In some of PetaPixelYou may have noticed in the images of the Canon EOS R1 that the logo was not visible. In some cases, this was caused by blocking of the electrical tape, a common practice for pre-release hardware that can be seen in public. In other cases, it’s because the “R1” logo has actually fallen off.
At the end of the day, after a few hours with the R1, I looked down at one of our demo cameras and saw just a blank space below the “EOS” sign on the right side of the body, and thought that was a perfect example of how things developed for the beleaguered camera.
When Canon launched the EOS R3 in 2021, it bought itself more time – three years, it turns out – to really do something special with the R1. But somehow, now that it’s finally here, I can’t help but feel like it was still rushed.
Unfinished firmware
I was one of the lucky ones during the extremely short three and a half hour session we had with the R1 and R5 Mark II in Arizona: my firmware was bug free. While I didn’t have issues with either camera, other members of the media I spoke to later complained of frequent crashes, glitches, and other issues with their samples.
Pre-release firmware comes first when it comes to getting a first look at new cameras, but it’s become rare for that firmware to be noticeably buggy to the point that it reduces our ability to reliably take photos. The Canon representatives I spoke to didn’t even refer to it as a pre-release, but rather as “beta” firmware. Additionally, not every R1 on hand was running the same beta firmware.
I can’t think of a reason to put firmware so early in development and buggy in the hands of the media for any reason other than the launch was rushed – and that’s reinforced by the fact that Canon didn’t get the same version of firmware. to each camera.
Unknown quantity
As is typical for a camera launch, we were given an hour-long presentation about the cameras the night before so we knew what to expect and what to focus our attention on. These presentations are very useful because they give us the critical information we need to talk about the device during videos and in our written stories.
While we got a lot of concrete information, quite a bit was still missing. One of the R1’s notable new features is an improved electronic viewfinder that promised higher resolution and greater brightness. While we got specific numbers about the resolution, we didn’t know how bright the EVF was – and they didn’t have that information either. This is just one example, but there were enough holes in the presentation that we were worried about saying too many specs live, so we decided to move this conversation two weeks instead to give Canon more time to get that information.
Today we still don’t know the brightness of that finder. Canon changed its tune from “we’ll get this information for you” in Arizona to “Canon will not provide this information today.” We also didn’t get full information on the expected record times for all of Canon’s video modes, and we still don’t.
Prices are usually reserved as a last-minute add-on for new cameras, but multiple question marks over hardware at a press event are rare.
A rushed event
The Canon R1 and R5 II event in Phoenix, Arizona gave us three and a half hours to use the cameras—including an hour-long lunch between indoor soccer and a chance to shoot indoor basketball. Usually a full day (or at least six hours) is a decent amount of time to test out a new camera and take a few minutes every now and then to record a video of the experience. It’s rushed, but it’s possible: Chris and Jordan did it successfully during last year’s Sony a9 III event. This event was helped by a decently long running time as well as several shooting scenarios to test the camera.
But two-and-a-half hours in total with just two shooting opportunities – non-consecutive opportunities – narrowly cut it short. In addition, we did not try to evaluate just one camera, but two. That’s quite a lot to cram into a very short, limited photo shoot, which is why we decided not to do our traditional hands-on first impressions of either the R1 or the R5 II – we just didn’t have the time.
Why The Hurry?
I get it, the Summer Olympics are coming up very soon and Canon is probably trying to get as much media attention as possible for these cameras before they go to Paris, but I can’t help but think it had at least one more day. time that could have been squeezed into this event. Maybe everyone would arrive a day early, or maybe the event could be held where the climate was friendlier, so there would be more opportunities to try different features (the week we were there, Phoenix averaged 110 degrees, so it wasn’t safe to be outside ).
Everything seemed rushed, which doesn’t affect the amount of time Canon had to work on this camera. It’s easily Canon’s most important launch since its foray into mirrorless, and arguably the most important launch for the company in the digital era, and we didn’t have all the hardware information, the cameras were bugged, and we didn’t have much time to to use the camera to see if Canon’s performance claims were accurate.
What we got wasn’t fair to us, the potential buyers or the R5 II and R1.
For something as important as a flagship release – and don’t forget that the R5 II is also a hugely important launch to get to it – it all felt so strange, almost surreal. After years of work and with the weight of Canon’s reputation hanging on his shoulders, the R1 deserved better.