I can't help but chuckle at the number of comments asserting that finally a DPR review is fair to Canon. They're amazed that Chris and Jordan have finally shed DPR's anti-Canon bias and given a Canon product a fair trial. Some of these same comments assert that it won't last and the R5 will get the same old biased treatment.
Most seemed oblivious to the possibility that DPR hasn't changed, rather it is Canon that changed. I was an avid Canon users for years. I anxiously waited for the release of the 6D II with tremendous anticipation but was sorely disappointed when it was actually inferior to its predecessor in several respects. I considered the 5D IV, but it was more money than I wanted to spend on a camera especially one that, to me, didn't seem significantly better than the M III that it replaced. I bought a 80D hoping to keep a foot in the Canon water, but there was nothing exciting about that camera. And I don't even want to talk about the Rebel releases. How many variations on a single theme can a company trot through without making any discernible progress forward?
Thus, to me, Canon has been in a huge rut for years. Rather than biased against Canon, I saw the DPR treatment almost as a form of "tough love". We love you Canon, we know you can do so much better than you're doing, so why aren't you living up to your potential?
Now, Canon seems to have gotten the message, Maybe they were planning this tour-de-force for years--and just weren't ready when they introduced the R but knew they had to release something. It kind of reminds me of the original GodFather movie, where the Corleone family looks like they’re fatally weakened and are just waiting to be wiped out by competing families. Instead, in the penultimate scene, Canon, I mean the Corleones, turn the table and whack all the rivals in a single carefully choreographed, coordinated attack.
This is what the R5/6 offerings represent. Sure, video gets the headlines, but it’s the camera features and capabilities that will dominate the market. Incredible resolution (the A7R IV’s 61MP is of no consequence; I have to check the file size or EXIF data to distinguish R III and R IV images), competitive DR, AF and continuous rate that challenges the best sports cameras, state-of-the-art FF IBIS, and amazing ergonomics in a small package. And no doubt I left out several features including truly excellent video.
Hence, the question isn’t why has DPR suddenly given a fair review of a Canon product. No, the reviews have always fair. Rather, given the different between the R5/6 offerings and recent Canon offerings, the real question is why weren’t they even more critical of Canon’s half-hearted efforts?