Canon R1 Honest Review

[@TheEastbelfast]

Good review and insight, glad I stuck with my R3, still we must not forget what fantastic works of engineering these cameras are, and how lucky we are to live at a time to experience and marvel at the technology we are privileged to experience, the small bugs are just a reminder of the challenges the engineers face to deliver us such powerful tools.

[@evrythingis1]

Or a reminder that you bought the WRONG CAMERA because ITS BUGGY. Good lord, it's like you're in some type of abusive relationship with a camera; "You're lucky just to have a man" huh?

[@MacawAviculture]

I began using a Canon 1Dx Mark II for all photos and videos of my Macaws in 2016. Recently I rented an R3 for a week and bought one. The 4K video and eye tracking autofocus is incredible. I love the larger body of the R1, but since my winged and feathered subjects are slower moving, the extra speed of the R1 was not necessary. Great video! While visiting Costa Rica in 1992, a Scarlet Macaw flew down from a palm tree next to my table and joined me for breakfast!

[@LesleyMattuchio]

Thank you for this. I do not have the R3 , just a couple of R5's first gen., so I should be very happy with my R1. Taking it to South Africa this Spring and next year 3 weeks in Ecuador so glad to know you are thrilled with the low light performance.

[@JGZphotography]

Yes, I had two Canon R3s and an R5 for sports and other genres of photography. Using the R5 for sports provided tighter cropping than the R3s, though the R3s were far superior to my previous two 1DX2s. In the end, I added two R5 M2s and sold my R3s and the R5. I kept my Canon R6ii as a backup or for a remote camera in sports, and it captures great photos like the R3 did. I love the R5 M2 Eye Control, not to be confused with eye tracking. The action menu programming works very well for AF tracking players handling basketball, soccer, and volleyball. Pre-continuous shooting is a game changer from sports to wildlife. Best decision I have made.

[@mikesoegtrop]

Harry, congratulations on a stunning video. I loved your work and your frank comments

[@andrzejstankowski8934]

Harry, beautiful places, beautiful movies and photos. I am a happy owner of the R3, and from what I have seen the R1 has more noise than it at high ISO, especially at Mechanical Shutter

[@Perceptions-2.0]

Brilliant shots and footage.

[@HarryCollinsPhotography]

Thank you!

[@ronrotunno2901]

Nice review Harry. Very thoughtful and even. I think I’ll stick with my R3 for the foreseeable future. That and the R7 make a nice combination.

[@normansuchorzewski1026]

Thank you for such an honest review - the videos of the birds were so mesmerising I forgot I was supposed to be listening to what you were saying. lol. I was flicking a coin between the R1 and R5 MK2 - so glad I went for the 5, especially for the type of shooting I do. So glad it was not a pixel peeping technical review, but one taken n the real world - sp refreshing.

[@HarryCollinsPhotography]

Thank you! I really appreciate that!

[@love4wildlife]

Good and honest review, Harry. I really like that you approach this from real world applications. Yes, the technical bits are important but what matters even more to me is real world feedback. I tried the camera briefly and if I was in the market to buy a new camera for wildlife photography, it'd be the R5II. For sports, journalism or hybrid shooters leaning more towards video, the R1 would be a no brainer.

[@AndiusTeijgeler]

I used the dual backbutton set up for focusing and had some focusing issues as well. Since I switched to only use the full press I do see a significant improvement over my R3!

[@gladysklip6984]

I didn't experience a 'bad' autofocus yet but I will give this a try when I do Andius :-). Do you mean you didn't customize the back button with a dual function? I just came back from a trip where I shot eagles in heavy snowfall. The R1 didn't have any trouble finding the eye whereas some Z9 shooters were having trouble with the autofocus.

[@AndiusTeijgeler]

@@gladysklip6984 I did set up the back button focus for two different autofocus functions (spot and zone with tracking), and like "whistling wings" I did experience some autofocus issues, which when set up a only for full press I do not have an issue.

[@gladysklip6984]

@@AndiusTeijgeler Thanks Andius.

[@chantaljacques7664]

Thanks for this is a useful review Harry. I own the R5 and the R5m2 but I am very tempted to buy the R1. It is probably mainly a GAS issue but its low light performance (a very common condition here on Vancouver Island) makes it a very attractive purchase. The second reason is the incredible reliability I always experienced with the many 1 series camera I owned. When on a trip in a very isolated area where the conditions are challenging you want to be able to rely on your gear. I never had any issue with the R5 or any of my 1 series cameras but got some ongoing intermittent faults with the R5m2. Perhaps these mysterious hicups is the price we have to pay to access the phenomenal capacity of the digital world but I must say that the main driving factor for me in buying a R1 would be the expectation that it is a reliable as a tank, just like the the 1dx series was.

[@norman157]

I'm amazed at the fact, that you can push it up to 150K shutters in such a short time.

[@adude394]

Fabulous stuff here, stills and video both! I gave a lot of thought to picking up the R1, but decided on the R5 Mk II rather than the R1 or the R3. Very happy with the purchase and the results, but I could see myself picking up a "flagship" body at some point in the future. Maybe in a couple of years, if there are Mk II versions of R1 or R3. We'll see what happens.

[@NikCan66]

Very honest opinions as I have a Canon R3 & Nikon z9. Might upgrade to R1

[@alisonandguywildlifephotograph]

Beautiful shots as always 👍… relatively new to video/editing etc. ..we had 1dxii and r3 for recent safari’s…I did most of videos with 1dx and wife was photos with r3…big mistake…the r3 takes awesome video without hardly any problems… the 1dxii kept buffering in 4k 60 ..without me even knowing ..so I missed so much . Just got a r5ii… love it … it’s got so many features and adjustments I’m still finding them after a month… the only thing I find is disappointing is low light stills 12800 seems absolutely max …while r3 can blast away in auto iso and clean up noise post no problems… but I’m going to use it mainly for video… also got 300 2.8 to help low light safari… love a r1 still funds permitting..love the feel of a pro body 😎. Great honest review.thx 👍…and new updates incoming 😃 Ps ; r5ii auto focus on animals/ birds is even better than r3 !! … distance birds 50+ meters away still gets the eye 😳

[@mitchconn7712]

Great information. I agree with you on this r1 because I came across the same issue. Thanks for sharing.

[@gunny2044]

Outstanding review, Professor.

[@HarryCollinsPhotography]

Thanks Randy!

[@dragSD666]

Thanks for sharing your experience 🙏.

[@akinipeters]

Great review. I've loved my R5 ii so far but I've never owned a pro body and would love to. A used R3 would be awesome, but that R1 EVF looks awesome!

[@SamW604]

Great information. If you do a follow up video, please consider addressing high iso/noise performance of the R1 vs R3. Also, please address rolling shutter; specifically, did you observe any benefits of the R1's faster readout speeds in comparison to both the R3 and R5 Mark II. Thanks.

[@paultrunfull3324]

Great review , great images, thank you.

[@SoundOfYourDestiny]

I wish someone would do a detailed review of the R1's video performance. It's mystifying that nobody has done one by now.

[@mikewinburn]

thanks for the nice video presentation. I didn’t go for the R1 (coming from 1dX3, 1DX2). It’s a great camera and some nice features. But, didn’t hit the mark for me. Holding out that the R1markII will be what i need. Though, the C400 was irresistible. Put my money there as that was a real upgrade from the 1DX series for me. Very happy with my tools, now.

[@sonicck]

I’m coming from the eos R and I went with the R5m2 and I love my purchase

[@scb2scb2]

Nice compare and solid feedback. More of a sony shooter and using the a1ii/a9iii combo one thing i like and canon doesn't seem to have under control yet is trying to keep the layout of the buttons stable. The fact that the 2 sony 'flagships' have basically 100% same muscle memory demands is a feature. Its the same 'camera' in so many ways except for the effects the 2 different sensors provide. Switching between them becomes very fluid ... I also think people should forget the whole one flagship concept clearly having one generic and 1 or 2 specific flagship in the lineup seems to be a the winning combo.

[@greenlifefilmnowak4585]

Great and honet review. What cf card are you using? It could be important when it comes to overheating. Some users report overheating issue even in photo mode. Did youbise clog 2 or raw video in this film?

[@davepastern]

Interesting comment on the R1 AF (vs the R3). Like some others commenting on your video, I am really interested in how much better the R1 is in terms of low light/high ISO performance vs the R3.

[@wubbsy]

You can toggle Precapture, for video at least, via a button. For photos I have it in the the Q-menu. Not the best but still "relatively" fast.

[@RogerZoul]

Thanks for the video. You have made it clear that the r1 is the best for high ISO shooting, but can you say a bit more on how the r1 and the r3 compare for high ISO shooting? Did the sensor really improve that much between the two cameras? I haven’t seen much of a comparison between the two cameras for high ISO work. Thanks.

[@davepastern]

hear hear. As a R3 owner, I'm also interested in this comparison.

[@jannikr9327]

​@@davepastern go watch the video from jared polin. He compares both great well

[@Makta972]

The R3 is better at high iso.

[@davepastern]

​@@jannikr9327 I watched his video and like nearly all of his videos, it didn't appeal to me. It's kind of moot, since I can't afford a R1, but it would simply be nice to know how my R3 stacks up. The R3 will be my forever camera, at least until I retire in ~13 years or so, and can possibly afford a used R1 or maybe even a new R1II/III. I do bird photography (still a newb, been at it for 3.5 years now) and sometimes, when I am in a low light rainforest setting, hitting ISO 25600 happens real fast. I'm using an older mark 1 EF 500 f4 prime, so the IS is pretty crappy and I can't get the same stops out of that functionality as I could with a mark 2 prime. And obviously RF is better, but there's no RF version of the 500 f4 and even if there was, I couldn't afford it at this point of time. So, I can't just drop my shutter speed to limit ISO in these types of settings. Watching Ron Bielefeld over at Whistling Wings photography, it seems that the R1 is a good stop better than the R3 at high ISO performance. Seeing some posts over at BPN also seems to illustrate this too. I was curious if Harry also felt the advantage was a stop or 1 better with the R1. He says the R1 is the best low light camera on the market, but not by how much. Hence myself and others asking for clarification.

[@davepastern]

@@Makta972 that is NOT what I am hearing and seeing from other bird photographers.

[@AlphaZuluPhotography]

Crazy that these cameras are still freezing up and need a battery pull. My R6mkii does that occasionally and I figured they would have sorted this out by now. Especially on the high end cameras.

[@hawaiifreespeechnews]

The R3 is still a good video camera in 2025 and the R1 is basically an improved version of that. I wish that Canon gave the R1 8K 60fps capabilities but the 4K HDR PQ is the hidden gem in that camera that no one seems to use

[@sonicck]

Agreed

[@lanep4322]

Re: button placement between models. There must be some unwritten law (or written on internal company letterhead) that when a new Canon model is introduced, the switches and buttons "shall not be located in any similar location or configuration as previous models". I go between an 6D MkII and an EOS R7 and have lost shots because I was fumbling for buttons I thought were there, but weren't. Oops, they're on the other camera, lol.

[@crittaker]

Thanks for sharing

[@cabotti]

5:35 wow!!!! great video! thanks.

[@GoGYR]

Thanks for video. Can you tell me if the image quality is significantly better than the R6II? I am especially interested in low light.

[@artisticpicture]

Great review!! Can R1 capture a video in crop mode with 4K120? R5 mark ii does not allow that. It would be very useful for wildlife.

[@HarryCollinsPhotography]

Yes it does! The tight clip of the toucans face in the rain was filmed using 4k120 crop mode. I’m very happy with the results.

[@artisticpicture]

@ Thank you!! I missed that very much for R5 mark ii. Really enjoyed Nikon Z8 4K120 in 2.3x crop for wildlife.

[@alisonandguywildlifephotograph]

Yup it does 😎

[@jakecook716]

The R3 is better low light performer, you'd have to really pixel peep to see the difference though

[@easer777]

Thanks....!!! Odd that the dynamic range/highlight recovery is less than in the 45 mp R5.2, if anything, I would love to see thát elaborated on, in a new video....

[@mvp_kryptonite]

Excellent video and quality stuff here! Nice shout out to Ron too! Man I just want this for the R7ii Lucky the top tier cameras allow you to save the settings on the memory card. That should be a feature for any Canon body imo. For sure that would be a major headache

[@DanBetty]

What's your take on the video capabilities of the R5 2 versus the R1

[@mikede2464]

Same in my experience; the autofocus on my R1 is definitely significantly worse with animals than people. Noticed that as soon as I tried to shoot birds. I was very surprised by how big of a difference. In my view Canon definitely trained the autofocus on people/sports more than wildlife.

[@davepastern]

a very interesting comment. Thank you.

[@TheBreen]

I found auto focus on the R1 is amazing for dog photography much better than the r5 and r3..still tbd on the r5m2

[@romani8494]

I dont understand why everybody has a problem with precapture. If you dont need it, just dont hold the shutter button half pressed. Simply press on it completely to take a photo, thats all. Only when anticipating action, hold it half pressed. Problem sovled. Whats the big deal?

[@HarryCollinsPhotography]

It’s not that simple. As a wildlife photographer you need to be ready half pressed waiting a lot of the time for action. I’ve been doing that for years. One it’s become muscle memory and 2 you need to do that sometimes. Maybe you’re good enough that it’s not an issue for you and that’s great. For me it’s new and I’m not adjusted to it yet and I don’t see why it’s a big deal to want it either on all the time or off. Everyone has different opinions but simply saying don’t half press is not a simple answer

[@alisonandguywildlifephotograph]

I’m practicing it at the moment on r5ii..I’m back button focusing…and feels a little odd doing shutter button and one of the back buttons too…I’m sure it will work fine though… just got to get the muscle memory 😎

[@user-hg8jn6oz9g]

R6 Mark III is a worthy consideration ... stay tuned!

[@tbowen577]

Is the video filmed with the R1 or a Sony?

[@HarryCollinsPhotography]

R1

[@liewwk]

For the front focus . Set a button to single focus without animal detect use that than go back full area AF . I sue This never have problem . Even most the time full area serve me well at tropical forest here

[@liewwk]

R3 make different for myself

[@HarryCollinsPhotography]

I will try that. Good idea

[@liewwk]

@@HarryCollinsPhotography welcome . I setup 2 button kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3_MkHWnjNmNj68 any how .. yours sharing is amazing

[@christyp-HI]

Thx for sharing your insights🥰. I have the R3 and just got the R1 for a safari in 2 weeks.

[@colintraveller]

Why is it next to impossible to find anyone on KZbin use the R1 for night captures and show the results !!

[@dominiqueschenck430]

I am tired of the complaining. I hear more negativity than anything else. Always from wildlife photographers. I traded out of the r3 into the r1. Obviously I want the latest tech. It is mind blowing the progress for a low light beast. I now stop listening to the wildlife crowd. Focus on your art man. And stop bad mouthing the best camera across brands.

[@HarryCollinsPhotography]

Did you watch the video?