Canon R6 Mark III Spotted, is an Announcement on the Way?

Canon has had a fairly quiet second half of 2024: after the announcement of the R5 Mark II and the R1 over the summer, we haven’t had any game-changing announcements. But with recent prototypes possibly spotted in the wild, could a Canon R6 Mark III release date be in sight in the near future?

We have our first word on the Canon R6 Mark III thanks to Canon Rumors - with a few major caveats. The site cites an image that they’ve seen, but is unable to post it without infringing on the rights of the original poster. As such, we don’t have a verifiable image to go along with the report. As their report says:

We have seen an image of what is purported to be the EOS R6 Mark III, though there is no model number showing. There are some subtle differences between the camera in the image and the EOS R6 Mark II which adds a bit to the authenticity. It doesn't look anything like the EOS R8. There is a new button on the top of the camera, but there is no way to discern what it is.

Source: Canon Rumors

Now this could feasibly be misidentified as an existing camera, or perhaps a different upcoming model. We’re in agreement with Canon Rumors, however, that the likeliest candidate is the R6 Mark III. The R6 range is among Canon’s most popular, and with the R6 Mark II approaching its second birthday, we are due an update. What would that entail?

We doubt that we’ll see the Canon R6 Mark III release before the end of 2024, but we could see an announcement of some description. As mentioned in previous articles, there are some production delays across the camera industry, with multiple outlets reporting stock issues. As such, it may not be prudent to announce a camera until those delays are ameliorated. Canon Rumors themselves have a similar stance:

We hope to hear more in the near future, as we do believe this camera announcement has been delayed and we make a bit more in the way of more prototypes getting into the hands of photographers and videographers.

Source: Canon Rumors

As such, we think the earliest we could see the R6 Mark III formally is late October - and that would still be months away from a formal release. As the R5 Mark II has proven, Canon is still highly competitive as a camera brand (in fact having the largest share of camera sales this past year), so they will want to ensure that supply matches demand.

Canon R6 Mark III Potential Specs

Unfortunately, the “what” is as much up for debate as the “what” with the R6 Mark III. We concur with Canon Rumors that we don’t think the R6 Mark III will venture much beyond the standard 24MP sensor resolution, instead focusing on speed. The R6 Mark II was the first camera to introduce image pre-capture, before the R8 or R1, which gives it much faster and reflexive image capturing - meaning you can get the shot faster and more reliably. Perhaps we could see an improved, perhaps even global shutter, to compete with the likes of the Sony A9 III or Nikon Z6 III?

The latter of those, the Z6 III, is probably the most recent market comparative. With  1/16000s max shutter speed and the ability to shoot JPEGs at 120FPS, it sets a strong precedent for a matching Canon to follow. If the R6 Mark III can reach similar speeds, doubling the shutter speed and tripling the framerate, then that sounds like a worthwhile upgrade to us.

There will also likely be a suite of improvements as befits the 2-year gap between R6 models: improvements to the autofocus system, noise reduction, and overall camera processing power. The R5 Mark II debuted a deep-learning enhancement system that allowed photos to be upscaled to as much as 180MP - could we see a version of that for the R6 Mark III?