BREAKING: Canon announces the flagship EOS R1…but reveals very little else

It's official: Canon has announced its new flagship camera, the Canon EOS R1. And that's about all I can tell you right now.

Canon just made its development announcement for the EOS R1 – and for those new to how this all works, this is different from a "full" announcement in that it gives away precious little in the way of concrete information. It simply confirms that the camera exists and is on its way.

Of course, Canon already told us that the R1 exists and is on its way – over a year ago, in fact.

It was March 2023 when Go Tokura, general manager of the Imaging Division, revealed that "the EOS R3 could already claim the flagship title, but there's a reason we named it '3'… And you can expect there to be a '1', which is currently being worked on and will be our most premium model."

Obviously a cheeky tease in an interview doesn't count as an official announcement, I get it, but still – coy as it was, the message was clear. So what else has Canon revealed, 14 months later?

Precious little. More will obviously come when the full announcement takes place, but thus far the only official info is quite nebulous.

The announcement text

Canon Inc. announces today that it is currently developing the EOS R1, a full-frame mirrorless camera, as the first flagship model for the EOS R SYSTEM equipped with RF mount, launching in 2024.

The EOS R1 is a mirrorless camera geared toward professionals that brings together Canon’s cutting-edge technology and combines top-class performance with the strong durability and high reliability sought in a flagship model. This camera will dramatically improve the performance of both still images and video (in comparison to the EOS R3) and meet the high requirements of professionals on the frontlines of a wide range of fields including sports, news reporting, and video production.

This camera employs the newly developed image processor Digic Accelerator in addition to the pre-existing processor Digic X. The new image processing system, composed of these processors and a new CMOS sensor, enables a large volume of data to be processed at high speeds and delivers never-before-seen advancements in Auto Focus (AF) and other functions.

By combining the new image processing system and deep learning technology to an advanced degree, Canon has achieved high-speed and high-accuracy subject recognition. For example, subject tracking accuracy has been improved so that in team sporting events where multiple subjects intersect, the target subject can continually be tracked even if another player passes directly in front of them. 

In addition, the AF “Action Priority” function recognizes subject movement by rapidly analyzing the subject’s status. In moments during a sports game when it is difficult to predict what will happen next, this function automatically determines the player performing a certain action, such as shooting a ball, as the main subject and instantly shifts the AF frame, thereby helping to capture decisive moments of gameplay. 

The combination of the new image processing system and deep learning technology will help to improve image quality. Canon implements the image noise reduction function, which has been previously developed and improved as part of the software for PCs, as a camera function to further improve image quality and contribute to user creativity.

Canon is working on field tests for this camera and will support capturing definitive and impactful moments at international sporting events to be held in the future.

The "info"

Given that there is so little information, all I can do is speculate. I suspect that this camera will have a resolution of between 24MP and 30MP. It will either have a next-generation stacked sensor, or a first-generation global shutter sensor – Canon has developed both, so will go with whichever one it feels is most ready.

It won't have anything less than 40fps burst shooting (the current top speed of a Canon camera, the EOS R6 Mark II), and will likely be triple that; the Sony A9 III and Nikon Z9 / Z8 have established a benchmark of 120fps, which the R1 simply has to meet or exceed.

As far as when it will be available, I think we're looking at December. The EOS R3 had its development announcement in April 2021, its full announcement 5 months later in September 2021, and went on sale 7 months later in November 2021. Using the same template, we'll get a full R1 announcement in October and sales will start in December.

Of course, I'm sure there will be plenty of camera rumors between now and then…

You might be interested in the best professional cameras from all the big brands, which of course includes some of the best Canon cameras.