Canon EOS R

Manufacturer: Canon Type: camera Sensor: Full-frame 30.3MP CMOS Resolution: 30.3MP Year introduced: 2018 Key feature: Canon’s first full-frame mirrorless; Dual Pixel CMOS AF; RF mount with full EF lens compatibility

Overview

The Canon EOS R was Canon’s first full-frame mirrorless camera, announced in September 2018 as the debut of the new RF mount system. It featured a 30.3-megapixel CMOS sensor with a DIGIC 8 processor, Dual Pixel CMOS AF with 5,655 manually selectable AF points, and a native ISO range of 100-40,000. The EOS R could record 4K UHD video at up to 30fps with 10-bit 4:2:2 output to an external recorder, and included Canon Log for 12 stops of dynamic range (^[1]).

For underwater photographers, the most significant aspect of the EOS R was its full compatibility with Canon’s extensive library of EF and EF-S lenses through mount adapters. Canon offered three adapter options: a simple EF-to-R adapter, one with a customizable control ring, and one with a drop-in filter mount. This meant existing Canon underwater shooters could transition to mirrorless without abandoning their proven lens investments (^[2]).

The RF mount shared the same 54mm diameter as the EF mount but with a shorter back focus distance, allowing lenses to sit closer to the sensor. A 12-pin communication system provided faster lens-camera communication than previous systems. The EOS R also featured remarkable low-light AF capability, with sensitivity down to -6 EV when using f/1.2 RF lenses (^[3]).

The EOS R launched at $2,299 body-only in October 2018, establishing the RF mount ecosystem that would later produce the Canon EOS R5 and other successors.

Housing Availability

Housing manufacturers responded quickly to the EOS R, recognizing Canon’s shift toward mirrorless. All major housings supported both RF-mount lenses and EF-mount lenses via Canon’s adapters.

• Ikelite: 200DL housing announced November 2018 for mid-November shipping. ABS-PC construction with DL port system, depth rated to 60m. Included vacuum valve and manual hotshoe, with optional TTL via CT2K Canon TTL Kit (^[4]).
• Nimar: Housing shipped November 2018 (^[5]).
• Nauticam: NA-R housing shipping December 2018 at $3,300. Used N120 port system for compatibility with existing Canon DSLR port configurations. Featured two lens release buttons for RF and EF lenses, HDMI output support, and optional manual or TTL flash triggers. Depth rated to 100m, weighing 3.06 kg (^[6]).
• Sea&Sea: Housing announced December 2018 (^[7]).

Related RF Mount Accessories

• Canon EOS R fisheye zoom lens patent: Canon registered a patent for an RF-mount fisheye zoom lens in March 2019, of significant interest to underwater photographers (^[8]).
• Sea&Sea YS Optical Converter for EOS R: Sea&Sea shipped an optical strobe converter enabling TTL firing with YS-series strobes, April 2019 (^[9]).

Timeline

• 2018-09: Canon announces the EOS R System with RF mount and four initial RF lenses ($2,299 body-only) (^[10]).
• 2018-11: Ikelite announces 200DL housing (^[11]). Nimar ships housing (^[12]).
• 2018-12: Nauticam ships NA-R housing ($3,300) (^[13]). Sea&Sea announces housing (^[14]).
• 2019-03: Canon patents RF-mount fisheye zoom lens (^[15]).
• 2019-04: Sea&Sea ships YS Optical Converter for EOS R (^[16]).

References

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