{"id":7881,"date":"2018-12-22T18:45:37","date_gmt":"2018-12-22T23:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/?p=7881"},"modified":"2024-09-05T16:36:44","modified_gmt":"2024-09-05T21:36:44","slug":"review-canon-eos-r","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/review-canon-eos-r\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Canon EOS R"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This has been a big year for the mirrorless industry, as the two big boys, Canon and Nikon have both thrown themselves into the Full-Frame mirrorless world to give Sony some competition.  The EOS R is Canon’s first entry into this space, and it comes with their new RF mirrorless mount.  Canon made some very good choices with this body, while making other choices that make me scratch my head.  I’ve spent a fair bit of time with the EOS R, shooting primarily with the RF 24-105mm f\/4 (review coming soon), along with a few EF mount lenses that I own using Canon’s basic EF to RF adapter. As this camera is the cornerstone of an entirely new system, I’ll also spend a bit of time talking about the system as it currently stands, and where I see Canon moving forward with the RF cameras. I’ll also talk a bit about where the EOS R fits in with its rivals in the full-frame mirrorless space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Canon EOS R<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re not familiar with my reviews, I review from a real world shooting perspective. You won\u2019t find lens charts or resolution numbers here. There are plenty of other sites that cover those. I review products on how they act for me as a photographic tool. I am not a videographer, so my reviews concentrate on the still imaging capabilities of a camera.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

EOS R – A new beginning for Canon<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The EOS R is the first camera with their new RF lens mount, which takes what Canon learned from the EF mount, redefines the flange distance and adds a few pins for some additional functionality. The EOS R is to the RF mount what the original EOS 650 was to the EF mount.  Canon also has their APS-C specific EM mount, but Canon never really seemed to take APS-C mirrorless seriously, while this time around the RF mount appears to be something they are going to commit heavily to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The EOS R with it’s 30 megapixel full-frame sensor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The first evidence of that is the starting lens lineup.  Canon is targeting the high-end with their initial lens releases, with four total lenses, 3 of which are designated as their top end ‘L’ lenses.  The initial lineup consists of the RF 35mm f\/1.8 STM Macro, the RF 24-105mm f\/4L IS, the RF 28-70mm f\/2L, and the RF 50mm f\/1.2L.  The three L series lenses are rather large, with the 24-105mm being a chunky lens, the 50mm f\/1.2L being very large, and significantly larger than its EF counterpart (though also said to be notably better than the EF version), and the absolutely monstrous 28-70mm f\/2L, creating the world’s first f\/2 standard zoom lens for full-frame bodies.  Canon is definitely taking aim at the top of the market, which also makes some of the design decisions on the EOS R a bit puzzling, but we’ll get to that throughout the review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EOS R doesn’t enter the market in a leading position, however, as it has Nikon’s new Z6 camera to compete against, as well as Sony’s excellent A7 III in a similar price bracket.  Canon also doesn’t have an RF body to yet compete with Nikon’s Z7, or Sony’s A7R III or A9. Given the brand recognition of Canon, I think they will be OK letting that portion of the market wait a little, but it’s very early in this market segment, so a lot remains to be seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Construction and Handling<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The EOS R is a bit larger than your average mirrorless camera, with a substantial grip, ample width and a little more height than Sony’s full frame bodies. The extra size makes the EOS R feel somewhat like a small DSLR, but in absolute terms, it’s not that much larger overall than something like the Sony A7 III. Ultimately, it’ll fit generally where Sony’s cameras fit. The body is constructed of a mix of magnesium alloy and high quality plastics, and it feels lighter than it looks when you first pick it up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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EOS R with RF 24-105mm f\/4L<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The body has no flex it in anywhere and feels quite solid in the hand. Canon has designed the body such that the shutter button actually sits slightly higher than the rest of the camera top, keeping the overall size in check, but providing a hand grip that comfortably fits your entire hand. The deep, comfortable grip is one of the EOS R’s best features, and makes for a very pleasant shooting experience with minimal fatigue after a long shoot. The front grip is sculpted perfectly, and the rear grip also is quite nice, but isn’t quite as form-fitting as the front. Canon has placed most of the buttons and dials on the right side of the body, and all are easily accessible with your thumb or index finger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One small gripe I have about handling is that the tactile feedback of the buttons is all over the map on this camera. The M-Fn button is small with almost a hard snap activation, some of the buttons are very mushy, and others have a nice tactile feel. The four-way controller has some tactility, but also extremely short travel, and I didn’t generally like the feel. I wish there was some level of consistency in how these buttons felt, but it ultimately is a minor thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I have a few issues with the control layout, which I’ll get to next, the camera feels great to use, and is pleasant whether using the 24-105mm zoom or something larger like a 100-400mm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Operation and Controls<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This section is one where I’m the most split, and it’s going to be long. There are some excellent things Canon has done with regards to camera operation, along with some boneheaded decisions that bugged me throughout my time with the camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canon has had a fairly familiar control system for their DSLRs for years and years, with subtle refinements in their control schemes. Typically, Canon DSLRs have had a front dial that sits above the shutter button, and a large wheel that sits on the rear of the camera. Prosumer and professional models have typically had a joystick control to move focus points around the viewfinder, along with the usual assortment of buttons, and a PASM mode dial on top. Additional controls and tweaks have changed over the years, and the 1D series of cameras differs a bit (and has for decades) by requiring two-handed changes (press a button and then move the wheels) and removing the PASM dial, but overall, these have been the basic controls since way back with the 30D and 5D.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The top plate controls on the EOS R<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So what did Canon do, to make it comfortable for long time Canon users to move to mirrorless? Why they threw that paradigm out the window and started fresh! Now, a new system is a decent time to shake up controls, and Canon did keep some aspects familiar, such as the shape and feel of the shutter button and subsequent position of the front dial above the shutter button. Those will feel instantly familiar to the Canon shooter. The rest, however, is a fairly big departure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EOS R’s top features the aforementioned shutter button and front (main) dial, plus an M-Fn button, a Lock button, the movie record button, the top LCD display and the combination mode and top rear (control) dial. The M-Fn button can be pressed and then the dials used to change parameters such as drive mode, white balance, etc. The lock button locks all controls until pressed again to prevent accidental changing. The top of the control dial has a mode button. Press the mode button and operate the dial (or use the touch screen) to change the shooting mode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rear of the camera features several programmable function buttons, a four-way controller and a touch sensitive multifunction control bar and the rear touch screen. The center of the four-way controller has a Set and Quick menu button that usually brings up the camera’s quick menu to allow for the changing of several key components. Unfortunately, though, this menu is not customizable, unlike similar menus on Sony and Fujifilm cameras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no joystick, no dial on the back of the camera, and in its place is that touch bar. I’ll get into that control in a bit. There is another important control that resides on each RF lens and one of the EF lens adapters, and that’s the lens control ring, which is a clicky rotating ring that you can assign to any number of functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lens ring is a really neat idea, and it works pretty well. I do really like its inclusion in the system. However, I think the placement on the lens is problematic. My first inclination was to use it for aperture control, as I’m used to using an aperture ring from many manual focus lenses as well as most of the Fujifilm XF lenses. However, the location of the ring at the very front of the lens made it awkward to use as an aperture control on a lens the size of the 24-105mm. It’s just too far forward, and requires shuffling my left hand from its normal spot under the center of the lens near the zoom ring in order to operate it. I wish Canon had placed the control ring on the lenses in the same general position that it sits when using the control ring EF to RF adapter, at the base of the lens where most aperture rings sit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The EOS R’s rear controls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Eventually I sort of gave up on it for aperture control. I thought about using it for ISO, because I typically have the third programmable dial on cameras that have three dials to control ISO, but I really didn’t want a control like ISO to be accidentally changed by bumping the lens or rubbing it against something. I settled on setting exposure compensation to it, primarily for using the new Fv shooting mode (which, again I’ll discuss shortly), but otherwise I sort of ignored it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now let’s talk about the touch sensitive multifunction bar and the lack of a joystick, and start with the lack of a joystick. I missed it a lot when using this camera. As I’ll discuss in a bit, the touch screen is great on the EOS R, and does allow you to touch to set focus point. When the viewfinder is to your eye, however, you have to use the touch screen as a touch pad to move the focus point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m familiar with this mechanic, as other cameras I own, the Olympus E-M10 Mark II and Fujifilm X-T20, utilize the same mechanic. It works fine, I guess, but it doesn’t offer the same level of tactility and immediacy of a dedicated joystick. Canon’s implementation also requires rather large movements to shift the point significantly, so that I often had to do multiple swipes to get the point where I wanted. You can also press the focus point button and move the AF point with the four-way controller, and I often found that to be the better way. Both ways, however, are worse than if they’d just had a joystick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Awful M-Fn Bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This brings us to the multifunction touch bar. I hate this control. I loathe this control. I found it to be the single worst camera control interface ever to be put on a serious camera. It’s awful. The M-fn bar is a hard touch sensitive bar that has two areas of interaction, a left and right arrow, which you can individually press, or you can swipe along it to change settings. You can change this bar to operate several different settings, but I typically used it with ISO. You can set the bar to operate instantly when touched, or to lock automatically after a few seconds, after which you must rest your finger on the left arrow for a few seconds, which will unlock the bar and cause it to be operational again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hate everything about the ways this control operates. When using the lock mechanism, the control is exceptionally slow to use and awkward to activate, so I turned it off after a single day of leaving it on. I didn’t have too many issues with accidentally changing settings on the bar, but it did happen on a few occasions. However, the biggest issues I have with the bar is the complete lack of tactile feedback, the relatively slow and laggy operation and odd behavior that would sometimes cause touches to not actually change a setting, or I’d find some things harder to change (often, switching from a set ISO to Auto ISO was met with some sort of software stop when swiping to get to the Auto setting…it was bizarre).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In all, it was frustrating to use every time I used it. And luckily, the weather was nice when I was shooting with the EOS R. In winter, unless you have excellent capacitive gloves that are form-fitting (so you don’t accidentally brush it), you can’t use this control at all with gloves. Why, Canon? Why couldn’t you have just given us another dial in that location? Or a focus joystick? And then another dial. Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let me talk about the good things Canon has done with the controls on this camera, because there are several.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The EOS R’s quick menu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

First, the touch screen implementation is absolutely fantastic. The touch screen operates exactly how a camera touch screen should operate. You can move focus points and take a picture like most cameras with touch screens, but the menu system is also completely touchable, and if something looks like you can touch it to operate a setting, you probably can. It makes going through menus, interacting with sub-menus from other dedicated buttons and reviewing images a breeze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, the new Fv mode is excellent, and allows you to basically operate the camera in a ‘free auto’ mode, choosing which settings between ISO, shutter speed, aperture for the camera to handle, and which for the user to manually set. You can switch between exposure controls with the rear control dial, then change it with the main dial. Set all three to Auto for full auto mode. Set the aperture to basically be in aperture priority…but then you can choose a specific shutter speed and leave ISO on Auto, basically being in manual+AutoISO. It basically gives you on-the-fly access to all autoexposure modes as well as manual, all in the same shooting mode, giving you a lot of versatility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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EOS R Menu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Menu system of the EOS R is well-organized, and easy to navigate, either with the four-way buttons or the touch screen, and should be familiar to existing Canon shooters.  Well done here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In all, the controls on the EOS R are a mixed bag. There are some really good ideas, some standard ideas, and some really bad ideas, but the overall operation of the camera is relatively smooth, save for the M-Fn bar. I could go on for another page or two, getting deep in to the weeds of operation, but I think it’s time to move on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue: Viewfinder, Autofocus and Performance<\/a>
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Viewfinder and Rear Screen<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One thing that Canon definitely got right is the viewing hardware of the camera.  The EVF is a 3.69 million dot panel with a 0.71x magnification.  While the magnification is a little on the smaller side compared to the competition, most of which have 0.76x or larger EVFs, the EOS R’s viewfinder still looks plenty large, and has wonderful resolution and a very natural color and contrast rendering that provides a very clear view that I think will appease long-term DSLR users as well as those who are used to utilizing an EVF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Refresh rate is very good, and the view is very low lag as well.  It is perhaps the most natural EVF I’ve used, and looks fantastic. Dynamic range is also excellent. However, it’s not all perfect here. In operation, the camera has one rather significant flaw, and that’s with how the EVF reacts to exposure changes.  On my other mirrorless cameras, changing the exposure parameters results in a very quick adjustment of the previewed exposure in the EVF.  With the EOS R, the camera has a rather significant delay in updating the exposure preview in the viewfinder.  As a result, quick fine tuning of the exposure can be problematic.  It both takes longer than it should, and causes issues if making small adjustments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canon also made what I consider to be a poor decision with how the camera deals with shutter blackout.  Canon, in an effort to provide a blackout free view does just that…there is no viewfinder blackout when taking a shot.  But that’s not because it continuously streams data to the EVF, such as how the Sony A9 creates a true blackout free experience. Instead, Canon keeps the live view, but instead the display freezes at the moment of exposure, and then there is a second short freeze about half a second later.  This is far more jarring to me than a short EVF blackout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The EOS R has an excellent tilt and swivel rear screen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The large 3.15″ 2.1 million dot LCD has the same exposure preview lag as on the EVF, but it also shares the EVF’s brilliantly clear resolution and beautiful color and contrast.  It’s a gorgeous rear screen that is clear and bright, and as previously mentioned, the touch functionality is excellent.  The rear screen is a tilt and swivel type, allowing for adjustment to see the screen when shooting high or low in both portrait or landscape orientation. It also has the ability to flip forward for vlogging or selfies.  I personally prefer a dual axis flip screen, as I prefer the screen to stay in the same line as the lens, but that’s personal preference.  In all, it’s probably the best rear screen on any mirrorless camera that I’ve used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Autofocus and Performance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

First generation mirrorless cameras have had a history of spotty autofocus performance, and while the EOS R falls into this trap a little, Canon’s pedigree of on-sensor AF helps a lot here.  The sensor features the already well-established dual-pixel AF, which splits pixels to provide phase detect AF.  In single shot Autofocus, the EOS R focuses extremely quickly, and quite accurately.  Using the RF 24-105mm f\/4, focus was lightning quick in good light, and still rather fast in dimmer light as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Occasionally, I had a situation where the AF system seemed a bit too eager, just racking the full range of focus back and forth without settling anywhere.  Usually a refocus would lock, however, and moving through the full range on the RF 24-105mm was super fast anyway, so it wasn’t a large delay.  These instances were fairly rare, however, and the overall performance in single-shot AF is quite excellent.  Canon did a great job here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In continuous, autofocus, however, there are several limitations that keep it from being an all-around great focuser.  First of all, continuous AF doesn’t work at all at the camera’s top frame rate of 8 frames per second.  Continuous AF begins at the medium frame rate of 5 fps, though even here you are seeing a display of the last captured frame instead of a live view.  Live view is available with continuous AF at the low rate of around 3 fps. As a result, the EOS R is not quite as capable at following fast action as the competition. Accuracy in continuous AF was also quite hit and miss in my testing.  I tested against moving cars and had reasonable success, but in tracking my son running at me, the camera failed miserably, yielding very few usable shots in moderate light, something that my A7 III doesn’t have any trouble with. Below is one of the few that was properly in focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Running – Canon EOS R with Canon RF 24-105mm f\/4L IS @ 105mm, f\/4, 1\/320s, ISO 2000<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The EOS R also features face and Eye detection, and these work fairly well in my experience, but again this feature is quite limited in comparison to Sony’s A7 III.  The biggest detriment is that EyeAF is not available in continuous focus, where it is most helpful.  It’s single shot or nothing here.  Second, the EyeAF is only in wide-area AF, so you can’t have a small focus point and then enable Eye AF if you need it.  As a result, I found it to be a bit too limited to make good use of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, one of the biggest benefits to the EOS R is effectively native support for Canon EF lenses using one of the three EF to RF adapters.  Using the simple adapter, I utilized the Canon EF 70-200mm f\/4L and the Sigma 100-400mm f\/5-6.3 for EF mount.  Both lenses focused as if they were on a Canon DSLR, with good speed and excellent accuracy.  I’m used to using both of these lenses on my A7 III using the Sigma MC-11 adapter, and while focus is a bit better on the EOS R using the 70-200mm, I missed the in-body stabilization with that lens, which I get when using it on my Sony bodies.  Still, the EF compatibility makes the EOS R quite a good option for existing Canon shooters, and AF performance is on-point with these lenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As previously mentioned, the EOS R can shoot at 8 frames per second in burst mode, with focus locked on the first frame.  The buffer is reasonably large at around 60-65 RAW frames before slowing down, so if you need to do bursts, you shouldn’t run out of buffer unless you just lay on the shutter button.  The overall performance of the camera is quite nice, with good general responsiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue: Notable Features<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Notable Features<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Top LCD Display<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The EOS R is one of only a handful of mirrorless cameras that have a top LCD display. The EOS R’s top display shows information on two pages of the screen, which can be toggled by pressing the button to the right of the screen.  Long pressing this button inverts the display and turns on the backlight to make it visible in the dark. The main portion of the display shows current shooting mode, exposure compensation, the shooting parameters of the current mode (aperture, shutter speed, or both depending on mode), ISO, battery life and connectivity.  The second page shows more or less the remaining pertinent info, including drive mode, shots remaining, picture style, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of people are really excited to have a top LCD showing settings, however, it really didn’t do anything for me.  It does provide some information at a glance, but overall, I find it either redundant or annoying, as some things disappear on the rear screen in most modes and only appear on the top screen. Battery life is one such thing. Battery life only appears on the rear screen when looking at the all settings display, and not when in the live view shooting modes. For battery level, you have to look at the top. However, every other thing in the top display *is* echoed on the rear of the display. In all, with mirrorless cameras, I tend to look at the rear display for my info.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The top display’s second page of information<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps most annoying is that when the camera is off, the top display only displays the current mode and whether WiFi is set to be on. None of the shooting parameters are shown when the camera is off, so it’s useless as an ‘at a glance’ display for current settings when the camera is off. As such, except for battery level, I tended to ignore it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wi-Fi \/ Bluetooth<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Like essentially all modern cameras, the EOS R comes packed with Wi-Fi connectivity, as well as bluetooth.  The EOS R’s implementation is one of the better ones for this sort of connectivity.  I found the setup to be a little frustrating at first, but once things are connected initially, the camera was extremely quick to connect to my phone.  I predominantly use Wi-Fi on my cameras to transfer images to my phone for easy review and sharing, and the Canon does this with ease.  As I’ll discuss in a bit, Canon also includes in-camera RAW conversion, which I very much appreciated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Remote shooting works quite well<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Geotagging takes advantage of the bluetooth connection, and allowed for seamless tagging of images once the app was opened on the phone, even when turning the camera on and off.  Remote control is also possible, with full adjustment of settings in the remote app, and a fairly good live feed of the image preview.  I didn’t use the remote shooting much, but it worked very well in my limited testing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In-Camera RAW Conversion<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

One of the things I miss most from my Fujifilm and Olympus cameras when I’m shooting with Sony is the ability to create JPEG images, including adjustments from a captured RAW file in the camera.  I use this feature when available so I don’t have to shoot RAW+JPEG and can still transfer selected images in high-resolution to my phone.  Thankfully, Canon has an in-camera RAW converter, and it is quite easy to use with the excellent touch screen controls.  The in-camera RAW converter allows you to adjust things like the output size, overall exposure level, picture style and lens optimizations.  However, it’s a fairly limited level of control compared to what Fujifilm offers, for instance.  There’s no means to control highlight tone or shadow tone, image sharpness, etc.  The picture styles control portions of this, but these are macro changes, with little opportunity for fine tuning.  Still, even a somewhat limited in-camera RAW conversion feature is far better than none at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The EOS R’s in-camera RAW conversion<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Odds and Ends<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Below are a few other thoughts I’ve had that don’t really warrant a full section, but are definitely worth noting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n