Canon is back – camera giant confirms major launch as new EOS R1 and EOS R5 II rumors swirl

It’s been a tumbleweed year for Canon so far, but the camera giant has finally announced its first launch event of 2024 – and thanks to some new rumors, we now know that it’s likely to be for the Canon EOS R1 and Canon EOS R5 II.

A launch event for July 17, which kicks off at 6am ET / 11am BST / 8pm AEST, has been announced with a YouTube placeholder for the livestream. The only clues for the ‘Canon Live Event’ are that it’s for the EOS R system, which is Canon’s mirrorless mount for full-frame and APS-C cameras.

Fortunately, we have some credible rumors to fill in the gaps, with some new ones hinting at the possible specs for the flagship Canon EOS R1 and the promising EOS R5 II. Canon made an EOS R1 development announcement R1 back in May, but didn’t reveal any specs other than its new Digic Accelerator processor.

Some subsequent EOS R1 rumors predicted that it would have a 24MP full-frame sensor, with Quad Pixel autofocus and a next-gen Eye Control AF system. But now a new possibility thrown up by a Canon Rumors post is that the flagship could debut a DGO (dual gain output) sensor for improved dynamic range.

Canon EOS R1: rumored specs

24MP full-frame sensor
Quad Pixel Autofocus
Eye Control AF II
Dual CFexpress Type B slots
DGO (dual gain output) sensor

A DGO sensor works by combining different pixel amplification levels to give you a wider dynamic range. We’ve seen a similar idea in video cameras such as the Panasonic Lumix GH7‘s Dynamic Range Boost mode and Canon’s own EOS cinema cameras, but it’s less common on stills cameras – so it’d be an interesting feature, if the rumors are true.  

Still, the more realistic camera for most of us, price-wise, is the Canon EOS R5 Mark II, and a separate Canon Rumors post has revealed some “unconfirmed” new specs and features for that camera. These include new “firsts” for Canon’s AF algorithms (which will also likely appear on the EOS R1), an LCD screen with twice the resolution of the EOS R5 (which was 2.1-million dots) and blackout-free continuous shooting.

Some other rumored features include “some” illumination for the buttons, a superior pixel-shift mode for high-resolution images, a full-size HDMI port and a slightly improved battery performance. Those join the existing rumored specs of a 45MP BSI stacked full-frame sensor, speedy burst shooting (12fps with the mechanical shutter, or 30fps with the electronic shutter) and an 8K/60p video mode.

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It’s possible than some of these won’t be correct, but all will officially be revealed in just under a week on July 17…

It isn’t clear why Canon hasn’t announced any new cameras since the underwhelming Canon EOS R100 back in May 2023, but one thing’s for sure – Canon needs a couple of big hits to keep its fans happy in the face of impressive releases from Sony and Nikon.

Even for those who (understandably) don’t plan to buy a Canon EOS R1 or EOS R5 Mark II, the event is a big deal, because it’ll hopefully dispel the growing suspicion that Canon is resting on its laurels and falling behind in mirrorless camera tech.

Canon EOS R5 Mark II: rumored specs

45MP stacked full-frame sensor
12fps burst shooting (mechanical shutter)
30fps burst shooting (electronic shutter)
Eye Control AF
8K/60p video mode
Full-size HDMI port

Canon doesn’t have a true flagship camera to rival the Sony A1 or Nikon Z9, and the Canon EOS R5 launched way back in July 2020. A four-year gap between cameras is now considered very long, so the EOS R5’s successor needs some major upgrades – and the rumors suggest it will get those.

Outside the lack of new cameras, Canon has also come under fire for keeping its RF mount closed to third-party manufacturers such as Sigma, Viltrox and Tamron. It finally changed that earlier this year by allowing Sigma and Tamron to make lenses for its mirrorless mount, but only for crop-sensor (APS-C) cameras like the Canon EOS R10.

That’s good news if you’re an amateur or landscape shooter who prefers crop-sensor cameras, but there’s no news on third-party lenses for Canon’s full-frame models – and it’ll be interesting to see if Canon addresses that at its launch event. The rumors suggest not, but at least we’re going to get new Canon cameras for the first time in 2024.

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