Canon R3

[Kayaker72]

With production models of the R3 now out there, it was only a matter of time before more details analysis of it's performance came out. DXOMark was earlier this week and proclaimed the R3 "Best Low-light Performer". This sounds good, but it doesn't take much analysis to understand they are really talking about ~1/3rd of a stop improvement (if that). The measurements are still interesting.

DPreview has their studio comparison tool up.

Whistling Wings Photography released a pretty glowing review of the R3, but hasn't yet compared it to the R5 with the 1.5 firmware update. I'll be curious when he does. My two big takeaways from his review were that 1) He was actually just ok with 24 MP. He'd like more, but the trade offs were worth it; and 2) Those tradeoffs were more about non-IQ things, like AF, EVF start up time, buffer, the stickiness of the AF, etc. But someone doing bird photography in real world is very impressed compared to the R5. Interesting.

But, the one I've been waiting for, photons to photos just added the R3.....and...really not that different from the R5/R6/1Dx III. Maybe something like less than a 1/3rd stop improvement in DR at high ISO, at lower ISOs they switch off. The shadow improvement chart tells the same story in a bit more clearly. This includes slightly improved read noise () at higher ISO. Looking at all those, you can see where the R5 has a single shift in the line, indicating a dual gain sensor, the R3 actually has 2 shifts....(EDIT...Looking into what this means.)

Photons to Photos also analyses DXO data, the R3 does make a slight jump in Quantum Efficiency (conversion of light to readout), up to 68% where Canon had been in the 55-58% range. The full well capacity is the highest I've ever seen by a wide margin (may be great for highlights), if these hold true (always some issue with one group interpreting anothers data, just look at the R5...initially DXO has issues with their R5 data, I assume PtP is using that in their analysis here at that data is whack).

So, there you go. Some interesting stuff. The BSI sensor seems to be giving us a modest gain in QE, but perhaps is being best used for faster sensor read out. Canon seems to be moving to multiple gain channels which will help limit noise at higher ISOs. There is reason to think the R3 might be a bit better in highlight recovery and at higher ISO.

Everything says great IQ, but maybe only a tick better than R5/R6/1DXIII. So, the improvements in the R3 will come from other stuff: such as 30 fps at 14 bit, AF "stickiness," eye-controlled AF, sensor read rate (1/180th of a sec), AF frequency (60 /sec vs 20 /sec on R5), EVF start up time, etc.

Finishing with a great quote from Bryan's review:

With each new high-end camera iteration, it becomes more difficult to be happy with the newfound annoyances (additional steps or efforts required to get the same job done) of the older models, and the R3 brings out those inadequacies of the other models.

Or, in my summation, I am not sure we should expect significant improvements in IQ until something significant happens with sensor tech. But, all these other improvements is making taking pictures easier and easier. Doors are being opened not by a 0.1 stop improvement in DR, but having 30 fps, and AF that tracks a subject's eye.