Review: New Canon EOS R firmware

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During last month’s announcement of the Canon EOS 90D, Canon EOS M6 Mark II, Canon RF 15-35mm f/2.8L IS USM and Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8L IS USM, Canon also announced a new firmware update coming for the Canon EOS R coming sometime this month.
ThePhoblographer had a chance to review the beta version of the new firmware and came away quite impressed claiming that the autofocus improvements make the EOS R focus comparable to Sony.
From the review:
Further, we were...

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YuengLinger

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People should be far more concerned about Sony. All of that R&D is really harmful to the bottom line.

I wonder if Sony even makes a profit on its camera lines (not selling sensors or lenses – just the bodies).
No, Sony uses its boutiquey camera line to promote its sensors. If you call their tech support with a tough question, you will hear the representative sigh and say, "You do realize these cameras are just window dressing, don't you?"
 
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Dec 13, 2010
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I'm wondering if this is a new trend we will see with mirrorless. It might be possible to more readily tweak some of the underlying software with mirrorless than it was with DLSRs.
Highly plausible I think. Being that the AF is on the sensor and not a separate more locked off sensor and hardware layout.
 
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gbc

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It took ONE reply before someone mentioned the S-word.

Now I can’t wait for this firmware. I find it epic for most of what I do, hopefully the last bit with crazy erratic action gets a bit better.
This will be a boon for music photography. The autofocus in a live music environment has been the part I've found the most lacking with the R so far.
 
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People should be far more concerned about Sony. All of that R&D is really harmful to the bottom line.

I wonder if Sony even makes a profit on its camera lines (not selling sensors or lenses – just the bodies).

Sony's 2018 fiscal year (2018FY), which ended March 31, 2019, saw increased sales of 14.6 billion yen for its Imaging Products and Solutions division for a total of 670.5 billion yen.

“While two percent might not seem impressive, Nikon’s imaging division reported a 17.9 percent decrease while Canon reported an annual decrease of 11.3 percent YOY.” I’m not a financial analysts and I don’t think DPR has one on staff either, but what this means is Sony’s single-lens Cyber-shot and interchangeable lens Alphas are offsetting the continued contraction of the point-and-shoot market.
 
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Highly plausible I think. Being that the AF is on the sensor and not a separate more locked off sensor and hardware layout.

You guys are discussing what's already been the reality for *years* with mirrorless sysstems. Look at Fuji if you want a great example. The evolution of the X-T1 is a good one. The autofocus system was horrible (think EOS-M) upon release. By the end, firmware v4, it matched the performance of the next X-T2 model, strictly through firmware. Similar story with the X-E2. That one got so much better through firmware that they re-branded the newer models as the X-E2S.
 
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As I said in another thread, I wonder if the 90D and the M6II come with these improvements or if they’re limited to the R bodies for product differentiation reasons.

The 90D does on liveview, but with the OVF, its a different system, which felt pretty similar to the 80D to me, other than the framerate. Which is no bad thing obviously.

The M6 II with the VF was noticeable better again, as the 14fps meant that the screen just looks slightly choppy, making it very easy to keep seeing whats going on - it still does on the R, but the lower framerate made it a bit harder - in silent mode its another story, but that still has the caveats about distortion. So far it seems like DPAF is DPAF, as in they're releasing its best version with whatever camera is coming out.
 
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