New products | EOS R3 unveiled

NEW FLAGSHIP CAMERA THAT BLENDS TECH WITH TRADITION

It’s finally arrived... after two teasing development announcements and a great deal of rumour and speculation, the EOS R3 is unveiled.

Learning all about this new camera has been an exhausting experience – there’s just so much to take on board. In fact, Canon states that there are more than 100 improvements over previous DSLR and mirrorless cameras. So, let’s take a look round.

Canon’s new “Sports hero”

If you’re in any doubt as to who this camera is aimed at, then this should summarise it – Canon is hailing the EOS R3 as a “powerhouse for sports photography and reportage”. Like many of its new products in recent years, Canon has worked carefully to tweak this camera in order to deliver precise performance – and familiar handling – to its intended users.

The EOS R3 is fast and furious; capable of shooting up to 30 frames per second (fps) with the electronic shutter and 12fps with the mechanical one. It’ll maintain this pace for both JPEG and 14-bit RAW files for over 1000 images. You have two different continuous shooting modes, a high speed and standard one, giving you flexibility in the field.

The EOS R3 is an ultrafast, highly responsive camera that gives sports and news photographers the competitive advantage they need to get the winning shot.

Blended learning

Professionals in any job can’t always spare the time to learn new tech. Being able to pick up a new camera and shoot with it instantly is absolutely critical. After all, their livelihood relies on it.

The move from DSLR to mirrorless has echoes of the film-to-digital transition of the late 1990s. It was a steep learning curve back then, and Canon anticipates the same for pros switching to their first mirrorless with the R3. So it has included a few little tricks and features to help flatten the curve:

• OVF simulation – while the electronic viewfinder is a constant, Canon has added a feature which can mimic an optical viewfinder experience.

• Familiar handling – it’s the first R squared... in that it’s the recognisable box-shaped camera with dual controls for horizontal and vertical shooting. Buttons and dials are all where you’d expect them to be.

• 1D build quality – it’s as rugged and robust as any pro camera that’s come before. In fact, the EOS R3 has a newly designed seamless magnesium alloy body, leaving fewer points for water ingress.

• Start-up time – it ‘behaves’ like a DSLR, says Canon. Shutter lag is also ‘miniscule’.

• Same battery as EOS-1D X III – the LP-E19 battery is rated to give 1D-like performance.

Well-connected

Speed is the name of the game with the R3, but its blistering pace is not restricted to how quickly it can start up (0.4 seconds), its frame rate, shutter speed (world’s fastest at 1/64000 second) or how fast it can focus (0.03 seconds). It’s also how quickly it can connect photographers to news desks. With that in mind, the EOS R3 has built-in Bluetooth (version 5) and 5 GHz Wi-Fi for wireless transfer, as well as a Gigabit Ethernet port for a wired connection. Network settings can even be shared between EOS R3, R5 and 1D X Mark III cameras.

There are future development plans in this area too, with the new Mobile File Transfer (MFT) app that’s been announced. The paid-for app – expected in early 2022 – will allow transfer of files via an FTP server as well as text conversion of voice memo files recorded in-camera. There will also be an accessory that can be used to mount a smartphone onto the camera – see page 24 for details.

There is an array of ports and sockets on the side of the R3. Bottom right is an Ethernet port, ideal for a reliable connection when uploading files. Next to it is the remote switch socket: the EOS R3 accepts the N3 connection. The Bluetooth Remote BR-E1 can be used as a wireless alternative, as well as the free Canon Camera Connect app. There are sockets for headphones and a mic.

Read the full EOS R3 camera release in the October-December 2021 issue of EOS magazine.