# Canon R3 Review Balanced Against R5, R5C, 1DX III



## [email protected] (Feb 20, 2022)

> Camnostic updated its comprehensive Canon EOS R3 review geared to help R5 and 1DX III shooters make upgrade decisions. Recently added are video aspects and comparisons to the new Sony and Nikon flagships, as well as the R5C. There are a lot of “ifs” and “buts,” but the upshots:
> *Should 1DX III Shooters Upgrade?*
> In short, yes – if you think 30 frames per second, more megapixels and significantly improved ergonomics matter enough to cover the



Continue reading...


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## AlanF (Feb 20, 2022)

You write: "Size is still much larger than an R5 class body, despite being less than 100 grams heavier" but according to Canon: the
R5 is approx. 650 g (738 g with card and battery); and the R3 is approx. 822 g (1015g with card and battery), which makes it 277 g (~10 oz) heavier in the field.


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## entoman (Feb 20, 2022)

"_The R3 is a respectable flagship, but it isn’t a market show-stopper_"

Agreed. It won't have the same appeal to technophiles as a Sony A1 or a Nikon Z9, but with the exception of the R5, Canon have generally been conservative in specifications, so this is not unexpected. It's designed as a workhorse for those already locked into the Canon system, rather than a technological masterpiece, and it will continue to be bought in droves by those who earn a living from photography.

A really good review, one of the best I've read.


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## [email protected] (Feb 20, 2022)

entoman said:


> "_The R3 is a respectable flagship, but it isn’t a market show-stopper_"
> 
> Agreed. It won't have the same appeal to technophiles as a Sony A1 or a Nikon Z9, but with the exception of the R5, Canon have generally been conservative in specifications, so this is not unexpected. It's designed as a workhorse for those already locked into the Canon system, rather than a technological masterpiece, and it will continue to be bought in droves by those who earn a living from photography.
> 
> A really good review, one of the best I've read.


Thanks, entoman. 

AlanF, you are correct. I was compared one with battery and one without. Thank you, and that is now fixed!


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## AlanF (Feb 20, 2022)

[email protected] said:


> AlanF, you are correct. I was compared one with battery and one without. Thank you, and that is now fixed!


Even so, it's 225 g (1/2 lb) lighter than the Z9, which is up to pro DSLR weights.


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## sanj (Feb 21, 2022)

I had R3 with me in Africa for two weeks. I wanted to love it but preferred the R5. I met two TOP wildlife photographers on the trip - both returned R3 to Canon. And one of the biggest Canon reviewers (we all know and respect him) also returned his R3. I do not know their reasons but mine was the autofocus on R5 worked better for me. With R5 I could almost always see the focus box on the eye of the animal, but on R3 almost never. I called Canon and we tried to fix the problem we could not. The only thing I liked on R3 was that it could shoot RAW video at 50 fps.


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## ERHP (Feb 21, 2022)

I've been pretty happy with my R3. I still carry the R5 and if portrait opportunities arise, I will switch just for extra 21MP provided there is time. If I can get the initial lock, it tracks ducks and other birds much better than my R5. I need to go try it on some reptiles/mammals. All shots to date have been with the RF600 f/4L and RF100-500. Not complaining about the battery, either.


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## DBounce (Feb 21, 2022)

I’ve had my Eos R3 since launch… it is by far the best Canon camera I have owned to date. I parted with the R5 due to overheating. The R5C seems to suffer from terrible battery life, making it impractical imo.

The dynamic range of the R3 is much better than the R5/C. It seems about equivalent to the DGO sensor equipped C70 and C300 Mk3. This was not expected. Also ISO performance is best in class. Beating my Sony A7S3 and FX6. So much so that I sold the Sonys.
I believe the R3 is Canon’s best hybrid hands down. While 8K resolution may be the “in thing”, I can tell you I’m usually trying to remove detail from my videos( bpm filters, vintage lenses, film grain etc… ) not add it.


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## jam05 (Feb 21, 2022)

ERHP said:


> I've been pretty happy with my R3. I still carry the R5 and if portrait opportunities arise, I will switch just for extra 21MP provided there is time. If I can get the initial lock, it tracks ducks and other birds much better than my R5. I need to go try it on some reptiles/mammals. All shots to date have been with the RF600 f/4L and RF100-500. Not complaining about the battery, either.
> View attachment 202559
> Your R5 firmware must not be updated. It tracks equally as the R3 with its update. If not it will get an algorithm update as users report any findings to customer support.


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## EOS 4 Life (Feb 21, 2022)

[email protected] said:


> Thanks, entoman.
> 
> AlanF, you are correct. I was compared one with battery and one without. Thank you, and that is now fixed!


Also, both the R5 and R5 C can shoot 8K in 10-bit 4:2:2 and 12-bit RAW.
Plus the R3 has a micro-HDMI port


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## EOS 4 Life (Feb 21, 2022)

AlanF said:


> Even so, it's 225 g (1/2 lb) lighter than the Z9, which is up to pro DSLR weights.


I expect the R1 to be much heavier than the R3


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## EOS 4 Life (Feb 21, 2022)

I love my R3


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## justaCanonuser (Feb 21, 2022)

"Canon finally made a pro camera that ditched all the irrational elements kept for years *primarily** so that the male pro photographer could have a camera that emphasized his own manliness*. "


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## justaCanonuser (Feb 21, 2022)

EOS 4 Life said:


> I love my R3


no wife available?


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## calfoto (Feb 21, 2022)

Couldn’t agree more about the lose-ability of the new hot shoe cover.

What I want is to get a definitive answer about using existing Canon flash units (like a 600 ex rt) on an R3 without the flash shoe adapter.

The R3 manual says that the 430 Ex Rt III is compatible without an adapter, but for the life of me I can’t see what the difference is between the 430 and the 600 aside from the 600 having the weather sealing.

I’ve sent a query to Canon CPS about this but have yet to hear back.

The new Flash shoe does seem to work great with the smaller ST- E10 flash controller however, I especially like that it has button on it which brings up all the controls on the cameras rear screen or viewfinde.


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## HenryL (Feb 21, 2022)

calfoto said:


> Couldn’t agree more about the lose-ability of the new hot shoe cover.
> 
> What I want is to get a definitive answer about using existing Canon flash units (like a 600 ex rt) on an R3 without the flash shoe adapter.


I have used my 600EX-RT on the R3 without the adapter...performs exactly as it should. ST-E30-RT does as well.

FWIW, I can also verify the lose-ability part with the accessory shoe cover. Though not available in any retail outlet I've found so far, I was able to buy a couple from Canon Parts for approx $8 ea (USD): 

1-866-481-2569 option 3
R3 Accessory Shoe Cover
Part # CB5-8265-000

I noticed in the early YouTube reviews that the R5c doesn't use this same cover. I rather prefer the style it comes with, just the tab that slides into place. Might try to pick up a couple of those once they are available.


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## HenryL (Feb 21, 2022)

Good review overall. One slight correction though - the camera comparison chart incorrectly states the R3 has a full-size HDMI output - it actually uses the same micro-HDMI as the R5.


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## jdoesgear (Feb 22, 2022)

[email protected] said:


> Continue reading...


Great article. I already own these cameras but it's always interesting reading reviews to see how others view them. HenryL already pointed out the hdmi typo on the chart, I think we all with full size hdmi was the go to.


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## [email protected] (Feb 22, 2022)

jdoesgear said:


> Great article. I already own these cameras but it's always interesting reading reviews to see how others view them. HenryL already pointed out the hdmi typo on the chart, I think we all with full size hdmi was the go to.



Yup, that HDMI error has been fixed in the chart. Thanks, guys.


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## Darecinema (Feb 22, 2022)

Fantastic review. Super appreciated for the work and effort put into it. I’m more interested in increasing my lens collection for the R5 and waiting for the inevitable RF Full Frame c500ish


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## SilverBox (Feb 23, 2022)

I've had my R3 for about two weeks and shot my first gigs with it last week during the NBA All-Star weekend. I was very impressed with the camera however I did experience several (at least 4) lock ups that required a battery pull.

I was switching between photo and video modes often so that may have been a factor. The camera would also lock up after having been asleep where the viewfinder would light up but stay black and that would require a battery pull. This was all after doing the most recent update which was supposed to solve this lockup issue.

The other odd thing I noticed is that if you're in stills mode and start shooting video using the record button to the right of viewfinder it will shoot in 1080p regardless of what your video settings are in video mode and there does not appear to be any way to change what resolution, frame rate, etc for videos shot in stills mode. To me it seems like an oversight that needs to be corrected in firmware because if I'm doing a hybrid event it's easier to start rolling video when shooting stills rather than switching modes to shoot video on the fly, possibly missing the moment. There is no documentation in the manual about movies in stills mode either.

UPDATE
I discovered in tests that when you roll video in stills mode it uses the video settings from Custom Shooting Mode C3. So if you register your desired video settings to C3 when in video mode then you can roll video in stills mode using those settings.


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## sharpshooter99 (Feb 23, 2022)

I'd say the massssssive footnote with the R5C is with the 8k 60fps you need to be attached to external power which I think is pretty much a non-starter for anyone using this camera. So for all practical cases it tops out at 8k 30fps


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## koenkooi (Feb 23, 2022)

sharpshooter99 said:


> I'd say the massssssive footnote with the R5C is with the 8k 60fps you need to be attached to external power which I think is pretty much a non-starter for anyone using this camera. So for all practical cases it tops out at 8k 30fps


Some of the first wave of reviews indicate that using a USB PD powerbank works for that, which makes it a lot more practical than you imply.


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## sharpshooter99 (Feb 23, 2022)

koenkooi said:


> Some of the first wave of reviews indicate that using a USB PD powerbank works for that, which makes it a lot more practical than you imply.


There is nothing practical about having to mount a battery bank to a stills camera, also another charger to have to carry around and the added weight, its just stupid


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## amfoto1 (Feb 23, 2022)

I can't help but wonder one thing... Why did Canon put CFE and SD memory card slots in the R3? Why not two CFE slots? To me, for a camera of this type and price that would make more sense.


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## sharpshooter99 (Feb 23, 2022)

amfoto1 said:


> I can't help but wonder one thing... Why did Canon put CFE and SD memory card slots in the R3? Why not two CFE slots? To me, for a camera of this type and price that would make more sense.


Agreed, although if Canon can do us a favour and give us the raw capabilities of the c70 then recording RAW to an sd would be possible. But yes DUAL CFE would have made a lot more sense, but we are talking about Canon who frequently enjoy punishing people who spend the most on their cameras


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## dirtyvu (Feb 27, 2022)

sharpshooter99 said:


> There is nothing practical about having to mount a battery bank to a stills camera, also another charger to have to carry around and the added weight, its just stupid


who has to mount? you have the battery in your pants pocket and run the cable to the camera. I used to do this with my smartphone whenever I was running low and was in a far away environment where it wasn't possible to charge.


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