The brand new EOS R3 is now Canon’s flagship professional mirrorless camera, much like the 1D series was to Canon DSLRs but with the current ongoing king of mirrorless camera wars between Sony and Canon (We can’t include Nikon at this time because… It’s Nikon), I’m here to break down all things R3 and place it beside Sony’s flagship; the widely popular Sony A1.
Let’s begin with Canon R3;
The R3 is relatively young, as it was only announced earlier this week. With a stacked 24 Megapixel BSI CMOS sensor, the R3 is Canon’s front runner, shooting 30fps in burst mode and 6K RAW Video (with the ability is shooting oversampled 4K video). A new hybrid hot shoe to facilitate camera communication with accessories other than the regular Speedlite and flash triggers, the R3 is built for top-end professionals like Sports Photographers, Photojournalists, and Wildlife shooters who shoot for a long period of time (which explains the built-in battery grip and massive battery) but put against the A1, the R3 does have to fight to earn its spot so before we dissect, let’s review the Sony A1.
Sony A1;
The Sony A1 packs a 50-megapixel sensor (in true Sony fashion of high-end sensor), a 30fps photo burst mode, and 8K at 30fps Video structure (sort of like the Canon R5 but better). The A1 was released in early January and has been making great headlines in the last 8 months of its availability. Being Sony’s flagship, the A1 spots all of Sony’s latest autofocus capabilities but is beat out by Canon’s new introduced Automobile Focus system that allows photographers to focus on cars, bikes, etc without even half-pressing the shutter button which makes it easier for those photographing race events and eye focusing system that allows the camera focus on the area the photographer is looking at.
On which is better, the A1 packs a bigger sensor and for those who shoot fashion, editorials, and advertorials, that big sensor will go a long way in capturing just the extra bit of detail that is required in those fields but the downside of a big sensor is in the file size. For comparison, the Sony A7R II shoots 80-88 megabyte RAW photos at base ISO 100 and that was a second-generation Sony mirrorless. The A1 is 5th generation Sony so expect bigger files (which means buying additional storage devices). The R3 on the other hand, with its 24-megapixel sensor, sits comfortably between great enough for fashion editorial and superb for sports photography (50 megapixels is overkill for sports photography). The new BSI sensor means the R3 works perfectly in low light with the most minimum noise results. While the time of release doesn’t matter, if you’re a person who likes the latest in the market then the R3 is your best bet (but I’m sure you’re not because anyone who’s basing their buying decision on when the camera came out is…oh well)
The price point on both cameras is slightly similar with the Canon R3 starting at $5,999 (Body Only) and the Sony A1 tarting at $6,500 (Body Only). Both cameras are flagships cameras in their own rights so honestly, it’s mostly going to bank on which camera ecosystem you’re already bought into.
