I don´t like the overly sharp Sigmas...
Wide open, the Sigma EF 50 Art isn't that sharp, honestly. It's excellent by 10 year old standards (it was released in 2014), but today's lenses are as sharp at 1.2 or 1.4 as the Sigma is stopped down to f/4.
Why is the R8´s EVF "horrible"? I only tested in a camera store, but it seemed fine to me. Is 2.36 m dots such a setback?
I don’t find it horrible, it's usable. It's lower resolution, but also a slightly smaller display. It's not smaller to the point of having the same pixel density, but being smaller certainly helps reducing pixelation.
I don't use manual focus, and I don't own manual focusing lenses.
I find the image quality on 3,68MP EVFs to be generally good/very good, and excellent on the 5,76MP models. Beyond that resolution, I can't tell the difference.
Something Canon really NEEDS to address are the huge rubbers. I have to use all my cameras with VF Display Format set to 2, because I can't see corner to corner with glasses, if using the entire screen. It's easier on the RP/R8 because they have smaller displays and rubbers, but on the R6 and above it just doesn't work.
Last week I tried the Leica Q3 and the new M EV1. Those cameras barely have any rubber, I could see corner to corner, easily, to the point I'm considering buying a replacement rubber for the R6 just to cut it.