The major rumor sites are now reporting that the Canon R6 Mark III is set to be announced on November 6.  Of course, this wouldn’t be the first time that the rumor mill has said that the R6 Mark III announcement was imminent.  But given that we’re less than a month away from the rumored announcement, I’m inclined to believe that the date is real.

in terms of specifications, here is what Canon Rumors is calling “confirmed”:

• 34.2mp/32mp (Same as the Cinema EOS C50)
• Dual Pixel CMOS AF II with multiple subject detections
• IBIS: 6.5 Stops
• Pre-capture
• Max Framerate: 40fps E-Shutter
• Max ISO: 64000
• Open Gate
• Price €2899 (probably around $2500-$3000 USD)
• Shipping late November (Tentative)

Now here are some previously rumored specifications also associated with the Canon R6 Mark III:

• New Rear LCD “Flippy” Mechanism
• C-Log 2 & C-Log 3
• 6K RAW at 60FPS, 4k RAW at 120FPS

Of the above specifications, I’m most excited about the possibility of a new Sony-style flippy screen.  Give me that and 34.2 megapixels and I’d likely trade in my R6 Mark II.  This would make the R6 Mark III a camera that I might actually reach for over my Canon R5 Mark II.  Now, if the R6 Mark II really does have the rest of these specs?  It will be the hottest selling camera on the market without question.  But…  Canon does have a long history of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory by taking potentially incredibly cameras and beating them to death with the dreaded Canon “cripple hammer.”  In other words, they intentionally limit capabilities or withhold key features in an attempt to ensure new releases don’t cannibalize size from existing cameras in their catalog.  So if this camera has even half of the specs above, it’s really going to need one more new feature to the R6 line…

CFExpress Type B

The original R6 had duel SD card slots.  So too does the R6 Mark II.  But to really take full advantage of the specifications above, the R6 Mark III would need to have at least one CFExpress Type B card slot.  But the smart money would be on Canon continuing with duel SD card slots.  Think about it – with a CFExpress Type B card slot, there’s absolutely no reason to buy an R3, and even an R5 Mark II starts to become questionable.  That’s probably also the reason why we’re seeing a Max ISO that’s lower than the R6 Mark II, and “only” 6.5 stops of IBIS.  The UHS-II SD card slots in the R6 Mark II have been tested to maintain a real-world write speed of ~150 – 180 MB/s with top-tier V90 cards.  Canon could equip the R6 Mark III with UHS-II card slots (dual bus, tuned controller)) capable of sustained write speeds of ~270–300 MB/s – which I think is likely.  Or they could install duel UHS-III card slots for even more speed – which I think is less likely.  In either case, the R6 Mark III would maintain Canon’s coveted product segmentation with the “Prosumer” R5 Mark II.

Why I Don’t Necessarily Care

I’m not like most potential R6 Mark III buyers because I shoot with two camera bodies – and one of the is the R5 Mark II.  Whichever card slot Canon puts in the R6 Mark III, I’ll be happy because I’ll still use the R5 Mark II for serious high speed/sports work.  10 extra FPS in the R6 Mark III specs likely doesn’t trump over 10 extra megapixels of resolution – sometimes you have to crop in quite a bit.  Being able to use the R6 Mark III for 120FPS 4k “B Roll” footage will also be handy – and that should work with either card set up.  But for bragging rights, I’d love to see the R6 Mark III with a CFExpress Type B slot and the rest of the specs as the camera would mop the floor with Nikon and Sony.

The Canon R6 Mark III may become the most exciting release of 2025/2026.  Right now, the rumors suggest the camera should ship toward the end of November but obviously that depends on many factors.  Either way I probably won’t be able to seriously use it until Spring of 2026 when the snow melts in Ohio.

Now…where is my darn 35mm f1.2 lens Canon!?!?!

UPDATE – 10/16

Today we had some additional leaked information from the usual sources.  The first additional specification leak indicates that the R6 Mark II WILL have duel SD Card slots.  ProGrade Digital It is currently running a sale on their “Iridium” class UHS-II V90 cards – the fastest type of SD cards currently on the market.  I went ahead and snagged a ProGrade Digital Iridium 256GB card.  It will be a good card for the SD card slot on my R5 Mark II when I want to run dual storage, or a good primary card for the R6 Mark III.  We also learned that the R6 Mark III will have passive ventilation slots much like the R5 Mark II.  Which makes me think it will be compatible with the battery grip can it makes that has a built-in fan to push cooler through the passive slots.

The rumor mill is also reporting that the price will be $2899.00 here in the US.  Also being reported Is that the articulating LCD screen will not be changed in mechanical functionality from the R6 Mark II.  I’m really, really hoping that this room turns out to be false.

UPDATE – 10/19

With the release of the Canon R6 Mark III just three weeks away, the rumors are coming fast and furious.  And the big update here is that apparently someone has laid eyes on the camera and confirms that it WILL have a CF Express type B card slot.  Again for me personally this is one of those features that isn’t necessarily a dealbreaker, but if true, is a really welcome change.  Based on what we know of the rumored video specifications of this camera, CFExpress Type B is a logical choice.  It also makes sense if Canon really wants this camera to be competitive within the marketplace.  What was interesting about this particular update is that the individual who saw the R6 Mark III neither confirm nor denied a “variangle” LCD screen.  but if all the other updates and upgrades are true, I could very much see this camera having the same LCD screen on the previous generation R6 Mark II as a cost of savings measure.  It was also confirmed that Canon LOG 2 will be included in the new camera.  That’s huge.  I’ve grown quite accustomed to using CLOG2 in the R5 Mark II and love it.  Including CLOG2 in the R6 Mark III will make it much easier to shot match with the R5 Mark II when I’m using a two camera video set up.

UPDATE – 10/20

The closer we get to November 6 the more “confirmed “ specifications we’ll see.  Today the rumor male claims that someone who has both seen and played with camera has leaked some information.  It’s not a lot of new information but confirms what we’ve previously heard.  CLOG 2, CLOG 3 and 7k open gate are all confirmed, as is CFExpress Type B.  This is important – between yesterday and today, and we have confirmation of two of the most important specifications which justify the upgrade from the R6 Mark II to the Mark III.  We also have confirmation that the R6 Mark III won’t get the larger more sophisticated electronic view finder found on the R3 and R5 Mark II, essentially retaining the EVF found on the R6 Mark II.  That means we likely won’t get the fancy eye controlled auto focus, which I never use anyway.  And one final confirmed feature specification which I’ve been hoping would be but have never seen any of the rumor. Sources talk about until now.  The R6 Mark III will use the same battery as the R5 Mark II – the LP-E6P.  I’m sure the Cannon will feature lock the R6 Mark III  much in the same way they did with the R5 Mark II based on using the LP-E6P.  So now I won’t have any good reason to hold onto the previous generation batteries that I use in the R6 Mark II.  I’ll be able to travel with just one type of battery that works equally well with both of my camera bodies.  That’s actually a big quality of life improvement for me in the travel photography that I do.  The R6 Mark III really is shaping up to be the perfect second camera body for the R5 Mark II owner (without having to go to the expensive actually buying a second R5 Mark II).  it will have the same memory card set up, and the same battery set up, which is such a huge improvement from using the R6 Mark II with the R5 Mark II.  The 7K open gate also brings a feature to the R6 Mark III which the R5 Mark II does not.  I predict that Canon will, after they start shipping the R6 Mark III, bring a firmware update to the R5 Mark II which will finally unlock 8K open gate.  R6 Mark III:  2026 Camera of the Year?

UPDATE – 10/20

Along side the new R6 Mark III Canon will be releasing a new lens – the RF 45mm f1.2.  Canon will sell a ton of these lenses because of the uncharacteristically low price which is rumored to be somewhere around $599 – $699.00 US.   I’m super tempted to pick this up, but I already have a Voigtlander RF 50mm f1.0.  And about thee other vintage 50mm lenses.  Of course, what I really want is a 35mm f 1.2.  So I just don’t need this lens no but I’m excited to see Canon bring this lens to the market.

UPDATE – 11/4

The US retail price of the Canon R6 Mark III has leaked – $2799.00.  That’s about $100 cheaper than any of their rumor sites were initially predicting, and about $300 more than the R6 Mark II when it debuted.  $300 hurts but if you could afford the previous retail price, then you can probably afford an extra $300.