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foda · Jan 3, 2026

Bronzy Inca seen while birding at La Florida, Bosque de Las Aves, at km 18, Colombia, November, 2025.

R5MkII RF200-800mm

Nemorino · Jan 3, 2026

Less colourfull but with perfect camouflage: short-toed treecreeper

R5m2 + RF 200-800
@ 1/4000s, f/9, iso 16 000

Sporgon · Jan 3, 2026

I don’t think digital will ever match large grained negative film for dynamic range (or rather latitude) in the highlights as when the silver nitrate crystals in film are exposed to light they effectively become less sensitive to light as the exposure continues. This characteristic allows for quite remarkable highlight range in films like Portra 400 / 800 for instance. It’s almost impossible to over expose it !
However, when it comes to dynamic range in the lowlights / deep shadows digital blows film out of the water as the latter has virtually no latitude at all.

Jowe-79 · Jan 3, 2026

I have the R7 and I'm happy with it... But here there are opinions that it is crap that at ISO 800 is unusable that if rolling shutter... Let's see rolling shutter for very fast objects fine, but I take photos with electronics and no ghosts or deformations come out...

Is the R7 so bad?? Let's see if you compare it with the r5 mark ii because I'm not surprised... it's logical it's worth 5 times more...

Click · Jan 3, 2026

Very colourful. Nicely done, AUGS.

Del Paso · Jan 3, 2026

rbr said:
A lot more than buyers for a $20k+ 1200mm lens, yet Canon makes and sells that.

I can only guess that for NASA, FBI, CIA etc... price has only a very relative importance.

Canon certainly wouldn't release such a lens without knowing a real demand exists.

GirlsAreBeautiful · Jan 3, 2026

- Eye focus

This was one of the main features I was looking out for, how else could autofocus even work? A single focus point means reframing which adds a distinct layer of consciousness while composing and I personally don't like that. It's also slower. Anything else that relies on algorithms or preselection of a subject is completely useless if you want to take shots of complex human scenarios. So eye focus feels like a must. It is still not as fast as zone focusing, which you can achieve while raising the camera to eye level, but it's almost there if you have enough time to at least look at the subject (which is not guaranteed, more on that soon). Canon doesn't seem so confident about this feature yet, they hide it in a weird menu and the eyecup doesn't accomodate properly its usage. With eye focus the key is calibrating it properly with your eye and always looking into the viewfinder in a similar way. But the eye cup is surprisingly neutral, it doesn't make a good job of blocking external light or orienting your eye position and as far as I know Canon only alternative is that huge eye cup. I think that they choose this design because the current viewfinder is already scary enough, I remember looking at the R5 before buying it and it looks so protruding, in real life usage this is a non issue, I'd say it even helps to let room for the nose, but for new buyers some extra padding could make it look even longer. Also most people don't seem to care about eye focus at all.
On top of these issues with hardware that needs to improve I have a few software complaints. Sometimes the focus gets stuck on some random spot or head despite the eye pointer being on another face, this is an example of it,

https://girlsarebeautifull.wordpress.com/2025/11/15/2019/

the focus stayed behind. I should have engaged manual focus which works and bypass auto focus on half triggers but I was shooting with one hand only and I also generally prefer to avoid manual focusing once I get into the habit of auto focus. Another thing that happens is that when I shoot too fast and the eye doesn't have the time to get to the viewfinder the camera doesn't always automatically pick a face to focus on, I think it should. I feel like sometimes it does it but not reliably. Also sometimes it gets stuck on the text info at the bottom when I look there, or you need to generally reset the eye focus by looking away and looking back etc.
It sounds like a lot of complaints, and there are clearly many many things to improve, but the reality is that eye focus let me shot with way more reliability than zone focusing with limited focus throw of recent lenses ever could.

- Lenses

I didn't want to mention this on the eye focus section since this is a problem that originates from my lens. The auto focus is not fast enough on my 28mm EF, especially when having to focus in and out of close subjects. I tested a couple RF lenses and focus can be instantaneous. Canon currently has no good mid size RF 28mm. To me this is shocking but clearly not a big issue for most people or they would have produced it. The 28 from Sigma is just too big and the Canon pancake is atrocious. I am afraid that a usable 28mm will never get released since nowadays most people buy professional cameras for the tele/zoom experience. For me 28mm is still the king for taking pictures of humans and life in general. It's not by chance that 28mm is the default focal on iPhones. It's pretty depressing to see it neglected. The issue with the 28mm EF is not only limited to focusing. The aperture blades closing down is making a visible stutter when shooting in blackout free mode, I have no clue why but it does it and it took me a lot of time to understand where that stutter was coming from, another huge reason to have a RF alternative. Even if Canon opens up the mount I am not sure that third partied would produce such a lens, or not at the autofocus quality I need. I will probably have to accept the current offering.

- Usage

A few other things worth commenting about. Waking up time is amazing for such a complex camera. I like the asymmetrical storage with one CFe card and one SD card, I know that some feel like it's limiting but for me it is a feature and if Canon wants to separate the 5 series from 3 and 1 with this then it is a great compromise. Silent shutter is heaven, nothing else to say, I will never come back to mechanical shutter, the lost dynamic range is obviously worth it I haven't even tested it. Battery life feels extremely satisfying, this camera does a lot, getting 300+ unique shots on a single charge of such a small battery is an achievement, I carry 2 extras and I am covered for the day.
A couple negative things. It seems to me like the camera is going on standby when not using the viewfinder for a few seconds and having the monitor turned to the other side. I have all the power savings option switched off. When it does that the viewfinder takes a split second to come back on and if I try to press a button before that the first input it's not taken in! That drove me crazy until I got used to it. You cannot change your exposure unless you wake the camera up with another button press, how is that acceptable? I got into the habit of half pressing the shutter button before raising the camera, which also confuses the eye focus mechanism in my opinion. So this should really be addressed by Canon.
The inverse problem of this is that the viewfinder will always fire up if you use the neck strap on its default configuration. You just cannot let the camera rest against your body or the battery will drain in no time. I've seen people doing weird stuff to prevent it and had to do it myself, putting a mounting point on the bottom and having a setup in which the camera hits me on an angle, great solution... Even worst I've seen people carrying the camera in their hand only, that's just not an option for all day shooting despite the very light profile of recent cameras. Canon has to fix this: they either change the mounting strategy of the strap to something different but it seems hard, or they give us at least the option to only fire up the viewfinder with a half shutter press. I don't see any other solution to this unless they can figure out how to distinguish the body from the face.

- Video

I am interested in video but didn't have the time to test it out yet. I just looked at the menu and I am pretty amazed by the amount of codec options Canon included. Full frame recording feels needed though since the current only available aspect ratio is very narrow, the data transfer could be too high for the hardware though. I wonder how the dynamic range compares with something like the BMPCC 6K, I couldn't find a comparison online, the smaller form factor and stabilisation options are surely appealing.

Ending thoughts... Canon has managed to catch two birds with one stone: make me very happy with the purchase and at the same time having me wait for the next model. I will buy the Mark III near launch if it can deliver both substantial improvements in DR and any improvement in eye focus. If it's only one of the two things I'll wait a bit, if there is neither I'll skip.

GirlsAreBeautiful · Jan 3, 2026

I recently went to Tokyo for a trip and decided to upgrade my 5D Mark III, benefitting from the very favourable local prices, and obviously take some pictures. I had two main reasons for the upgrade: silent shutter and eye controlled focus. Those two aspects felt crucial for the kind of pictures that I take and worth the switch from DSLRs.
I payed 2870 euro for a new body at MapCamera in Shinjuku, I highly recommend going to Japan to buy your gear if you can and you can get market rate conversion with your card, it saved me more than the trip price. A few other things I also bought: 2 extra batteries, fast CFexpress card reader, Canon EF converter and bottom loop for the neck strap. No new lenses since I only use 28mm and had my EF copy already, more on that later.
During the trip I shot around twelve thousands unique pictures, no burst or pre capture, and it was truly a joy despite a few things that I'd like to see improved. It is the only camera I'd consider for photography today since my budget can accomodate for it.

I've divided this review in sections to make it a bit more clean. I hope it will be useful to other people to make up their mind!

- Ergonomics

The R52 is and feels as tall as the 5D3 but significantly smaller. My small hand rests perfectly on 5D, taking the R5 in hand gives me a more "aggressive" feel which I actually don't dislike because when I lift it I know I am taking a shot. It is also easier to "play" with the body a little bit while keeping it close to the eye, which is something useful when taking pictures of people since it makes them feel less targeted, it is also generally less noticeable. The smaller body will be bothersome for those that cannot get the full height of their hand on, or those that want a "professional" look for clients, but there are many choices for vertical grips so it's a non issue. One thing I do not understand is why the current grip pattern doesn't cover the full extent of the plastic as it does on the 5D. I tried the R1 as well, I do like to have that in hand and the cross grip pattern is better, but it's just too big of an object to push in someone's face, let alone the price difference. The buttons of the R1 are also better, but R5 is still excellent, I just had some troubles to reach for the joystick but I think it is just a matter of habit. The new third wheel for ISO is great. The general balance while using the EF adapter is perfect.

- Reliability

I took a lot of shots so I can give my opinion about it. I had read a lot of different things about it which had scared me. I know the camera is way more complex than DSLR and there is a lot of code powering it. My 5D also had some hick-ups, they are not perfect either, regarding the R5 I think I benefited from being able to jump on the most recent firmware that corrected a bunch of issues and it has been generally very reliable for the amount of pictures I took, there were two sets of issues though. First thing is a random inability of the camera to take pictures, it happened randomly around 3-4 times in 45 days and lost me one picture, to be precise. The camera would respond properly but there was no flashing white border (I am shooting in blackout free mode) when pressing the shutter and the picture was not taken. It came back working after around 10 seconds. I did not power down and up the camera but I guess that would have fixed it faster. It would be nice if Canon could prevent something like this from happening ever but maybe it's not something realistic, I don't even know if the reason behind the multiple occurrences of the bug was the same. The second set of issues appeared during a rainy day and it was way more concerning in my opinion. I was walking and shooting under an umbrella, being careful to wipe excessive water that eventually builds up on the body and viewfinder, I wouldn't call it a very challenging scenario. Still the viewfinder completely froze two times. It freaked me out a bit because I was afraid something serious could have happened with the water but I doubt that's the case because since it came back working as normal, I was also being really careful, I don't see how water could have passed the tropicalization. Maybe an issue with coldness plus water? It wasn't that cold though.

- Stills quality

The reason behind my upgrade wasn't picture quality but still this is such a relevant topic that I ended up caring about it a bit. Let's start by the jpeg presets. I really love to shoot raw+jpeg because I do not care or have the time to edit most of the shots, I want them to look good out of the camera and Canon cares about that and it kept improving on what it already did. I used the faithful picture profile with minimum contrast on the 5D and kept doing the same on the R5. I was very pleased to see how the shifting reds are now fixed, it looks perfect now and I can trust it to deliver a realistic image. I am also extremely happy about how the camera deals with the data from high ISO. I have let it go up to 6400 and there is a night and day difference with the 5D, before I was scared as soon as I would hit 800 ISO, now I am thrilled about the night time results of 6400 and I've heard people pushing it even to 12800. This really allows you to take shots that were not possible before, keeping the aperture close, not using flash, fast shutter speed.
I have not much to say about resolution, I liked the 5D already, the extra pixels don't change much for me but I am not complaining. I do hope that we will get to a stable point though, bigger numbers each year must come at the cost of speed and other features.
My main complaint about picture quality comes from Dynamic Range. It scares me to read comments that say that dynamic range is so good today it doesn't need improvements, the reality is that dynamic range today still sucks, it is unbearably bad. Digital photography on the top class cameras is still unable to cover a sunny day with some shadows, how is that good enough? We need at least 3 more stops of DR to get there and it doesn't look like current sensor technology can improve. A breakthrough can come with DGO but it has to be implemented in electronic shutter mode for me to be relevant. I would gladly sacrifice burst speed to get it but I doubt that Canon will implement such a significant quality split and will instead wait to have it working perfectly for all modes. Just to be clear let's look at this example:

https://girlsarebeautifull.wordpress.com/2025/10/18/1101/

Normal sunny day, one person is shielding their face from the sun and is correctly exposed and one is not and is completely blown out, no details whatsoever to recover from the raw file. Terrible stuff which would never happen on film. The shot was taken at 800 ISO, a double gain output 100/800 would cover exactly the 3 stops needed to make the image decent. This is such an important aspect for me, I feel like a lot of people just don't take enough wide shots with patches of light and multiple subjects and are instead isolating a main character or shooting in interiors so they don't see the issue. It's baffling that we got 30 photos taken in one second before being able to shoot a sunny day.

- Viewfinder

This was my main concern coming from DSLR. I had tried some digital viewfinder on lower end models and it looked unusable to me. The R52 looks very very good, it's better than shooting with an OVF as well, especially at night where there is no match. With satisfaction my expectations rose as well and I noticed that I am not able to fully perceive faces expressions while looking through the viewfinder. I tried with an R1 as well and while I do notice the extra resolution and bigger magnification there is still something missing. I don't know why. Are my eyes not focusing well enough? The text looks crisp though and the 120 frame rate seems smooth enough but I just can't parse expressions as well as I do with my own eyes. Any improvement on the viewfinder front will be appreciated and is to be expected, but I am happy as is.
Now that the quality of the images is very similar across the lineup the viewfinder is one of the main segmentation feature that companies relies on so it kind of forces you towards the 5 series.

continues...

AUGS · Jan 3, 2026

Male Superb Fairy Wren basking in the late afternoon light.
1Dx + EF 100-400 II @400mm, 1/1500 sec, f/5.6, ISO1600, range about 3.25m

exquisitefacade · Jan 2, 2026

Agreed. I am dubious of price points being used in this fashion…price is a completely subjective metric and does not in any way speak to technical achievement or generational improvement

Exploreshootshare said:
If the Nikon Z5iii gets the nod over the Canon R6iii because of ones favors "value for money" over "overall specs with all the whistles and bells" that premise should be applied to lenses as well. In that case, the 45mm F1.2 should be favored over the Sony 50-150mm f/2 GM. Don't get me wrong, the Sony lens is absolutely great, but I just don't get why in one case "value for money instead of overall specs" makes the decision and in the other category it is the opposite.

The 45mm F1.2 brought together two things that I´ve never seen put together: F1.2 and cheap (or at least affordable). That imo is an absolute game-changer and easily the best "value for money" this year concerning lenses.

mimbu · Jan 2, 2026

Canon Rumors said:
Up until a few years ago, there was a service center in Michigan, USA that could rebuild focus motors for both the EF 50mm f/1.0L USM and EF 200mm f/1.8L USM. It wasn't cheap and it wasn't quick.

Interesting, I didn't know that was still possible so recently. What happened to that business?

neuroanatomist · Jan 2, 2026

rbr said:
A lot more than buyers for a $20k+ 1200mm lens, yet Canon makes and sells that.

Sorry, I should have been more explicit and/or clear. It’s not really about the absolute number, it’s about return on investment and profitability. Canon would need to sell enough units at a price the market will bear for the feature set, with a sufficient margin for the product to cover development costs and become profitable in a desired time frame.

The margin on a 1200mm f/8 lens is much higher than one could be on a high-end APS-C body.

The bottom line is that Canon has the decision rights here, and they have the data on sales, cost of goods, and market demand to drive those decisions. To date, the 7-series is the least frequently refreshed line (slower than even the 1-series), and has moved downmarket with the switch to mirrorless. I don’t think those facts bode well for those wanting an R7II to be significantly upmarket from the R7, but time will tell.

flaviojzk · Jan 2, 2026

Canon Rumors said:
In the first half of 2026, we are going to see new APS-C cameras announced. One of them will be the EOS R7 Mark II. It's possible that we will see them before the end of February for the CP+ show in Japan. I expect a bigger splash from Canon this year than the PowerShot […]

See full article...

If the R7II does come with a new 40MP sensor, do you think the current 32MP will become the standard sensor across the rest of the APSC lineup?

rbr · Jan 2, 2026

neuroanatomist said:
I would agree with that. But the real issue is how many such buyers there are, and more importantly real ones, not just potential.

A lot more than buyers for a $20k+ 1200mm lens, yet Canon makes and sells that.

AlanF · Jan 2, 2026

Click said:
Very nice shots, Alan. I especially like the second one for the clear background.

Well, with some not insignificant effort, I can clear the background of the first.

309A0891-DxO_palestine_sunbird_te copy 2.jpg

AlanF · Jan 2, 2026

foda said:
I have created an Adobe Lightroom keyword list arranged by family to reflect the 2025 eBird avian taxonomy. It is keyed on the American English common names but includes the IOC common names as synonyms where they differ. It also includes the scientific names as well as the alpha codes.

You can download the list from https://drive.google.com/file/d/15jSCG2eUGQRwQlS9auFSDbvJ01dWWdy1/view?usp=drive_link

I would like to make this available to the wider birding community but would appreciate any feedback you might have before doing so.

Once downloaded, the list can be imported into Lightroom from the Library module via the command sequence Metadata > Import Keywords.

Please let me know if you have any questions or need any additional information.

P.S. Don't forget to update your copyright information in your cameras and image-processing software.

Well done!

neuroanatomist · Jan 2, 2026

AlanF said:
The R3 is indeed a such a remarkable camera that its 24 Mpx sensor can outresolve a 45 Mpx one and it can correct in RAW files the chromatic aberration of a lens.

What we need is to pair this magical R3 with @Michael Clark’s magical EF 70-200/2.8 II. The former will have enough resolution to match the latter. The combo would be unstoppable, especially if someone comes forward with an EF-RF mount adapter filled with magical contrast-enhancing air.

GirlsAreBeautiful · Jan 2, 2026

I think that they will indeed release an R3m2, they can come up with distinct stuff and it seems like they want a big lineup. How they'll do it I don't know though and I hope that there will not be a push for even higher pixel count across the board.

foda · Jan 2, 2026

I have created an Adobe Lightroom keyword list arranged by family to reflect the 2025 eBird avian taxonomy. It is keyed on the American English common names but includes the IOC common names as synonyms where they differ. It also includes the scientific names as well as the alpha codes.

You can download the list from https://drive.google.com/file/d/15jSCG2eUGQRwQlS9auFSDbvJ01dWWdy1/view?usp=drive_link

I would like to make this available to the wider birding community but would appreciate any feedback you might have before doing so.

Once downloaded, the list can be imported into Lightroom from the Library module via the command sequence Metadata > Import Keywords.

Please let me know if you have any questions or need any additional information.

P.S. Don't forget to update your copyright information in your cameras and image-processing software.

riker · Jan 2, 2026

Bob Howland said:
Given what Sigma has given us, do we really need RF-S lenses from Canon?

Yes, I believe so.
I love and respect Sigma in many ways, but...
- Sigma only has 12 APS-C lens all together, and that includes some older ones. 9 available for RF (of which only a single one is ART)
- The f/1.4 primes and the 17-40/1.8 are certainly great products, but that's it. Longest available is the 56mm (no, we are not counting the 16-300). The 50-100 is unavailable for RF. There's no tele, no macro, no tilt-shift, nothing.
- Canon has 0 APS-C L optics. Sigma has 1 ART for RF.
- Sigma AF and IS performance is often behind Canon's
- Canon's new technologies, like Z and VCM are completely unavailable for APS-C.

So even considering Sigma lenses, the APS-C format is veeeeery handicapped.

AlanF · Jan 2, 2026

Mark flyer said:
Less chromatic aberration, more detail on distant trees, similar dynamic range. Will share files once I can get them from my laptop at home.

The R3 is indeed a such a remarkable camera that its 24 Mpx sensor can outresolve a 45 Mpx one and it can correct in RAW files the chromatic aberration of a lens.

Mark flyer · Jan 2, 2026

AlanF said:
What does "better" mean? There are so many variables in an image, the lenses used and subjects, and in taking and processing them so please elaborate.

Less chromatic aberration, more detail on distant trees, similar dynamic range. Will share files once I can get them from my laptop at home.

Mark flyer · Jan 2, 2026

AlanF said:
OK, they were pictures before sunrise at sparks lake with a particular lens. Does that extrapolate to all situations?

No, that's where I was in person helping compare, me and my two uncles were working on comparing them, the onenowns both bodies, and my other uncle and I are working on helping him compare them, our end evaluation was the R3 did better overall for landscape and wildlife and macro, that doesn't cover every situation and is just our OPINION.

neuroanatomist · Jan 2, 2026

rbr said:
I suspect many potential buyers for a high end APS-C camera share my sentiments.

I would agree with that. But the real issue is how many such buyers there are, and more importantly real ones, not just potential.

Canon launched the 7DII over a decade ago, after which they updated the 70D to the 80D then the 90D, then released the R7 that spec-wise seems more of a successor to the 90D than to the 7DII. That suggests Canon does not see sufficient market demand for a high-end APS-C camera.

Canon may be helping that become a self-fulfilling prophecy by adding relatively inexpensive lenses that deliver good IQ (100-400, 200-800, 600/11, 800/11) and allow FF bodies to achieve far ‘more reach’ than in their DSLR ecosystem.

Mark flyer · Jan 2, 2026

Less chromatic aberration, more detail on distant trees, similar dynamic range.

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