Canon goes all-in on mirrorless with a full-frame camera and unique lenses

Hot on the heels of Nikon’s first full-frame mirrorless cameras, Canon is announcing its own: the EOS R. After releasing half-baked mirrorless products through its EOS M line – likely in an attempt to avoid cannibalizing its DSLR sales – the company appears to be embracing the format in its entirety.

The EOS R is a fairly mainstream full-frame camera at a $2299 (body-only) price. It has a 30.3 megapixel sensor flanked by the new RF mount.  Native ISO ranges from 100-40,000, expandable from 50-102,4000. There are 5,655 AF points with 100 percent horizontal coverage, and it can shoot up to 8 images per second (5 images with continuous autofocus).

It looks a lot like a slimmed down SLR, and comes with a 3.2-inch articulating touchscreen. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are built in, while you have an HDMI, USB-C, remote, headphone, and microphone ports for connectivity. Yet strangely, video is limited to 4k/30fps with a 1.7x crop. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like a great choice for film makers right now.

While the camera itself fairly standard as far as mirrorless goes – it’s just the first in a new system, after all – Canon seems to really be paying attention to its new lenses. By December, the following four lenses will be available:

• A 28-70mm F2 ($2,999) an aperture which is pretty much unheard of for this type of zoom.
• A 50mm F1.2 ($2,299) for silky smooth bokeh
• A versatile 24-105mm F4 ($1099)
• 35mm F1.8 ($499) that doubles as a macro lens

A four lens launch may not sound like much – and they’re all very expensive – but it’s the unique qualities of the lenses that stand out. Canon is doing with mirrorless what it couldn’t achieve with a DSLR’s constraints, and that’s kind of the point. And as expected, you still have access to all of Canon’s EF lenses as well – which the company says will perform as well on the new mount as on older cameras.

The 💜 of EU tech

The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!

Only time will tell how good Canon’s new system ends up being – but so far, so good. The EOS R will be available for $2,299 in October, or $3399 with the 24-105mm lens.