Here are the first images and specifications of the Canon EOS R and the new RF mount lenses

[freejay]

I have an idea for the strange left-right button between thump-rest and EVF: I think you will be able to quickly select what the control ring (either on the RF lens or on the EF adapter) is supposed to be doing!

 

[AlanF]

You have to be legally blind to miss the fact that with an entry level DSLR, you can crop 50% and print poster.

My heart aches for all the people who can't crop 75% and still print poster size.

You don't appreciate that many groups of photographers, like wildlife, are often reach limited and need to crop small areas. Others need to reproduce high detail. We don't necessarily aim to print poster size even if we print at all. High resolution cameras sell well for very good reasons.

 

[RickWagoner]

Lordy, I hope not - that would make it impossible to use for wildlife/bird photography...

The tiny size of the body and handling a long lens pretty much knocks mirrorless out for bird photography. Even crop body SLR users usually need a battery grip just for more stability with such long lenses. As cool as having the advantages of mirrorless for birds are the usability with such lenses is just not there.

 

[jolyonralph]

I laugh at all the old people here still talking about resolution in terms of how big a print you can make. Go back to your darkroom, grandpa!

I do primarily images for online. And with 5K+ screens (14 megapixel) becoming the norm images for screen display a 24 megapixel sensor doesn't end up giving you a great deal of crop flexibility. 40-50 megapixel sensors give much better options for cropping and/or downsampling images to be displayed at their best on a retina-style screen.

 

[Keith_Reeder]

The tiny size of the body and handling a long lens pretty much knocks mirrorless out for bird photography. Even crop body SLR users usually need a battery grip just for more stability with such long lenses. As cool as having the advantages of mirrorless for birds are the usability with such lenses is just not there.

Yep, true on all counts.

Most confusing, given the number of "expert opinion-havers" on here who insist that diddy little MILCs are all things to all men and "the (only) future"...

 

[AlanF]

Indeed- and there's not that much difference between 30 and 50 from a cropping point of view...

There is a significant difference between a 30 Mpx sensor with an AA-filter and a 50 Mpx without one. If there wasn't to my eyes, I would use my 5DIV all the time and leave my 5DSR at home. The pixel size alone gives 30% more linear resolution (66% area) and dropping the AA-filter a further 10% on top. My 5DSR is like having my 5DIV with a 1.4xTC built in. The 5DIV has other compensating advantages, but not resolution.

 

[AlanF]

I laugh at all the old people here still talking about resolution in terms of how big a print you can make. Go back to your darkroom, grandpa!

I do primarily images for online. And with 5K+ screens (14 megapixel) becoming the norm images for screen display a 24 megapixel sensor doesn't end up giving you a great deal of crop flexibility. 40-50 megapixel sensors give much better options for cropping and/or downsampling images to be displayed at their best on a retina-style screen.

Hey, I am with you and I am a grandpa! It's the old in mind but not in heart who are the problem!

 

[RickWagoner]

My questions are

What is the DR and low light performance of the sensor? Hope Canon builds off the amazing 24.2 crop sensor than use the standard 5d4 sensor.

Frames per second and how large of a buffer? if this comes with 7fps then forget it.

And the most important is how long is the battery going to last? One of the worst trades offs with mirrorless is the horrible battery life they have compared to SLR's. I have hopes Canon is going to do this right with the LPE6 battery being used inside though.

 

[symmar22]

A couple of things I'd love to know : will lenses be fly by wire ? 99% of my work being on a tripod with manually focused lenses, focus by wire is for me the ultimate nightmare and is one of the main reasons I am not so excited with MILCs. I was waiting to know if Canon would go the same route as the other (though I don't know if Leica has FBW). The USM of the R-L lenses seems to tell that it will be both, USM Full Time Manual on L lenses and FBW STM on "consumer" lenses. I guess it's less of a problem with mirrorless cameras since you need power to see anything at all anyway. But my experience with my 40 mm STM has been so frustrating with manual focus, I use it only for AF handheld shots, despite it being somehow better optically than my old 45 TS-E.

Since we talk about lenses I am a bit puzzled by that recent Canon obsession wit super short macro lenses (28mm EF-M, 35mm EF-S and now 35mm R), especially considering the sub-optimal manual focus on these lenses. Plus slightly longer than normal lenses are in general more useful for close-ups.

IMHO IBIS or not is big question mark as well, from what I saw, the latest gen IBIS from Sony (will see with Nikon) work as well as classic lens IS. I like the idea of IBIS, since it doesn't force every lens to be bulkier, more fragile and the complication of the optical formula doesn't in general go with better optics. Plus as Olympus an Panasonic have shown, you can combine both. So I really hope Canon did not skip the IBIS. For me it's a real plus since I have quite a few vintage manual lenses as well. No doubt the future Panasonic FF will have it as well.

As much as I'd like to see a dual card in it, my opinion is that Canon (and Nikon) don't see these cameras as fully professional tools yet. My guess is they assume for a high end amateur market one card slot is enough, especially if the card are reliable (that is the case with SD and likely even more with XQD). Plus to be fair dual card is optimal only if the are the same speed. I personally never had a card failure (I know it can happen), but on my 5DSr, the SD is slowing down the writing so much, it's almost a joke (once again I do mostly slow photography on a tripod).

Finally about the sensor, I hope they'll have improved the 5D4 sensor, and finally removed the low pass filter.

 

[padam]

Yep, both the M5 or the 5D have kind of the 'right' proportions for their respective sizes. But in real life and with a lens on, it will probably look better.

And having the same battery across most of the range is also clever.
But with the EVF I expect it do drain even faster than the 5D IV, which is also hungrier in liveview mode, around 30-40% more drain than the Mark III.
So I don't think it will be nearly as good as the newest Sony bodies.

 

[padam]

A couple of things I'd love to know : will lenses be fly by wire ? 99% of my work being on a tripod with manually focused lenses, focus by wire is for me the ultimate nightmare and is one of the main reasons I am not so excited with MILCs. I was waiting to know if Canon would go the same route as the other (though I don't know if Leica has FBW). The USM of the R-L lenses seems to tell that it will be both, USM Full Time Manual on L lenses and FBW STM on "consumer" lenses. I guess it's less of a problem with mirrorless cameras since you need power to see anything at all anyway. But my experience with my 40 mm STM has been so frustrating with manual focus, I use it only for AF handheld shots, despite it being somehow better optically than my old 45 TS-E.
Finally about the sensor, I hope they'll have improved the 5D4 sensor, and finally removed the low pass filter.

Probably yes. But that's exactly what the EF R adapter for if you prefer to manual focus that way.

The way the video works in the Canon cameras, it doesn't make sense to remove the AA filter.

 

[crashpc]

I'm surprised that nobody mentioned the 4 segment battery indicator so far..

Stupid Canon, Stupid!


...That feel, when you reach for mouse to click on the last page, yet after the click, there is two more (new) pages making you angry, pushing you to read endlessly...

 

[-pekr-]

Yep, both the M5 or the 5D have kind of the 'right' proportions for their respective sizes. But in real life and with a lens on, it will probably look better.

And having the same battery across most of the range is also clever.
But with the EVF I expect it do drain even faster than the 5D IV, which is also hungrier in liveview mode, around 30-40% more drain than the Mark III.
So I don't think it will be nearly as good as the newest Sony bodies.

5D4 battery is one big dissapointment, really. On the other hand, 5D4 has two older digic CPUs, so who knows if we can directly compare. OTOH R is going to feed EVF. We will see, but I don't expect miracles, more of recent Nikon cca 300 shots ...

 

[Quackator]

(I truly don't get the "need" for GPS in a camera...)

Think multi-camera video and atom-clock precision timecode
across all cameras. GPS can do that.

 

[AE-1Burnham]

Yesss. Take my money. When Can I order it (in Norway...)?!? Finally. Looks like it fills most needs here, and rumoured specs are sounding spot on! Memory cards are a big "?" but yeah, I am thinking as my personal camera not as my gig camera. (I no longer have to debate getting into Sony system for the advantages there and for that I am very happy!).

 

[Antono Refa]

You don't appreciate that many groups of photographers, like wildlife, are often reach limited and need to crop small areas. Others need to reproduce high detail. We don't necessarily aim to print poster size even if we print at all. High resolution cameras sell well for very good reasons.

I do, same as I appreciate commercial photographers who print ads the size of a building wall. I just think they're a small niche.

Question is what you call high resolution cameras. If you mean cameras such as EOS 5Ds, yes - there's a good reason those sell well, reason being there are photographers who need that much. If you mean cameras with more than 15MP, yes - there's a good reason those sell well, reason being nobody sells cameras with lower resolution.

 

[Mistral75]

The 28-70/2.0 does not look too big.

Approximately 10cm (max. diameter) x 14cm (length).

 

[fullstop]

Yep, true on all counts.

Most confusing, given the number of "expert opinion-havers" on here who insist that diddy little MILCs are all things to all men and "the (only) future"...

hehe. MILC supply side gets finally fixed. Sony, Leica, Nikon, Canon, Panasonic. Turning point reached. Now transition will be fast. 3 more years and 'slappers are more or less history.

 

[Architect1776]

Can we have:
- 4K60
- 10bit HLG (a way to record proper HDR)
- Dual SD UHS-II card slots
- Extremely Good IBIS
- Unlimted recording (nah 30min video limit is not ok (30min tax ends end of year in Europe anyway))

And stuff I'd like too but I never see anyone else ask about:
- H265 options for all framerates and resolutions (half bitrate, same quality, faster for YouTube 4K uploading)
- Wi-Fi multi-camera live editing on the touch-screen (for example you have any phone or a gopro like wifi camera pointing at yourself which you can switch to once in a while during the interview. Or switching to another Canon R camera during interview. Or switching among several cameras while live streaming sports or concert.)
- Wi-Fi and Type-C Ethernet and Type-C LTE dongles with bonding for reliable live streaming directly from camera
- Built-in wireless microphone receiving in camera. Whatever the wireless technology. Could also be wireless microphones that later sync the audio automatically over Type-C or over Wi-Fi direct in one-click with each audio track that can be adjusted in camera and video file saved.
- In-camera basic video editing. Use phone or tablet to have a larger UI when editing in-camera. Rendering the edits at faster than real-time.
- Type-C to SSD/HDD backups and live recording.
- 4x SD cards RAID in grip to expand storage and backup.

Canon already makes video cameras with EF mounts with all your wishes.
These still are still cameras with video capabilities for those who do still photography but want a bit of video. We don't want a video camera that happens to do stills.

 

[Stuart]

Good idea announcing the battery pack at the same time, EVF's take a lot of power.