Canon’s latest camera brings a cannon to a knife fight – and Sony and Panasonic should be scared stiff

It’s the industry’s worst-kept secret: the Canon EOS R6 Mark III is officially here – and it’s every bit as good as you’ve heard.

After months of camera rumors, Canon has launched the R6 Mark III – and as expected, what we have is a photo-first version of the Canon EOS C50 cinema camera. The R6 Mark III boasts the same 32.5MP full-frame image sensor, offering ferocious performance for both stills and video.

In photo mode you can fire off bursts at up to 40fps, and you can also take advantage of pre-capture to record the 20 frames before you fully depress the shutter, with a beefy buffer of 140 RAW files. You also get up to 8.5 stops of in-body image stabilization, a feature that’s lacking on the C50 (which is designed for rig and gimbal use).

Check it out in my 60-second guided tour below:

When it comes to video, the R6 Mark III offers the same 7K 30p open gate capture as the C50 along with standard video at up to 7K 60p internal RAW, 4K 120p or FullHD 180p. You get both C-Log 2 and 3, delivering up to 15 stops of dynamic range, along with a full-size HDMI port and the full suite of features such as 4-channel audio and waveforms.

The key differences with the C50 are that the R6 Mark III doesn’t possess dual base ISO or an active cooling system (though of course, the C50 doesn’t have an electronic viewfinder or IBIS). That said, Canon says that it can record 4K 30p for over 2 hours – so again, if you’re a photo-first hybrid shooter for whom RAW video isn’t the top priority, this should suit you just fine.

Compared to 2022’s Canon EOS R6 Mark II, it really is a night-and-day difference in capability. Not only have you got the increased photo and video resolution, a buffer that’s double the size and a full-size HDMI port, you also get an upgrade to a tandem CFexpress Type B and UHS-II SD card setup.

ABOVE: Watch the R6 Mark III launch video

The autofocus system is also noticeably improved, with the tracking being much stickier when it comes to subjects like birds in flight, and you also get flagship-level features like Registered People Priority (which enables you to program up to ten faces so that the AF knows who to prioritize during a shoot) from the EOS R1 and R5 Mark II.

“This camera simply has no weaknesses,” I wrote in my Canon EOS R6 Mark III review. “It isn’t just a home run for Canon, it’s a shot directly across the bow of both Sony and Panasonic. And all the Canon shooters who jumped ship to FX3s and S5IIs may well find themselves checking the trade-in value at MPB.com ahead of a move back to EOS land.”

The Canon EOS R6 Mark III goes on sale on November 20 and is priced at $2,799 / £2,799.99 / AU$4199.95 body only It will also be available in a kit with either the Canon RF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM for $4,049 / £3,899.99 / AU$5,999.95 or the Canon RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS STM for $3,149 / £3,149.99.

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