In some of PetaPixel‘s images of the Canon EOS R1, you may have noticed that the logo wasn’t visible. In some cases, that was due to electrical tape blocking it, which is common practice for pre-release hardware that may be seen in public. In other cases, it’s because the “R1” logo actually fell off.
At the end of the day after just a few hours with the R1, I looked down at one of our sample cameras and saw just a blank spot under the “EOS” lettering on the right side of the body and thought that it was a perfect exemplification of how things had gone for the beleaguered camera.
When Canon launched the EOS R3 in 2021, it bought itself more time — three years, it turns out — to really make 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 the 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 lamented frequent crashes, glitches, and other issues with their samples.
Pre-release firmware is par for the course when it comes to early looks at new cameras but it has become rare for that firmware to be noticeably buggy to the degree it detracts from our ability to capture photos reliably. The Canon representatives I spoke to didn’t even refer to it as pre-release, but rather as “beta” firmware. Beyond that, not every R1 on hand was running the same beta firmware.
I can’t think of a reason to put firmware that is this early in development and bug-filled into media’s hands for any reason other than the launch was rushed — and that is reinforced by the fact Canon didn’t get the same firmware version into every camera.
Unknown Quantities
As is typical of a camera launch, we were given an hour-long presentation on the cameras the night before so that we knew what to expect and what to focus our attention on. These presentations are very helpful as they get us the critical information we need in order to speak about equipment during videos and in our written stories.
While we did get a lot of concrete information, quite a bit was still missing, too. One of the standout new features of the R1 is the improved electronic viewfinder that promised higher resolution and more brightness. While we got 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 uneasy about saying too many specifications live, so instead we opted to move that conversation down the road by two weeks so that we could give Canon more time to get us that information.
Today, we still don’t know the brightness of that viewfinder. Canon changed its tune from “we’ll get that information for you” in Arizona to “Canon will not be providing that information” today. We also did not get complete information on expected record times for all of Canon’s video modes and we still don’t have it.
Pricing is usually reserved as a last-minute addition for new cameras, but multiple question marks regarding hardware at a press event is rare.
A Rushed 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 opportunity. Typically, a full day (or at least six hours) is a decent amount of time to both test a new camera and take a few minutes aside here and there to record video about the experience. It’s rushed, but it’s possible: Chris and Jordan did it successfully during Sony’s a9 III event last year. That event was helped by a decently long run time as well as multiple shooting scenarios to test out the camera.
But two and a half hours total with just two shooting opportunities — opportunities that were not happening consecutively — is cutting it close. Added to that, we weren’t just trying to evaluate one camera, but two. That’s quite a lot to cram into a very short, limited shooting session which is why we opted not to do our traditional hands-on first impressions for either the R1 or the R5 II — we simply did not have time.
Why The Hurry?
I get it, the Summer Olympics are coming very soon and Canon likely is trying to get as much media attention on these cameras as possible before they head to Paris, but I can’t help but think there was at least one more day’s worth of time that could have been squeezed into this event. Maybe everyone arrives one day earlier, or maybe the event could be held where the climate was more amicable so there would be more options to try different features (it was averaging 110 degrees in Phoenix the week we were there, making it unsafe to be outside).
Everything felt rushed, which doesn’t jive with the amount of time Canon had to work on this camera. It is easily the most important launch for Canon since its foray into mirrorless and the argument could be made it’s the most important launch for the company in the digital era, and we didn’t have all the info on hardware, the cameras were buggy, and we didn’t have much time to use the camera to determine if the performance claims Canon made were accurate.
What we were provided wasn’t fair to us, to prospective buyers, or to the R5 II and R1.
For something as important as a flagship release — and don’t forget, the R5 II is also a hugely important launch that got bundled in with it — this all felt so strange, surreal even. After years of work and with the weight of Canon’s reputation riding on its shoulders, the R1 deserved better.