Canon has been teasing its forthcoming EOS R3 mirrorless camera for months, whetting pro photographers' appetites, and handing it off to some of the best sports photographers in the world to photograph this summer's Tokyo Olympics.

Built for Pros

Pros are the target audience for the full-frame camera. It's built to the same high standards as the EOS-1D X Mark III SLR, but cuts out the optical viewfinder, mirror box, and other sundries in favor of a smaller, lighter (2.2-pound) chassis. The frame is magnesium alloy, with a design that incorporates a vertical grip, dust and splash protection, and extensive on-body controls.

Inside there's a stabilized 24MP full-frame sensor, Canon's first in-house imager with a Stacked BSI CMOS design. This type of sensor reads data at very high speed. It's used here to support 30fps Raw photography (with focus tracking and exposure for every shot), electronic flash sync at 1/180-second, 6K60 Raw video, and 4K at up to 120fps.

The stacked sensor supports fully silent, blackout-free capture. Photographers specializing in action shots will enjoy an uninterrupted view of a scene, something that lessens the effort of keeping track of your subject matter. The shutter can fire as quickly as 1/64,000-second, and has a fine-tuning option to eliminate flicker from digital signage, a common nuisance at arenas. The R3 also has a mechanical focal plane shutter, capable of firing as quickly as 1/8,000-second.

Wired Ethernet and Wi-Fi are both included on-body, and 5G transfers are an option too. You'll need to add an adapter to connect your phone to the new multi-function accessory shoe. The Canon Mobile Transfer includes support for IPTC and voice memos. There are two memory card slots inside—one supports CFExpress Type B and the other works with UHS-II SDXC cards.

Improved Focus, With Eye Control

The autofocus system builds on the class-leading subject recognition Canon has built into its existing EOS R6 and R5. It's capable of identifying all types of objects, and has priority modes for people, animals (dogs, cats, and birds), and vehicles used in motorsports—GT, rally, and Formula 1 cars, as well as motorcycles.

Canon's focus system is one that you can fine-tune a bit too. The R3 has priority modes available—you can set it to Vehicle priority to make sure the camera doesn't drift and lock onto trackside spectators, or use Animal priority for dog shows to keep focus on best in show winners, not their handlers.

You can control the focus as you would with any other Canon—the rear display is touch sensitive and you can tap to set focus, or you can use the rear joystick. Eye control, a feature Canon toyed with in the film era, is included. It places infrared sensors in the viewfinder to track the movement of your eye and set focus appropriately. It's not something ready to go out of the box, though—you'll need to take the time to calibrate the system to get it working.

We'll have more to say about eye focus when we've had a chance to try it out. The same is true of the EVF itself, a new Canon-made 5.76-million-dot OLED with 0.76x magnification. It has two viewing modes, one to show a preview of your exposure, as well as an optical viewfinder simulation mode.

When set to the latter you'll see a low contrast, color view of the world, a good match for tracking subjects in backlit and other difficult scenarios. Canon's tech rep, who has been working with the camera for some time, tells us he opted to set the M-Fn button to toggle between the two viewing modes.

Pricing, Availability, and Additional RF Lenses

The EOS R3 will enter the market in November and is priced at $5,999.99 in a body-only configuration.

Canon is also taking the opportunity today to announce two new RF lenses, both positioned for entry-level and enthusiast customers. The lightweight RF 16mm F2.8 STM is one of the smallest wide angle primes we've seen for a full-frame system, and costs just $299.99. It's coming in October.

The telephoto RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM is also coming in October. It's a lower-cost alternative to the premium RF 100-500mm, with a bit less zoom power and consumer grade build, for just $649.99. Both should appeal to photographers using the entry-level EOS RP or midrange EOS R6.