Canon EOS R Review

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Canon EOS R Review

Hey folks, Welcome back, in this review I’ll be talking about the photography features of the Canon EOS R their first full-frame mirrorless camera which has some quirks but also has some really cool new features. I’m going to talk about what I like what I don’t like and who I think this camera is really for as well as some my thoughts on the future of Canon mirrorless cameras and why I’m excited about it.

The image quality which you get out of Canon EOS R is really good and it’s a 30-megapixel Dual Pixel CMOS sensor very similar to the Canon 5D Mark IV, so if you are already an owner of that camera and you’re looking for a significant jump in image quality, that’s should not be something why you should go for this camera. You’re going to buy this camera because of its usability and ergonomics and also some of the mirrorless features, not image quality.

Electronic Viewfinder

Some different features that I really like about this camera is the electronic viewfinder, this is one of the main reason to switch to a mirrorless camera versus using a DSLR. The viewfinder not just shows how the image would look in real but also show the information related to this, like color, contrast, distortion correction, white balance and some other details, which is really helpful to improve the image quality. The viewfinder helps really well in sunny conditions because of the size its, which is better than the small rear LCD.

Focus Area

One of my favourite thing which I really like about this camera is the size of the focus area when you are taking photos, you get a bigger screen to review and process it. So if you’re used to the old way of finding focus in a small area, now you have a bigger screen for you to be able to actually focus. You can go all the way the top all the way the bottom on the screen and almost all the way to the side to focus on any subject.

RF Lenses

The next thing I am really liking is the RF lenses, the entire new mount system but more specifically this focus ring that’s right around the end of the lenses. Having that option enables you to go full manual with shutter and aperture with your right hand and your ISO with your left hand. If you’re going to use older lenses like EF or EFS lenses they also have the mount adapter, and this mount adapter enables you to put those lenses on this camera.

They also have two different versions one of them adds the control ring, so it’s closer to the camera body not at the end of the lens or one with drop-in filters and those can be variable ND filters. If you are a Canon user with a bunch of different lenses in your bag, that is going to make this camera way more versatile.

Autofocus

I think that’s an added advantage for those portrait photographers. Autofocus is something that hasn’t been in a Canon camera before that, and it enables you in single-shot mode to not only see the face of someone and track the face while you’re taking a picture but it will also find the closest eye and focus on that. But a little disadvantage is that it won’t work in servo, so if you’re using servo and you’re taking portraits of people moving in and out that eye tracking is not going to be an option like on Sony cameras. Hopefully, in a new version of the EOS platform cameras, they would be able to do it in the servo.

Flip Screen

Autofocus and Face tracking in real-time, you just need to flip-out the screen and I think it’s really great. I’ve always liked this in the lower end Canon cameras like 70D or 80 D or even the T6 and things like that not great for selfies or vlogging, but if you want to get a different camera angle or you’re trying to aim it up high, just the ability to articulate the screen is something that’s really worthwhile.

I travel a lot for photography and for me, the fact is it can also protect the screen and it’s not going to get scratched up, so I really like the flip-out screen. The ability to use it as a touch screen which for me coming from a 5D Mark III is a step up now.

Focus Guide

There are few more things that I really have liked about Canon EOS R one of them is the manual focusing mode, there is both focus peaking which kind of puts a color over what’s in focus and there’s a focus guide which is kind of coming from the Canon cinema line, where it’ll tell you as you mainly focus on a specific point when you’re getting in focus and which direction of the ring you need to turn. That is something really helpful for macro photography or even for landscape, where you need to be absolutely precise you’re going to manual focus and get a little bit of feedback from the camera of what’s actually in focus.

USB Port

I also like that they’ve upgraded and now this is using USB C port and you can use this as charging cable, that you need to buy separately or maybe like me use your MacBook Pro USB C charging cable. it works just fine to charge the batteries or transfer files from the camera if you don’t have that SD card reader.

With 35 Millimeter Lens

One more thing that really liked so far doing photography with this camera is this 35-millimeter macro lens this is actually the cheapest one that they released, but to me it’s my favourite because it’s small and lightweight. When you’re going to use mirrorless that’s what you actually want to have is some weight savings.

This has image stabilization so if I’m shooting handheld my images are going to be a little crisper and I can shoot at slower shutter speeds as well, as this is a macro lens so I can get really close and take 35- millimeter macro shots which are different than taking one hundred millimeter macro shots, like with this Canon L Series lens that I’ve been using for a while.

Touch Bar

There is something which I don’t like about this camera, the first one being the touch bar here this manual function trackpad. So if you want to use it you might have to unlock it and turn it on by holding one of the sides. If you have activated all the time you’re just going to bump it randomly because that’s where your thumb naturally rests so ergonomically this has not been my favourite camera to use when I’m not just in manual mode.

Video Quality

The Canon EOS R, with Dual Pixel autofocus ability, while recording 4K video is going to be very handy to capture in-focus video. It can capture 4K/30p with Dual Pixel autofocus and also Full HD video at 60p for smooth slow-motion footage.

A little problem with shooting in wide-angle because of 1.8x capture crop when shooting in 4K. It doesn’t have an inbuilt image stabilizer so you will have to depend on the good lenses.

If you are rolling the shutter significantly in 4K, it can lead to some wobbly footage.

Image Quality

The image quality with the 30-megapixel Dual Pixel CMOS sensor is very identical to Canon 5D Mark IV and because of Canon’s new RF 50 Millimeter F1.2L lens its sharper than 5D Mark IV. I found that once you increase the ISO level, you get more noise, so it’s not very improved and performs like other Canons. The color quality would remain strong and very similar to 6D Mark II.

Conclusion

Canon EOS R Video and JPEG images are pretty good, with a 30MP sensor that performs really good in low light. The viewfinder really impressed me with a comfortable grip. EF-EOS R adapters give seamless flexibility to use EF and EF-S lenses.

It is one of the best single AF mirrorless camera I’ve ever tested. The latest processor of Digic 8 allows C-Raw format compressed into the Raw format. I had a really good experience with the App, Bluetooth, and wi-fi connectivity.

Despite all good, they’re something to note before we finish the review, like the Dynamic range and the noise performance was not up to the mark, the ergonomics of the Canon EOS R was not very impressive and I think it may turn off many users. If we talk about the 4K video with 1.8x crop and considerable rolling shutter in 4K video mode, it should have been improved.

So, guys, this was my thought on Canon EOS R, Please share your experience or questions below in the comment section. I hope this Canon EOS R Review would help you to make a decision on this device.