For over a decade, a joke on Canon was going on: “Every 18 months Canon comes out with a new obsolete camera!” It seems that this odd ‘strategy’ has come to an end…

On July 9th, Canon announced two new professional R models. Why are those professional? Because they both have two card slots and savage price tag. And finally the ‘R’ in the name comes to its perceived symbolism – it seems that we can find a reason to say that ‘R’ stands for Revolution. But not for the reasons you would think…

^{Source: Canon Europe}

Overal design is almost decent, aside the fact that Canon still didn’t learn how to properly position on/off switch. Hint: Canon, look over to Fuji, Sony, Nikon, Pentax, Leica… The back is much more alike well known and loved DSLR models, with three wheels and joystick instead of that ridiculous M-Fn Bar. Irene Rudnyk got the pair of cameras to test with RF 50mm 1,2 L USM and that spectacular RF 85mm 1.2 L USM lens… of which you only can dream:

That does not mean there is no more ridiculous design elements. Canon took some effort to bring you absolutely essential ‘Rate’ button in the place of once known and equally ridiculous… essential ‘Print’ button in the upper left corner on the back of the camera… Way to go, Canon! Now nobody can say they were throwing money for this $4000 R5 machine.

eosr5_back_body_square_962ce41d092e4743a3d2aea4fc6c3b91_cr.jpg
^{Source: Canon Europe}

Comparisons are a popular way to distinguish your financial mistakes if you have more than one camera from this table:

Feat.	EOS R5	EOS R6	Sony a7R IV	Nikon Z7
Sensor	45 Mpix FF	20.1 Mpix FF	61.2 Mpix FF	45.4 Mpix FF
Mount	RF	RF	Sony E	Nikon Z
Adapted	EF	EF	Sony A	Nikon F
ISO	100-51200	100-102400	100-32000	64-25600
ISO Ext.	50-102400	50-819200	50-102400	ISO 32-102400
Stabil.	5-Axis IBIS (8 Stops)	5-Axis IBIS (8 Stops)	5-Axis IBIS (5.5 Stops)	5-Axis IBIS (5 Stops)
8K video	up to 30p	N/a	N/a	N/a
4K video	up to 120p (10-bit)	4K up to 60p	4K up to 30p (8-bit)	4K up to 30p
AF	Dual Pixel CMOS AF II	Dual Pixel CMOS AF II	On-Sensor Phase-Detect	On-Sensor Phase-Detect
AF points	1053, 100% coverage	1053, 100% coverage	567, 74% coverage	493-Point
EVF	0.76x 5.76m-dot OLED	0.76x 3.69m-dot OLED	0.78x 5.76m-dot OLED	0.8x 3.68m-dot OLED
LCD	3.2" 2.1m-dot Articulating Touchscreen	3" 1.62m-dot Articulating Touchscreen	3" 1.44m-dot Tilting Touchscreen	3.2" 2.1m-dot Tilting Touchscreen
Continuous Shooting	Electronic 20 fps, Mechanical 12 fps	Electronic 20 fps, Mechanical 16 fps	10 fps	9 fps
Multi-Shot	No	No	Yes, up to 240MP	No
Top LCD	Yes (OLED)	No	No	Yes (OLED)
Card	1 CFExpress + 1 UHS II SD	2 x SD (UHS-II)	2 x SD (UHS-II)	1 XQD
Battery (LCD/EVF)	490/320	510/380	670/530	400 / 330
Price	$3899	$2499	$3500	$3400

See full spec for R5 at this link.

eosr5_front_body_square_9f60d3f47e2c4b59a2efe3ea0c95aa02_cr.jpg
^{Source: Canon Europe}

Carefully searching through the long list of specs, we have found one-and-a-half innovations against its rivals: 8K and class leading IBIS. In conjuction with stabilized lenses it has no less than 8 (yes, eight) stops of stabilization, and you can forget gimbals while vlogging with these new Canon machines. On the other hand, RP on gimbal is still almost half the price of R5…

And Sony a7R IV still has the class leading AF, better sensor, multi-shot mode and fantastic battery life.

But let’s not spoil Canon’s party. We said those were (R)evolutionary models. Why? Because at last, Canon decided to ditch DSLR business in favor of mirrorless technology. Those are first models that clearly cut inside the Canon’s DSLR cake and designate the future research&development priority. This is a true revolution. Too bad it came at the very end of the World.

Still, you should stay tuned, because…