You probably don't need the Canon R1

It’s happened – Canon has announced the much-awaited R1 (and you probably don’t need it)

Hello. My name is Rich Dyson, and this is Coffee Break Photography. Well, it has finally happened. After years of rumour, Canon has announced the development of its flagship camera, the R1. Tension has been building over the last couple of weeks that a major announcement was about to be made, and this morning, Canon finally put in writing that they are developing the R1.

The announcement didn’t provide much detail, but from what I have read so far, I don’t think that I’ll rush out to buy one when it is finally released in October or November of this year. What’s more, I doubt that most people watching this video will need the R1, either. 

Let’s see what Canon has announced; 

First of all, the web page targets sports photographers. It starts with a heading of Ahead of the Game. The next headline says On Your Marks, followed by Get Set, finishing with Go. One doesn’t need to be Inspector Jules Maigret to see that this camera will be trialled at the Olympic Games in Paris this year for fast-action sports.

First, the R1 will contain a new processor called the DIGIC Accelerator. This will work alongside the existing DIGIC X processor and a new sensor. This combination will allow large amounts of data to be processed at high speed, bringing new advances for professionals.

So, the DIGIC X processor was first used in the Canon 1DX Mark 3 in February 2020 to help cameras deliver 4K video at 120 frames per second and 8K video at 30 frames per second. It also improved noise reduction and helped make images sharper. The fact that there is a new processor suggests that we might see improvements above this. 8K video at 120 frames per second? There will also be something in here for stills photographers. Many sports photographers will crop into images, so instead of the usual 24-megapixel sensor we see in sports photography, could we see a bigger sensor to leave more data after cropping? We can take from this part of the announcement that we’ll also have a much faster frames-per-second speed. 

The next part of the announcement discusses advancements in the auto-focus system, particularly when the subject is momentarily hidden. There is a new Action Priority focus function that will automatically detect the main subject performing a specific action, such as shooting a ball, and instantly move the auto-focus frame, allowing photographers to capture key moments. It then goes on to say that combining a new image processing system and deep-learning technologies will improve image quality.

The takeaways from this are much more straightforward. Canon already had one of the best autofocus systems, but this new camera will blow us away with how many sharp images will pop out of whatever fast frame rate we get. Instead of using the global shutter approach recently introduced by Sony, I believe Canon will use the processor and a bit of artificial intelligence to stop the rolling shutter effect. You can return to my old written blog to see what this is. I’ll leave a link in the comments below.

And that is it, other than to say the R1 will be coming out later this year. It will likely be sometime after the Paris Olympics and Paralympics. The latter finishes on September 8th. There will need to be a few last-minute changes based on feedback from the lucky photographers using it. Then we’ll see it properly announced in October or November this year.

So, if that’s the announcement, why am I suggesting that you or I probably don’t need this camera? To keep the sporting analogy, I like Formula One. Just because I see a Mercedes F1 car on the track doesn’t make me want to walk into my local Mercedes showroom and drop a couple of million pounds on a car when I am not going to use most of its capabilities.

Most of what is being delivered in this amazing technology is targeted at maybe a couple of hundred thousand photographers in the world. Not all of those will be Canon shooters. Some will be Nikon or Sony photographers, so this technology will actually benefit maybe 50 to 60 thousand people in total. For anyone not shooting sports, this technology will be sitting there redundant, and in return, a huge lump of cash has been moved from your bank account to Canon’s.

Flagship cameras are designed as loss-leaders to show how good improvements can be, and then some of these advancements will trickle down to cheaper models over the next couple of years. I can prove this by looking at the specs of the Canon R8. It’s an entry-level full-frame mirrorless camera, yet it has an impressive frame rate, that same DIGIC X processor, and a great focus system. All that technology came down from the last flagship camera four years ago. 

I would imagine that there are far more landscape photographers than there are shooting sports. Shooting landscapes doesn’t need one hundred twenty frames per second, and it doesn’t need autofocus systems that can latch onto something moving behind an object. But these processor improvements will enable future developments. Improvements in dynamic range and noise reduction would be top of my list.

It will be interesting if I post a similar video next week when, if the rumours are true, Canon announces the next version of R5. How many of the titbits announced today will trickle down into the R5 Mark II? That’s why it’s an interesting time to be a photographer, but don’t waste your money buying things you don’t need—upgrade your camera, or for that matter, lenses, when the one you are currently using is limiting your creativity.

I can guarantee that I won’t be producing another video tomorrow as I’ll be teaching a group in one of my Switch to Manual workshops. However, you can get notified of future videos by subscribing using this button in the corner. Like and share the video below so YouTube can reach a few more people. And why not subscribe to my monthly newsletter by clicking on the link in the comments?

My name is Rich Dyson from Edinburgh Photography Workshop. This has been an espresso-sized Coffee Break Photography. See you next time.