Canon EOS R3 review: IN-DEPTH Part 1 

My in-depth Canon EOS R3 review. Part TWO at: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8VSZk1tyAgY.html Correction: the EOS R3 will have backlit buttons! My early sample didn't. Canon EOS R3 at B&H: bhpho.to/3EgNNzh // WEX UK: tidd.ly/3tEmaLC Buy Gordon a coffee: www.paypal.me/cameralabs Gordon's In Camera book: amzn.to/2n61PfI / Amazon uk: amzn.to/2mBqRVZ Cameralabs merchandise: redbubble.com/people/cameralabs/shop Gordon’s retro gear channel: ru-vid.com Download video assets from StoryBlocks: storyblocks.com/CameraLabs Equipment used for producing my videos Sony A6400: amzn.to/3hul53c Sony e 24mm f1.8: amzn.to/2TqWNzk Rode NT USB mic: amzn.to/3AdHcUp Rode Wireless Go II mic: amzn.to/3xkCvGo Rode Lavalier Go mic: amzn.to/3ygzzKY Godox UL150 light: amzn.to/2VpVbXE Godox QR-P70 softbox: amzn.to/3yQfGdF MacBook Pro 13in (16GB / 512GB): amzn.to/3hrwMYD Music: www.davidcuttermusic.com / @dcuttermusic 00:00 - Intro 01:16 - Sensor and burst shooting 03:11 - Exposure modes / shutter speeds 04:02 - Design, build, controls, accessory shoe 07:44 - Battery 08:54 - Card slots and ports 10:33 - Viewfinder and screen 11:39 - Autofocus modes 12:59 - Eye Control autofocus 18:39 - Verdict so far As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases

Gordon is concise, unbiased, and his testing methods are homogenous across brands. If you are reading Gordon, I am sure I speak for many users when I say I’m glad you’re here producing these videos. A clear voice that cuts through all the RU-vid background noise is a rare and highly desirable thing. Thank you.

Your reviews are always the best . I’m never disappointed thank you For the good work you put forward.

Very good review, exact, clear and concise! Thank you, Gordon!

Great review, as always! I couldn't rationalize upgrading to this from my R6. Still, I would absolutely love to play with one.

Gordon: Your reviews have always been unbiased, thorough, interesting and without any grandstanding (like some of your fellow utubers). Thanks much for this latest review on the R3. I did not realize the Eye Tracking tech would not work with glasses...I guess I could take them off and rely on the beep to let me know I'm in focus (smiles). Great job!

That burst sound is RIDICULOUS! Love it!

I really appreciate you making it clear that this is for sports, not wildlife, with Canon not even bothering to mention wildlife in their promo materials.

Well done, as always . Thanks Gordon!

Clear, concise and informative. And no spurious click bait claims. A breath of fresh air when compared to some well known RU-vid camera reviewers. I am concerned that given the shutter noise, you might find a male woodpecker lands on your shoulder, and starts drumming on your head to mark its territory. You might want to check with Canon UK, this could be an unforeseen design flaw.

Outstanding as always Gordon!

As always, most excellent Gordon!

Thanks for the useful review Gordon !

Excellent review Gordon, looking forward to Part 2. Can't wait to see the R3 in action during a photo safari in Africa.

Great video Gordon. The R3 is beyond my needs at this time but it’s good to know about it.

I love my R3 imo its a total game changer, great review, love your work on Corrie Tim :)

Thank you for the demonstration of the eye focus. Very helpful

Just taken delivery of my R3 yesterday................Love it

Long time subscriber here, Gordon! Always loved Your reviews, both in written and video form. What a science fiction camera, crazy! Like You, during 1990's I was a happy 20 year old Canon EOS 5 user doing a bit of everything, really. Some news, a good share of weddings, and so on... Right about that time, I chose to become a professional french horn player and to save my camera for my own enjoying. But it was loosing value fast because of the new DSLR technology so I sold all my gear, sadly. For the last ten years or so, I've been a Nikon (left eye) shooter, but now I'm seriously consider getting back to Canon and it's mirrorless (maybe EOS R) for it's superior eye tracking AF. Today I mainly do headshots of my family and friends. Keep it up, sir 👍

So refreshing seeing a serious photographer review instead of plenty clowns non senses

Great Job Gordon Amazing Review

Clean and concise as usual, thank you for this! This camera is an absolute stunning body! Not a fan of the two different card slots but Canon did say that this wasn’t the flagship body! Is it better than my 1DX3?! Ehhhhhhhhh…yeah…but not enough to get me to upgrade!

Excellent Gordon as always , thank you.

Been saving myself for your review buddy lol…. As expected pt1 is epic and the only reviews I watch first to get an in-depth non biased informational stance on cameras.. being a canon fanboy this superb I did have a moment when you shot off the 30fps lol 😂 …. Thanks for doing this as always much appreciated 😉😎

Great review! Thank you!!! I agree with you and would keep my R5 every single day. Despite the lack of global shutter. Moreover, I think I will buy a second R5 or R5 Mk I if it comes.

This is the one we've been waiting for. A bit of the Brighton speed trials as well. Thanks GL

You are my most favorite camera reviewer of all time. I am watching your reviews since I was 15 years old. ❤❤❤

Wow its amazing sir..One of my fav camera from canon..I just ordered used canon 90d sir(used camera)..i am very exited to use it ❤ 2:47 wow its a beast

Great video! Love your detail!

Brilliant thorough review good sir. Cheers.

So awesome to see the eye tracking in use, seems like it'll integrate beautifully with the tracking of the recent models. Making me and my 80d both happy and sad. Thanks for another awesome video Gordon

Great review, stunning camera.

I'd choose this over the 1DX3 without a second thought. What a camera!

fantastic picture quality!!! BRAVO

Thanks, Gordon, great job. I think the R5 and R3 are going to be killer with Ninja V+ Already using R5 with Ninja V+ and I order V-Raptors from Red we’ll see if we can use them together. Using Komodo as stills because I can sync flash with its global shutter. Doing a 360 Komodo rig later on

The pro's will love it. The technology is so far ahead of anyone else. I think it even has wildlife applications but the next big sporting event won't be 50/50 with Sont, that's for sure.

Great review Gordon!

Notice even the battery is Made in Japan. Thank you Canon. Glad it has an articulated screen Gordon. Also a fan of the touch smart controller from the 1DX III. I see nothing to dislike apart from the narrow audience this camera is necessarily aimed at.

Best Review out yet well Done . Will stick to my 5d3s but maybe in a year or two i Will go over to r3

Great review! As a photojournalist the R3 really got my attention, it does have everything I was already working with (even the lan cable that I am often using while shooting sports), but damn the price and the currency conversion just postponed my new acquisition for a few years I suppose. Impressive gear.

On the RF 600/400 supertele review you mentioned a dual power ability for improved drive speed in future bodies. Do we know if that feature made it into the R3?

Thanks for another outstanding video.

SO SWEET!

So many "reviews" on youtube but we had to no doubt which one we wanted to watch. Thank you, Gordon!

Very good Gordon 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 this is machine all this?

Great Review. Iam very curious how the R3 will be accepted by sports and animal photographers. What excites me most is a rather tiny feature but this ultra fast smart control seems to work brilliantly fast! I find Joysticks on most system very slow and they're not as useful in most situations for me. Would love to see some other manufacturers replace their joystick with this modern adaption of it!

I live in San Francisco but 2 of the co-workers I deal with the most are in Hove and Brighton. Thes days when I can only travel can really easily take part in are from my computer getting a peek into the UK is always a treat , plus a great detailed review.

Hi Gordon, been waiting specifically for your review! Any updates on adapted EF glass with the R3?

Thank you for your review! Thanks for mentioning the eye-following focus they had in their SLRs. Was not the technology good enough for them to implement it in their DSLRs?

Great review, heading to part 2 now. It's out of my price range and expertise but if I were a pro I'd definitely want a R3. Would love to try the eye tracking. I'm probably gonna end up with a R6 to replace my 60D.

The best R3 Review!!

Great review ..

Gordon, thank you for your review. Can you use eye control while wearing glasses?

Now, Gordon, you need a R5 with a Ninja V+ and go shoot and do a little simple VFX. The R3 seems to be an accomplishment in Video if it had sync, even from GPS timing that could be a great multi cam.

On the h+ my experience with the r6 this was more a function of the lens than the camera. I deduce it has to do with how fast the appature can snap from your selected f stop to wide open for focusing. Hence adapted lenses may or may not work at higher speed, based on how fast they can move. For example my old 70-200 f4 L cannot go into h+ but my sigma 150-600mm c can. I am not questioning the test methodology, but I am curious if this is different with the r3.

The eye-controlled AF really looks like a game changer for sports. You won't have to aim your AF point through a sea of football players. You just look at one and start tracking. It doesn't get any more intuitive than that. This is the kind of improvement that you can't quantify on a spec sheet.

Really, the only negative for me as an occasional bird photographer is the 24 MP. Big game shooters won't care because they have less need to crop. I suspect the R1 will have more MP. I've got an R5 anyway and can't afford the R3 as another personal camera, but it's exciting to have this camera and its tech available for (I hope) some eventual trickle-down to prosumer bodies.

I was going to buy the R7, to competent my R5, to give me more reach, especially when shoot birds. However, the rolling shutter and the small buffer forced me buy the the R3. It will be here in a few days.

How do you sync audio recorded on Rode NT-USB with video in Camera? It will be great if you can explain your workflow. Great detailed review as always BTW. Love your work.

Thx for both videos on the R3, Gordon. Thoroughly enjoyed the info provided. I might point out one topic you mentioned in this part one video, that hopefully you can clear up for us. At about 7:40 min in, you mentioned that sadly, no buttons were backlit on the R3. Yet, in Canon USA's Rudy Winston R3 announcement, he states at 4:10 min in that several back buttons on the left side are illuminated. Can you clarify for us??? Thx much.....

Best review of the Canon R3, with respect to the eye focus for sure. Best review of the R3 for purpose, purchase and desirability. (take THAT you algor6thm). Thanks for doing the in depth review. Admittedly, it sounds like I should probably buy the R5. My recurring, biggest, most compelling challenge is catching that perfect moment in a poorly lit high school gym. So I'm probably going to pull the trigger on this anyway. This will/would be my first mirrorless, but it seems like they've got the ISO performance, the view finder, and esp. the autofocus/AF to a point where it would be a meaningful leap. Esp. true for the R3 which has also beat the rolling shutter problem. With the 5D-iv, I do crop sections out fairly often. Only rarely do I crop tiny sections. Maybe 24mpix is a good trade for killer ISO. So maybe I need to be willing to look foolish at the barbecue in order to chase that perfect, sharp focus, on that one action shot. Or just keep using the 5d. Actually, one other pain point for those of us who don't believe in flash photography is Christmas morning when the lights are to dim for autofocus in many parts of the room. Your "great" camera is worthless against an iphone in that situation. R3 is supposed to have really good low light focus, so maybe looking silly with a sports camera on Christmas morning is also worth enduring. Again, thank you for your thoughtful review of the R3.

Thks gordon! Does the R3 still feature the touch drag focus feature of the touch screen while the eye is on the viewfinder? Ty!

I think this eye focus will be also good when trying to get that bird hiding behind a leaf lol ? if it is that good . but ill stick with the R5 as it does me very well but if the R1 is like the R3 and high MP ooh now that my change my mind as the R1 will need 45MP and 30FPS just to get level with a1 BUT if it also has this eye focus and a mechanical shutter of 20fps that great . time will see. thanks for a great review Gordon keep up the good work

it reminds me of the desert island challenge/question by Andrew&Danae some times ago, not a bad choice in a similar scenario too….

Gordon, I'm a higher end wedding photographer but I'm getting into video for my clients. I've always used the 1DX range but I'm now unsure if I should get the R3 or, R5 or new R5C. Obviously, the R3 is a great still camera but for video for a complete hybrid camera with running at 60 or 120 fps, should I be looking more at the R5C ? Forget the hard build quality of the R3 as that's without a doubt a great camera, it's now more about having a couple of the same bodies on the go where I'd like to have the best of both worlds with complete functions. Thank you. Geoff

Hello Gordon! Is it possible to have Zebras and focus peaking on at the same time in the R3? :)

A1 flash sync goes up in 'R3' mode (crop at 21megapixels) to 1/500 and 1/250 for mech and electronic.

When are you going to review RF 100-400mm F/5.6-7.1 USM? Thank you. Always enjoy your reviews on gears..

Only 2,000 frames per LP-E19 battery? Ouch! I've 3 batteries and rarely use up the second when capturing ~10,000 shots per day at dog events using the DX3 and driving AF on 300, 400, and the 200-400 lenses.

Nice review. I have a question about the ovf mode. One of the advantages of a real ovf is that the dynamic range is close to the one of the human eye, and in very high contrast scenes you have an excellent view of all the areas, including shadows and highlights. This is very useful in a number of cases, including wildlife photography, where subjects can move really fast from a dark zone to the sky. I tested a number of mirrorless Canon cameras (eos m series, eos r series), but I am very disappointed by the dynamic range of their evf, since in very high contrast scenes there is no comparison with an ovf (you can change the picture style, but the difference is still substantial). Canon mentions that they use a proprietary hdr technology, for the "ovf mode". I suppose that the r3 has an hdr evf, and in this "ovf mode" the evf receives an hdr video signal, with gamma correction applied to it, to simulate an ovf. So my question is: how effective is the "ovf simulation" feature, compared to a real ovf? I assume that the dynamic range is higher than the "evf standard mode" but how large is the gap with a real ovf? Thank you.

Great review as usual. I do want 45 mp or higher as I do wildlife photography so I can crop more aggressively. The Eye Tracking AF is impressive. I will wait for the R1 if it ever exists. I wear glasses. I wonder if the Eye Tracking would work with glasses or sunglasses for that matter?

Thanks Gordon appreciate your thoughts…just curious why you would choose the R5 over the R3, given for most main stream photographers would also ….is it because the R5 covers the majority of shooting scenarios…landscape , portrait etc and your not a photographer whom shoots fast moving cars ……

Amazing pREVIEW

Hi! Is video stabilization better than R5 wobbly version?

Very nice, but well out of my price range! Thanks for a very detailed review though. I prefer your reviews to any other reviewer. I have eye control auto focus on my EOS30 SLR film camera and I find it works reasonably well.

I like it ...thanks for information

well as uve well said - the r3 is for the pro sport photographer -if i had the opportunity to choose -it would be the r5 but that said if someone gave me an r6 i would be more than happy . it would be awesome ! :D :D .

THANK YOU for pointing out that there is not eye-lit for a hand strap. Boy I was looking forward to pulling my hand strap out of storage from when I used a Canon 1D mk2 back in 2008. Looks like the optional grips for the R5/6 DO have this strap connection on the bottom of the grip. Very weird they left it out of the R3. We'll see if the R1 has it. Also, those mini pins were really first seen (I think) on the Canon EOS M6 Mk2. Same 21 pin and was used to power the DC-1 or DC-2 EVF. ALtho, if the DC-2 came out along with it, then the DC1 must have hooked onto some other camera from the past. I think these are all the same, but I reckon I could be wrong.

Thanks for the nice review. Your closing comments make me wonder when they plan on having something decent in mirrorless for birds and wildlife. I was hoping this would be it but it's definitely not. Why no mention of the R7 Canon!?!?

Hi. From 12:11 you showcase how to move the focus point using the joystick, the small controller, and directly touching the screen. Out of the three techniques, only touching the screen works. Should I enable some specific settings to enable those two alternative focusing techniques or resetting to the camera default my best option? In addition, direct selection on the screen doesn't work anymore when watching thru the EVF. I'm totally lost. many thanks, Stefano

Could the EF-S lenses be used with Canon R cameras with an adapter? Would be the autofocus working? Is there any adapter? I think the camera can crop with software when detect an EF-S lens.

It's interesting that you didn't experienced overheating at all, but guys at DPReview did.

Amazing, but beyond my needs. I'll stick to my R6 and R5. Another fine video and review! That 30fps sounds like and ild school film reel projector.

Hi gordon i purchased the A1 once you use high mp sensors there is no looking back ,the user eye af tracking is interesting not sure how much it would improve my photography but kudos to canon for trying something different ,most wildlife landscape portrait users will opt for the r5 ,also for such a large camera which i do not need the battery life is nothing like a 1dx and about as good as my A1 so just shows how much mirrorless cameras drain is on a battery life ,one thing mirrorless users will always be jealous of a full day shooting on one battery.

I'm wondering if this isn't a combination bell weather and beta test for a R1.

Finally !

Hi Gordon, if you were taking a macro shot of a ruler, could you use eye control to move a focus point so a specific number is focused on? Or is it not accurate enough?

would you recommend the R3 for wildlife - mainly birds - shooting? I have a 90D at the moment - when its good it is excellent - but when its bad - oh how frustrating. Oh - and thanks for the review - really helpful.

I’ve never used one of the press cameras so far in my career for all sorts of reasons. This makes it harder for me to keep to that way of thinking. All that focussing magic and 4k high frame rate? What’s not to want!

Great! The new camera and the rubbers are already coming off... Canon's new level of quality... 0:45

Is microphone AF detection turned on, on the camera recording this nice review? ;)

Which one would I choose? A Rolls-Royce or an Aston Martin? Uh .. how about a Vauxhall? The price of any full frame camera is prohibitive, so I can only wait and see if the eye control (which I miss from my Eos 50E!) will come in an affordable model.

Great video. I'm planning to buy the r3, but I have one question. In full electronic shutter mode, can you use high speed sync flash?

Camera shutter ASMR

hi, I wonder what is the dynamic range of that camera.

DId you miss or it is gone, selecting focus by sliding a tumb over the rear screen while looking thru the EVF?

Gordon do you know what the FPS is with a Canon 500f4is mki

Do you think we'll see ever vehicle tracking on a future r5 &r6 firmware update?

Great review. Other reviews said they were backlit buttons. Hmmm

Quickly, why would you choose the R5 over the R3? More res, lighter, smaller body? What if they cost the same?