Come play with the Canon EOS R RAW files

May 4, 2011
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Longer hands on video posted today:

Thanks. Interesting, shows you never really know until you pick up a camera and start shooting with it "how it really is".

I agree that the DSLR's days are numbered...but personally, my experience with the M cameras tells me MILC still has a ways to go until it can match the speed, responsiveness and tracking ability of a DSLR. Early reviewers keep saying the R is a quick focuser...we'll see, I've had times where my M6 would fail to lock focus even with plenty of light available (never had that issue with my 5D). But the general direction that photography seems to be moving in is undeniable at this point...

One area of AF where MILC *DOES* hold an advantage though is that the "always live view mode" means no worrying about microadjustment of lenses. That is nice, I will admit. It is frustrating when certain focus points are dead on while others aren't (this seems especially true with my 5DSR). If this new R has at least got the focus accuracy down, even if tracking is slow, that is a major step in the right direction.
 
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Mar 25, 2011
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To be sure the 5D MkIV, for all the complaints from testers, is a very good sensor with a lot more potential, but I don't think the R developers had the brief to mess with the sensor, just everything else!

I think they did some tinkering with the microlenses in order to boost light at the edges and corners, and to help with autofocus away from the center. Canon had some patents where they discussed the issue.
 
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Jun 29, 2016
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Those are great pictures. But I wonder, since it is the same sensor, many of the lenses used are EF and the camera body is not that smaller in respect to the 5D/6D, what is the REAL advantage in mirror-less cameras? Apart from the mirror part, I don't really see a big difference between them and SLRs. The noise reduction is (in higher IOS) so good that I question the need for f2 or less lenses (which are much heavier - which contradict the idea of light weight gear), depth of filed is much greater issue in high megapixel images where every non-focused area is very evident.

What does strikes me in those images is that they reveal EVERYTHING, even the little spec of "black" left of the mascara after a dip in the water.
 
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Nov 2, 2016
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Those are great pictures. But I wonder, since it is the same sensor, many of the lenses used are EF and the camera body is not that smaller in respect to the 5D/6D, what is the REAL advantage in mirror-less cameras? Apart from the mirror part, I don't really see a big difference between them and SLRs. The noise reduction is (in higher IOS) so good that I question the need for f2 or less lenses (which are much heavier - which contradict the idea of light weight gear), depth of filed is much greater issue in high megapixel images where every non-focused area is very evident.

What does strikes me in those images is that they reveal EVERYTHING, even the little spec of "black" left of the mascara after a dip in the water.
I expect, in the long run, that mirrorless will be more reliable due to fewer moving mechanical parts. I’m not sure the models from anyone currently, will see that, because it’s all still fairly new, but ten years from now, it will be different.

It’s like SSDs. Right now, results from companies like Google, Facebook and others who give yearly drive reliability reports, show that SSDs are about as reliable as HDDs, on average. Unexpected for some people, but true. That won’t be truer sometime in the future though.
 
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ahsanford

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Aug 16, 2012
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I have 6L lenses, why should I spend more $$$$ to buy a M camera and adapters for my L lenses ? I just wait for 5DV


Because it can do things the 5D5 cannot. Even if the 5D5 gets a tilt-screen and the EOS R fancy control bar, it will not get the following from the EOS R platform:
  • A $2299 asking price
  • Have AF points all over the frame when using the viewfinder
  • Have a truly silent shutter you can use through the viewfinder
  • The ability to rear CPL / ND some difficult-to-filter EF lenses
  • Adapt a boatload of other mounts' lenses
  • Offer control ring functionality on lenses (including your EF lenses)
  • Be able to use the sexy new RF 50L or 28-70 f/2L (Canon might deliver those in EF someday, but you never know)
  • Manual focusing screens to do what the EOS R can do with manual focus lenses through the viewfinder (could be wrong, but Canon has purged those from the 6D and 5D lines of late)
That may not be a good enough list for you, but it will be for some.

Also, your EF lenses will work brilliantly on the EOS M, and unless you are a real tinkerer, you only need one adaptor. You aren't going to buy one for each lens -- you'll buy one and just leave it on your EOS R.

- A
 
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ahsanford

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Aug 16, 2012
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Bill Claff has updated PTP to include EOS R now:

http://www.photonstophotos.net/Charts/RN_ADU.htm#Canon EOS R

(EOS R is the very last Canon EOS entry on the list, right before the Powershots come up)

Screen Shot 2018-09-11 at 10.22.21 AM.png

Note there is a disclaimer for the Nikon Z7 (also listed there): "The anomolies at ISO 125 and ISO 160 are not likely to be meaningful." I'm assuming the same statement may apply for the EOS R as well.

It's just the read noise for now, so the oft referenced DR plot isn't up yet. But I'll be brave and presume base ISO DR will highly resemble Canon's other 30 MP FF sensor. ;)

- A
 
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I expect, in the long run, that mirrorless will be more reliable due to fewer moving mechanical parts. I’m not sure the models from anyone currently, will see that, because it’s all still fairly new, but ten years from now, it will be different.

It’s like SSDs. Right now, results from companies like Google, Facebook and others who give yearly drive reliability reports, show that SSDs are about as reliable as HDDs, on average. Unexpected for some people, but true. That won’t be truer sometime in the future though.

Well there is the fundamental technical flaw with SLRs, that of a giant mirror box between the sensor and lens. In theory quality lenses should be easier to make and lighter for mirrorless camera which should equal cheaper but I guess this is a first round to scoop up the R&D costs, but we are here getting lighter and smaller for at least equal quality.

I thought this article was clear https://techreport.com/review/34027/why-mirrorless-cameras-are-taking-over-the-world
 
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Keith_Reeder

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Nov 2, 2016
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It's clear speculation, anyway.

The notion that - of itself - simplicity will win over complexity, is fundamentally flawed: a horse and cart is a lot less complex than a modern car; and an abacus much simpler than a laptop - yet look where we are.

MILC needs a USP far more compelling than "easier to make", and it currently doesn't have it.

It’s interesting though. When Apple came up with the Mac, people howled. Way back, I used to teach PC DOS part time, for fun. When macOS came out, people looked for the system config. files, and couldn’t find them. They would yell at how childish the computer was because they couldn’t edit them (while totally screwing up their machine, and calling me to fix it, but some people never learn). But the machine was even more complex. It hid it from the user though, which had it seeming to be simpler, and easier.

The thing is that these more modern cameras are much more complex in software and electronics. They’re even more complex than older, more mechanical models, but seem simpler. Apparent simplicity doesn’t mean operational simplicity, unfortunately, as computerized cameras, as we’ve found out, are ridiculously complex to understand, with far more “features” in the menus that most of us will ever need. Just because something can be done doesn’t mean it should be done.

Mirrorless isn’t simpler at all. It just shifts a necessary, though the lens optical viewing to an electronic, computerized one. The first camera from Canon doesnrvhave all the features of the 5Dmk IV, as some wanted, and expected, but that’s just a particular model version thing.
 
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