EOS R first impressions - post your hands-on impressions here

May 4, 2011
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FINALLY can report back after fiddling with a demo model in-store for about a half-hour or so...keep in mind these are first impressions only and NOT necessarily final thoughts or review comments...

Mixed feelings about the camera overall. There are some things I agree with the early reviewers about, such as the camera feeling good in the hand, but there are others I disagree with, mainly the EVF - a lot of people were saying it's really good, and perhaps it is by EVF standards - don't have enough experience with them personally - but it still does not compare to a good old optical viewfinder in my honest opinion. That being said, however, I did appreciate the "live" exposure preview and depth-of-field preview you get with EVFs.

My first thoughts among actually seeing it. It is somewhat larger than I had hoped. Still smaller than a 5D but not a small camera by any means. It looks to be close to the size (footprint) of an 80D, with a thinner body but similar-size grip. The positive is that the camera felt comfortable to hold (with the 24-105) and use, even though my hands are on the large side.

I found out within seconds of shooting my first shots with it that there is a learning curve to using this camera, even being a long-time Canon shooter of their DSLRs and M-series cameras. I'm used to being able to pick up a new Canon camera, dial in settings and run off, but I had to figure things out on this one. As for the touch-bar, I have to put myself in the camp that doesn't care for it much. Like I said, I have larger hands and I found I was accidentally activating it when gripping it normally. In addition to that, I found it to be a bit laggy...which brings me to the shooting experience with the R. I found the touch-and-drag AF point function to be laggy as well...and when switched to "absolute" mode, not only was it laggy, but jumpy as well. However, shooting with the screen in "live view" mode, it's great. Screen is really nice, with a good refresh rate - silent mode is awesome, touch is responsive just like on the M cameras. The viewfinder shooting experience is not as good currently, but I think it may be something that may be able to be improved with future firmware updates.

AF experience - no significant issues with speed, seemed pretty quick, at least with the 24-105 stock lens - accuracy I found to be average, no better than a DSLR at least (disappointing). But maybe I just need to test it more first. Servo tracking, I need to test it more extensively to be sure but I wasn't very impressed during my quick test. Then again, adjustments may have been needed, so final judgment reserved there.

Image quality (with 24-105) - OK. Images I found to be a bit softer than I'm used to seeing from this class of camera, and even compared to the 5D4. But that may be more indicative of the lens (and its lack of sharpness at 105mm f4) than anything else. More testing needed, particularly with a better lens like the RF 50 1.2.

Misc:

- You cannot (at least that I know of) set the camera to operate like a DSLR, i.e., you use the viewfinder to take the shot with the screen off, and use the screen ONLY to view the image and have it switch off again. So you're either stuck with the camera in "permanent live view mode", or you must disable the screen and view EVERYTHING (including menus) through the viewfinder.

- In silent shooting mode, a couple notes. First, a white box appears to let the photographer know a pic has been taken and recorded. It is TRULY silent - meaning no sounds from the camera body at all. However, it does not take much movement at all to introduce distortion (rolling shutter effect). Shooting during slow panning is enough! Someone standing relatively still, perhaps moving only slightly, it works really well though. And, as we all know, only single-shot mode works.

- Don't know what Canon was thinking when they removed the click wheel in the back around the Q/SET button. The 6D2 has one...even my M6 has one...therefore, another adjustment of "muscle memory" required if shooting this camera along with a 5D or 6D or M5/M6. I usually have that set to aperture (in M mode).

I still think the camera, and the RF series in general, has great potential. It's clear that this is where the future lies. But as it stands, I would not replace a 5D4 with this...or a 5D3 for that matter. IMHO, the speed/responsiveness is just not there yet. A few somewhat puzzling decisions (e.g., lack of mode dial, reduction in buttons), and lag-time on switching AF points, slow down the operation of the camera compared to a 5D series and therefore if I need to get the shot, I'd still rather have a 5D in hand than an R. All that said, however, I'm still considering one as a travel camera/situations where speed isn't critical. In this case the R would complement rather than replace existing cameras. Some of the issues I pointed out may be able to be pinned down/worked around with more time with the camera, while others will need to be fixed in EOS R version 2.0 (or a new firmware release).
 
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Jan 21, 2015
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I've got my camera today and i discovered that it has:
  • No stabilization in camera stabilization. OK, so when using one of the 3 adapters to use your existing Canon glass, if the lens doesn’t have IS then you have zero access to IS. Compatibility factor just took a hit here.
  • One SD card slot.
  • No joy stick to set AF.
  • No continuous shooting in silent at launch – however we’re told it will be addressed in future firmware update.
  • You can shoot 8 FPS in one shot, the only issue is ….that is in one shot…in continuous IAF to 5 frames upto 47 raw files in a row.
  • Video: Not Full Frame 4K video. The 4K is cropped.
I Should Have Known Better that something was not right because it was not back-ordered at all :)

You ordered something that costs > 2K and knew so little about it? Even basic specs? :eek:
 
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Nov 12, 2016
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What I like:

-Seems to focus at least as well as a 5DIV in low light.
-EF adapter seems to work almost flawlessly, except the camera got a little glitchy once with a 50mm 1.0L on it. But, you know, nobody cares about that lens any more.
-The touch and drag autofocus point selection I think could be very useful with some practice.
-The shutter closes when you turn off the camera. YES, Canon, this is how it should work. Why everyone else leaves the sensor wide open and susceptible to dust during lens changes baffles me.
-It's a minor thing, but the knurled metal dials feel so much more solid and seem easier to grip onto and turn than the soft rubber ones ever did.

What I'm a little unsure of:

-Battery life is definitely not what you get from a DSLR. But, admittedly, my first time using the camera, I was probably messing around in the menus way more than I would normally.
-Is it just me, or is the single point autofocus point on a 5DIV smaller and more precise than the one on the EOS R? However, I noticed that there was a setting to change the size of the one on the EOS R to "small," and I think it's about as small as the point on a 5DIV now.

What I don't like:

-The way the camera forces using the rear display for live view shooting on you. I want to only use the display for menus and photo review, not shooting. However it doesn't seem like there's any way to shut off the display, to not use it for live view shooting. The only things close I found were to either set the viewfinder to display toggling to manual, which is cumbersome, or to set up a button dedicated to turning off the display, or setting it to a 15 second timeout. However when you do put the display to sleep, it seems like it takes a little longer for the EVF to turn back on when you bring the camera up to your face. What I want is something like a 0 second timeout on the display when shooting. ie, the display just shuts off when shooting, but it will still turn on to review photos or go through menus, as it would on a DSLR, and without putting the whole camera into a sort of sleep mode the way it seems to now.
-Does anyone else notice that when taking a photo, the EVF seems to flash brightly? This is using the conventional shutter. It's weird and disorienting.
-The electronic level in the EVF is very obtrusive and there doesn't seem to be a way to move it or make it smaller. I want one that's more subtle, like the viewfinder level in the 5DIV. It's small and up at the top of the frame... It's there when I need it, but easily ignored when I don't. However it is nice that the one on the EOS R is lit up since it's an EVF. The one of the 5DIV is completely invisible in low light.
 
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koenkooi

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Feb 25, 2015
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The reason it flashes bright is because it focuses wide open, so if you’re shooting at f4 and focus it jumps to a wider aperture for focus, but keep the DOF preview as much as possible. I like that, because other mirrorless focus stopped down, which I hate intensely :cool:

I've seen a few mentions that it will focus stopped-down up to F5.6 and open up for focussing if you have set an aperture smaller than F5.6. The manual doesn't seem to mention the "Focus wide open" feature at all nor contain any mention of F5.6, besides the Av explanation pictures, so can anyone with an EOS R check if the focus is always at maximum aperture or up to F5.6?
 
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Dec 13, 2010
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I've seen a few mentions that it will focus stopped-down up to F5.6 and open up for focussing if you have set an aperture smaller than F5.6. The manual doesn't seem to mention the "Focus wide open" feature at all nor contain any mention of F5.6, besides the Av explanation pictures, so can anyone with an EOS R check if the focus is always at maximum aperture or up to F5.6?
I think I’ve read wide open or “wide enough”.

I hardly ever shoot smaller than f2.0 ...
 
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Nov 12, 2016
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The reason it flashes bright is because it focuses wide open, so if you’re shooting at f4 and focus it jumps to a wider aperture for focus, but keep the DOF preview as much as possible. I like that, because other mirrorless focus stopped down, which I hate intensely :cool:
No, this is when shooting wide open, so your explanation doesn't make sense in this case. It's also right when taking the photo, not when focusing.

Does no one else see a bright flash in the EVF right when taking a photo?
 
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May 4, 2011
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-Is it just me, or is the single point autofocus point on a 5DIV smaller and more precise than the one on the EOS R? However, I noticed that there was a setting to change the size of the one on the EOS R to "small," and I think it's about as small as the point on a 5DIV now.

No, it’s not just you - normal AF point on the R is identical to the AF point in Live View on the 5D4, which is larger than a conventional DSLR viewfinder AF point. In fact, that was one of the first things I did upon testing out the R; change the AF point size to small.
 
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I used it this weekend. I really liked it, but I think I need to practice a little with it. I used the multistrip to set to change autofocus method and did find that I would hit it, so I set it to lock with the lock button on top. I kind of like the FV mode, however sometimes I would accidentally reset to auto everything and when you change shutter to auto and start changing back to manual on it, it starts at 30 seconds and it has a long way to go back to a value I would actually use. I have C1 and C2 modes as FV with particular shutter speed s (1/2000 and 1/100) making easy to go to those by pressing mode and selecting those modes. I had some problems with flash because I was not used to using flash on mirrorless I was unsure if the flash actually fired. I gave up on it quickly. It did after I looked at the file when I got home and looked at the files. I have now set up C3 mode for flash. I will need to test this out. One thing I really like is that on the 6D, it was a chore to switch to video having to change settings switch the video setting on camera than when done switch everything back. On this camera, you can press the record button on top. It takes a video and stops when you hit it again and goes back to photos settings. This is convenient for a person like me who might want a quick video clip but shoots mostly stills. Below are two images. The bottom uses Yougnou Flash
45279318332_eb56935dd1_z.jpg44415741275_74fc18906d_z.jpg
 
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Nov 12, 2016
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No, it’s not just you - normal AF point on the R is identical to the AF point in Live View on the 5D4, which is larger than a conventional DSLR viewfinder AF point. In fact, that was one of the first things I did upon testing out the R; change the AF point size to small.
Yeah, I was relieved to find the setting to shrink its size. Even the "small" point seems to be a little larger than a DSLR point, especially with the DSLR point set to small. Really wish I could go even smaller with the EOS R single point. That's why I'm setting it to a single point, I want to be able to focus on one thing precisely.
 
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Nov 12, 2016
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Yes, but the "small" focus points on the EOS R still seem larger and less precise than the points in the viewfinder of a 5DIV.

Anyway, I used the EOS R again last night. I'm really torn. It definitely seems to be able to focus better in low light than the 5DIV. But the EVF still adds a level of being disconnected from what's going on in front of me that really hinders getting a good shot in a dynamic and fast moving situation.

The EVF seems to lag a little bit when focusing. And every third time or so that I half-press the shutter button, the EVF bogs down and gets very laggy. It's almost like sometimes the camera can't focus and keep a smooth feed going to the EVF at the same time. This also seems to be when that bright flash I talked about happens. Like if I half-press the shutter button multiple times in a row, all of a sudden the EVF flashes bright and gets very laggy. It's weird and it makes me wish for an OVF.

However, the freedom to move the AF point anywhere on the screen is nice. It will take some getting used to, but I think it could be a real benefit.

So I really don't know how I feel about this camera. In some ways it lets me do more than my 5DIV, in other ways it feels like it gets in the way of being able to get a good shot.
 
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Dec 13, 2010
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Yes, but the "small" focus points on the EOS R still seem larger and less precise than the points in the viewfinder of a 5DIV.

Anyway, I used the EOS R again last night. I'm really torn. It definitely seems to be able to focus better in low light than the 5DIV. But the EVF still adds a level of being disconnected from what's going on in front of me that really hinders getting a good shot in a dynamic and fast moving situation.

The EVF seems to lag a little bit when focusing. And every third time or so that I half-press the shutter button, the EVF bogs down and gets very laggy. It's almost like sometimes the camera can't focus and keep a smooth feed going to the EVF at the same time. This also seems to be when that bright flash I talked about happens. Like if I half-press the shutter button multiple times in a row, all of a sudden the EVF flashes bright and gets very laggy. It's weird and it makes me wish for an OVF.

However, the freedom to move the AF point anywhere on the screen is nice. It will take some getting used to, but I think it could be a real benefit.

So I really don't know how I feel about this camera. In some ways it lets me do more than my 5DIV, in other ways it feels like it gets in the way of being able to get a good shot.
Have you tried all the different EVF settings? There is a setting to make it faster for action and a way to slow it down to save battery.
 
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Nov 12, 2016
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Yes, this is with the power saving mode off.

Let me be clear, this is not just "oh the EVF is a little laggy all the time," this is like something happens within the camera, usually focusing, and the EVF just completely bogs down for a second, like the camera just can't keep up with whatever it's doing and also keep a smooth feed going to the EVF.
 
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vaotix

EOS R, 80D
Sep 4, 2018
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So I finally got my lens adapter and am now able to adapt my EF lenses. I shot a few test shots last night and plan to take the camera out today after work to really get a feel for it. But so far I'm loving it. Just some minor nitpicks I have with it. The camera is super customizable (more than I ever thought I'd see from Canon), but the lack of some options on some dials is annoying. Why can't I make the dial around the mode button be an exposure comp dial? You can set the control ring on the lens/adapter to exposure comp but not the dial? Seems silly. Currently, I have the Fn bar set to ISO, the control ring set to aperture, and the top dial set to shutter speed. Not sure what to do with the last one because all the options it gives me are redundant.

Anyway, these are minor nitpicks. I can't complain too much. Image quality is a huge step up from my crop 80D. The camera feels incredible in the hand. And the EVF is fantastic so far.
 
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Mar 25, 2011
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Have you tried all the different EVF settings? There is a setting to make it faster for action and a way to slow it down to save battery.
I have not tried the EVF settings. I seldom photograph action photos where I have to track, so one shot works for that, and the EVF is not really a factor so far. I do low light photography, so I will want to see how good AF is, but my 5D MK UV focused ok, so the R should be as good or better. I have lots of things going on right now (and always, it seems), so I hope to try my 100-400L. I'm pretty sure my 70-200 MK II will be fine.

I'm thinking that the camera may do well for macro shots, so I want to try handheld shots there as well.
 
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May 4, 2011
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Yes, but the "small" focus points on the EOS R still seem larger and less precise than the points in the viewfinder of a 5DIV.

Anyway, I used the EOS R again last night. I'm really torn. It definitely seems to be able to focus better in low light than the 5DIV. But the EVF still adds a level of being disconnected from what's going on in front of me that really hinders getting a good shot in a dynamic and fast moving situation.

The EVF seems to lag a little bit when focusing. And every third time or so that I half-press the shutter button, the EVF bogs down and gets very laggy. It's almost like sometimes the camera can't focus and keep a smooth feed going to the EVF at the same time. This also seems to be when that bright flash I talked about happens. Like if I half-press the shutter button multiple times in a row, all of a sudden the EVF flashes bright and gets very laggy. It's weird and it makes me wish for an OVF.

However, the freedom to move the AF point anywhere on the screen is nice. It will take some getting used to, but I think it could be a real benefit.

So I really don't know how I feel about this camera. In some ways it lets me do more than my 5DIV, in other ways it feels like it gets in the way of being able to get a good shot.

I feel like that has happened to me before with the M-series cameras...the screen can get laggy in low-light, especially when using a flash...and there is also significant shutter lag. That being said, it sounds like what you are describing with the flashing EVF is probably a bug (or “phenomenon” as Canon calls it).

I’d be curious to get your thoughts on general low-light AF performance. Not in tracking fast subjects, but more in a social-type setting with posed portraits/candid shots.
 
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Dec 13, 2010
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Didn’t notice any lag or flashing so far.

But can someone comment on the low light AF? I’ve tried with the 85 L IS with the standard adapter in it’s not even close to locking in low light... I had to expand the AF area to zone, nothing else would lock. And it was only in my kitchen, nowhere near -6, -4, -2 ev at all...
 
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