It might just be the most highly anticipated camera announcement of the year, and it’s finally here. With the official introduction of the Canon EOS R full frame mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera, Canon leaps into a territory that’s been claimed by Sony, and Sony alone, since 2014.

Over the past four years, full-frame mirrorless cameras have pushed every envelope and carved their place in the full-frame game, and Canon and Nikon DSLR users hungrily eyed Sony announcements; a sizable segment grew impatient for their brand to follow suit and “jumped ship”. Might they now regret doing so? With current lens adapter tech, Canon users didn’t even have to give up their beloved glass to switch teams. Now, that glass is even more useful on the EOS R system!

There’s absolutely no denying that the road to full-frame mirrorless as we know it was paved by Sony, and Nikon tried to make some thunder recently with their Z6 and Z7, but now this is a road that will be well-traveled from now on.

[Rewind:] Canon M5 Review | Canon’s First Real Mirrorless Contender

Ever since the rumors began to swirl that Canon was developing a long-awaited full-frame mirrorless camera, speculations, fears, and wishlists for the new addition have run rampant. The bar was set high, with the competition having already released multiple generations and ironed out many of the kinks from their products. Expectations gleaned from online chatter range from hopeful to dismal with a hard skew to the latter. The rumor mill can finally stop churning, though, because we’ve now got our answers:

Key Specs

  • New “RF” Lens Mount
  • 30.3-megapixel sensor, Digic 8 processor (5DIV = Digic 6)
  • Maximum 5,655 AF points (Yes, that wasn’t a joke. 5 thousand AF points!)
  • Dual Pixel Autofocus, -6EV low-light focusing
  • 8 FPS burst, 5 FPS with Servo AF
  • ISO 100 to 40000, LO 50, H1 51200, H2 102400
  • 1 SD card slot
  • 1.6x crop mode for adapting EF-S lenses
  • Fully articulating touchscreen
  • 3.6million dot OLEDEVF
  • Rear touch bar
  • 4K 30p, FullHD 60p, HD 120p video capture, H.264 .mp4 files
  • New LP-E6N battery, also compatible with standard LP-E6
  • LP-E6N batteries can be charged in-camera via USB
  • 370 shots per charge or 450 in Power Saving mode, with added battery grip 740 or 900 in Power Saving
  • Bluetooth, WiFi connectivity
  • Dimensions: Approx. 5.35 x 3.87 x 3.32 in. / 135.8 x 98.3 x 84.4mm
  • Weight: Approx. 1.46 lbs. / 660g including battery & SD memory card

[Related Article: Canon EOS R Vs. Canon 5D Mk IV]

The Canon EOS R will be accompanied by an impressive series of RF lenses, and if the performance of the EF to EOS-M adapter is any indicator, adapting EF glass to the RF mount should be flawless. The new lenses will be the RF 35mm F1.8 Macro IS STM, RF 50mm F1.2L USM, RF 28-70mm F2L USM, and RF 24-105mm F4L IS USM.

Canon EOS R, Canon RF 50mm f/1.2 L USM, 1/1000 sec @ f/1.2 & ISO 3200

We are currently in Hawaii at the official international press conference, and we will be getting the EOS R into our hands in literally a few seconds, so we will publish a thorough review very soon!