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The APS-C camera you’ve been waiting for? James Artaius explores the latest R-series model and finds that it combines unparalleled speed and resolution

The Canon EOS R7 is a camera we’ve been waiting for since the launch of the R system back in 2018. The anticipated first APS-C member of the EOS R family, it asks questions of the (distinctly much smaller and more compact) EOS M system but gives Canon the most powerful APS-C camera on the market.

Offering speed that matches (and mechanically, beats) the Canon EOS R3 and a resolution that is second only to the Canon EOS R5, the Canon EOS R7 is a technical marvel. Following in the footsteps of the EOS 90D and EOS 7D Mark II DSLR cameras, shooters will be able to leverage its 1.6x crop factor to amplify the effective focal length of full-frame lenses.

The R7 is built around a 32.5MP APS-C sensor that packs more resolution than any cropped sensor camera on the market apart from the Fujifilm X-T5 and Fujifilm X-H2, which is something that will come as music to the ears of wildlife photographers and birders, always keen for more freedom to crop in.

Although it’s not a completely new sensor – it’s built on the same architecture as the 32.5MP sensor in the EOS 90D and EOS M6 Mark II – it features an optimised wiring layer and microlens technology to deliver improved signal readout. It also has staggering shooting speeds of 15 frames per second mechanically (faster than any other Canon EOS camera, including the R3, R5 and R6) and 30 frames per second electronically, which matches the R3, Sony A1 and Nikon Z8/Z9, unless you factor in the latter’s 11MP crop mode.