Industry News


Is Canon’s Flagship DSLR Its Last? Apparently So…

December 31, 2021

By Jacqueline Tobin

It’s official, sort of—Canon’s flagship DSLR, the EOS-1D X Mark III—will be the Japanese company’s last top-end DSLR as the company moves its product line toward mirrorless cameras.

“Market needs are rapidly moving toward mirrorless cameras. So accordingly, we’re increasingly moving people in that direction,” said Canon Chairman and Chief Executive Fujio Mitarai in Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun. Miterai also noted that Canon will end the development and production of the flagship model of the digital SLR cameras “a few years from now,” and that this statement specifically refers to its flagship models, not all DSLRs.

In that vein, Petapixel reported that Canon confirmed that it “plans to make future flagship models strictly mirrorless cameras. We are currently considering an RF mount camera as our next flagship model.”

[Read: Lensrentals’ Most Rented New Photo & Video Products of 2021]

Canon’s SLR flagship model began with the EOS-1 series and first came on the scene in 1989. The latest model, the EOS-1D X Mark III, was released in 2020 at $6,499, and was a mainstay for media outlet photographers covering the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

According to Y.M. Cinema Magazine, “there are three models that are considered flagships in the mirrorless world—the Nikon Z9, Sony Alpha 1, and Canon R3. However, in Canon’s space, the R3 is not defined as a flagship. The EOS R3 has been developed in the shadow of the mighty EOS 1DX Mark III. In fact, the R3 is the hybridization of the R5 and the 1DX. However, Canon has confirmed in interviews that the R3 is not the flagship, but that the EOS 1DX Mark III is Canon’s diamond.” (The upcoming Canon EOS R1 flagship mirrorless is rumored to be a “jack of all trades, master of everything.”)

If right about now you are asking yourself if you should run out and by Canon’s flagship DSLR, the EOS-1D X Mark III, you might want to wait for the price drop, which seems inevitable at this point.