In some of PetaPixel‘s images of the Canon EOS R1, you may have noticed that the logo was not visible. In some cases this was because there was electrical tape covering it, which is common with pre-release hardware that is on public display. In other cases it was because the “R1” logo fell off.
At the end of the day, after only a few hours with the R1, I looked at one of our sample cameras and saw only a blank spot under the “EOS” lettering on the right side of the body. I thought this was a perfect example of how things had turned out for the troubled camera.
When Canon launched the EOS R3 in 2021, it bought itself more time — three years, it turns out — to make something truly special with the R1. But now that it’s finally here, I can’t help but feel like it still felt 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 had no problems 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 is common when it comes to early looks at new cameras, but it’s become rare for that firmware to be noticeably buggy to the point where it impairs our ability to reliably shoot photos. The Canon reps I spoke with didn’t even refer to it as pre-release, but rather “beta” firmware. What’s more, not every R1 they had available was running the same beta firmware.
I can’t think of any reason why firmware so early in development and full of bugs should get into the hands of the media, other than the rush to release. This is compounded by the fact that Canon didn’t put the same firmware version in every camera.
Unknown quantities
As is customary for a camera launch, we had a one-hour presentation on the cameras the night before so we knew what to expect and where to focus our attention. These presentations are very useful because they give us the crucial information we need to talk about equipment during videos and in our written stories.
While we got a lot of concrete information, there was still quite a bit missing. One of the R1’s notable new features is its improved electronic viewfinder, which promises increased resolution and brightness. While we were given specific numbers on 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 to make us uncomfortable putting too many specs out there, so we instead opted to move that conversation forward two weeks to give Canon more time to give us that information.
As of today, we still don’t know how clear that viewfinder is. Canon changed its tone from “we’ll get that information for you” in Arizona to “Canon will not provide that information” today. We also didn’t get full information on expected recording times for all of Canon’s video modes, and we still don’t.
Prices for new cameras are usually announced at the last minute, but it’s rare for multiple question marks to be raised about the hardware during a press conference.
A hasty event
Canon’s 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 an indoor soccer and indoor basketball shooting range. Normally, a full day (or at least six hours) is a decent amount of time to both test out a new camera and carve out a few minutes here and there to shoot video about the experience. It’s rushed, but it can be done: Chris and Jordan pulled it off successfully at Sony’s a9 III event last year, which was aided by a fairly long runtime and multiple shooting scenarios to test out the camera.
But two and a half hours total with only two shooting opportunities — opportunities that weren’t back-to-back — is tight. Plus, we weren’t trying to evaluate just one camera, but two. That’s a lot to cram into a very short, limited shooting session, and so we opted not to do our traditional first impressions of either the R1 or R5 II — we simply didn’t have the time.
Why such a hurry?
I get it, the Summer Olympics are coming up really quickly 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 that at least one more day could have been squeezed into this event. Maybe everyone could arrive a day earlier, or maybe the event could be held somewhere with a more friendly climate so there would be more options to try out different features (it averaged 110 degrees in Phoenix the week we were there, making it unsafe to be outside).
Everything felt rushed, which is at odds with the amount of time Canon had with this camera. This is easily the most important launch for Canon since their foray into mirrorless, and you could argue the company’s most important launch in the digital age, and we didn’t have full hardware information, the cameras were buggy, and we didn’t have much time to use the camera to determine whether Canon’s performance claims held up.
What was offered to us was not fair to us, potential buyers and the R5 II and R1.
For something as important as a flagship release – and remember, the R5 II is also a hugely important launch that came with it – it all felt so alien, even surreal. After years of work, and with the weight of Canon’s reputation on its shoulders, the R1 deserved better.