the R3, since the R5 was already so incredibly competent in sports/action scenarios that most found little need for the improvements that the R3 could offer, especially since the R5 was a more well rounded performer with its higher resolution 45MP sensor. I anticipate this trend to continue, especially with the R5 Mark II’s major speed and AF improvements over the R5, so the likes of the R3 and R1 will appeal mainly to those photographers who live and breath sports/action photography, or those who need a super rugged body than can withstand the abuse that hardcore photojournalists sometimes dish out when they’re in extreme situations.

The R1 has upped the ante over the R3 for sure, and while it is still has a 24MP sensor, it too is now a stacked CMOS design that reads out roughly twice as quickly, which allows full-resolution continuous shooting up to 40 fps (raw+jpeg) without any EVF blackout. Like the R5 Mark II, it features all the same DIGIC Coprocessor based enhancements to its AF system, “AI” upscaling and noise reduction. It does feature a significant enhancement to the Dual-Pixel AF compared to the R5 Mark II though, in that some of the R1’s sub-pixels are rotated 90 degrees, effectively giving it “cross” AF sensors across its entire image sensor. That should improve speed and AF reliability in certain situations when compared to previous models with regular Dual-Pixel AF. As with the R3, the AF-ON button has the internal optical sensor allowing you to brush your thumb over the button and nudge your focus point and the eye-control focus point selection has the same upgrades over the R3 that the R5 Mark II has.

Video capture is up to 6K at 60 fps, or DCI 4K at 120 fps. The R1 also has both internal Ethernet ports as well as having enhanced WiFi-6 connectivity and lastly, the EVF is by far the brightest, biggest and highest resolution EVF in Canon’s lineup, featuring over 9 million dots at 0.9x magnification. If you are happy with 24MP and want the highest performing Canon body there is, then the R1 is king, but for an amazingly competent “all-rounder” camera, the R5 Mark II is going to be hard to beat and should be as insanely popular as its predecessor was…