Canon released the new Canon EOS R6 Mark III in November last year – its only significant Canon EOS R mirrorless camera in 2025 IMHO – but we haven't seen a new camera from the Canon camp since... or have we!
As I predicted in my opinion piece in January this year that we might see a certain EOS R3 Mark II camera soon, a new Canon EOS R3 Mark II was allegedly spotted in the wild, being put through its paces at the Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy.
And if the rumors are true, the Canon EOS R3 Mark II is set to be an incredible camera with specs to beat all contenders!
In a first for the camera industry, the Canon EOS R3 Mark II is rumored to have a dual native resolution back-illuminated stackable CMOS sensor with both super-high-res 54MP and standard-res 24MP imagery available.
Yet it's the new frames per second burst speeds that have got me excited, in the 54 million pixels mode it is said to be able to fire at a respectable 40fps, but in the standard 24 million pixels, you can allegedly boost the high-speed continuous shooting to a rapid-fire 90fps! That's three times the 30fps in the EOS R3.
Now, I know I said recently in that even 40fps is too much for most action photography. I still believe this to be true for most action photography – 40 frames per second is at least more than enough!
However there are times when you need a much faster frame rate for really fast subjects. Here's a great example: It just so happens that I was in a wildlife hide last week using a Canon EOS R3 to photograph a super-quick kingfisher diving for fish. The EOS R3’s 30fps burst mode was admirable, but this just wasn't fast enough for kingfisher diving shots.
The R3 does allow a custom high speed continuous frame rate up to 195 frames per second. However it's only for a burst of 50 RAW images, and this just wasn't enough images to capture a Kingfisher diving splash at such speed. So having the option of a native burst of 90 frames per second will be most welcome in the EOS R3 Mark II.
Even better would be a custom high-speed frame rate of 200 frames per second, but for more like 200 RAWs instead of just 50 RAWs. That way you’d capture a full second of action in 200 images, rather than only ¼ sec and 50 images.
The R3 was launched back in 2021, so it’s not got the most up-to-date AF system, and the R3’s Eye Control AF takes a bit of getting used to, and doesn’t feel as slick as does on the newer EOS R1 and R5 Mark II.
Of course, it could just be me and my timing trying to capture a kingfisher in action! Which brings me on to another feature missing from the R3 and will surely appear in the EOS R3 Mark II – the brilliant Pre-Continuous Shooting mode.
This is something that's essential for subjects like kingfishers when your trigger finger just can't be fast enough to capture the peak moment the bird will hit the water, or for catching the moment a sprinter bursts off the start line.
This Pre-Continuous Shooting feature is available on all the latest EOS cameras, including the new Canon EOS R6 Mark III, as well as the EOS R1 and EOS R5 Mark II.
The Canon flagship EOS R1’s Pre-Continuous Shooting mode saves up to 20 frames – in RAW, HEIF, or JPEG – before the shutter button is fully pressed, buffering images when the shutter button is half-pressed. I’d like to see an option in the EOS R3 Mark II which allows 50 RAWs at 200fps in this Pre-Continuous Shooting mode.
Another reason I would love to see a new EOS R3 Mark II is the R3's body shape and size. The R3 feels great in the hand, and isn't too big or weighty for shooting handheld for long periods. For me, the R3 is the perfect size body. Whereas the EOS R5 Mark II Baby Bear is just a bit too small in my hands for my liking.
And while the Daddy Bear EOS R1 is also a good size and more manageable than older, larger and heavier EOS-1D X Mark III camera bodies, the EOS R1 is still a bit of beast to shoot handheld for a long time. But the EOS R3 Mummy Bear camera body size is just right!
The EOS R3 body is also the perfect shape for a busy pro photographer like me. It’s square, and has a built-in grip, so switching from horizontal to vertical shooting feels very natural and comfortable – the same can’t be said of other pro cameras which can feel awkward when you switch quickly to take a portrait shot.
I can’t wait to get my hands on one!
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