I bit the bullet recently, had a trip to Japan planned and for a while I have been feeling not too enthusiastic about lugging my 5 series SLR and lens around with me, even for day trips in my town and for a few years now Ive been feeling it was having a negative impact on my photography, so have been eyeing mirrorless for a while but wasn't impressed with EVF offerings at the time and they all seemed a bit too dinky back in day.
I have a 5D MkIII after owning all previous 5 series but hesitated with the MkIV due to cost as I am not a professional, but was watching the price each month anyway. I guess the upgrade itch was there in the background. The EOS R was released at an attractive price point, I felt the EOS 5D range was starting to get a bit carried away after the original. The initial negative reaction to the EOS R specs, didnt impact me too much, I don't shoot video and in all my 10+ years I have not needed to use a backup memory card slot. I felt a bit more cautious about the lower spec weather sealing however. So overall it felt a good time to upgrade especially with the revolution of the RF mount. I bought the EOS R during my trip and plan to sell my 5 series and EF lenses to recoup the cost. I paired the EOS R with a 50mm 1.4 EF via Canon adapter and later the 35mm RF (it was released later in my holiday so had to buy both).
First thought when doing a trial in the shop (but had sort of made my mind up already so would have to be pretty bad to put me off) was the EVF was pretty and attractive but with a noticeable queasy lag when panning, I guessed the indoor low light was causing it (later discovered you can trade battery for EVF responsiveness). And wow the EVF displaying the preview really messes with your head, especially while walking! I turned that off eventually too.
Second thought, EVF start up lag... hmmm would have thought they would have ironed that out by now especially after hearing people describe it as instant. There is a lag once everything has gone to sleep to save power and you press the trigger and wait and the photo moment has gone. Probably the biggest disappointment at the moment as I like street photography. To compensate I found myself half-pressing the shutter release now and then while walking trying to pre-empt photos, not ideal. I did turn off power saving mode and set the sensor not to turn off but after an hour or two my camera turned into a small nuclear reactor. Haven't played around further but would be nice if there was a sweet spot that veered more to EVF alterness at the sacrifice for a touch more power but say have it sleep once it hits a certain temp. Maybe a firmware request?
Third thought, ouch the battery! Power consumption is in a different league to SLRs (which in turn were in a different league to my EOS 3 film camera!). I guess I hadnt put much thought into it as it took me completely by surprise and left me without power for a part of the day. I quickly bought a second battery (the new version for the EOS R - they can use USB-C charging via a PD spec'ed power bank for future). Two batteries saw me through each subsequent day but I had to get into a routine of daily charging which could be a problem in more remote adventures. Something I'm not sure about yet, I guess it is a wide-symptom of the electronic age. The battery pack would be one solution but I can't see getting more than a couple of days out of it and you end up with an SLR sized camera to boot. What would a solution be for a week trek say?
Forth thought, ergonomics... felt good in the hand, surprising weight to it too so I think saving on size is probably more the big impact. Button and options-wise.. hmm it took some getting used to, not like my transition from film then through the 5D series, I was particularly disturbed by the AF point selection and Exposure Compensation but eventually settled on absolute & top-right of the touch screen for AF points. However I can't reach the far left easily with my thumb (I like to jump to the extremes for rule of third compositions) so hope they make an even smaller area option! I would have liked to be able to turn off the back display and just have it active as a touch control of the AF as I am now paranoid about battery consumption! Came across the freaky AF point resetting to the bottom right/left corner a few times and thought it was my nose or something, relieved to hear it is a bug. That brings me onto to resetting the AF selection point to centre, really wish there was another option other than pressing the delete button, it is far too much of a thumb stretch and just doesnt feel seemless. Loved pressing in the joystick on the 5D to do that, maybe a touch and hold on the touch screen could do something similar in future?
I had hoped the touch bar thing would control Exposure Compensation as it was the most obvious thing when I looked at it, so for me it remains un-used. I find the back dial a bit awkward for exposure compensation and although my 35mm RF has the dial assigned for that I find it a bit strange to have a huge dial for jogging between + - 1~2 but as yet it doesnt feel natural to reach for the lens, especially as my EF lenses do not have the extra dial (i went for the basic adapter). Not fussed about the mode dial people have mentioned before, I tend to stick to AV mode and only need to change on specific occasions when I would be setting up other aspects of the camera anyway.
Fifth thought, mmm the photos do look good especially in the glowing EVF. I could sense a noticeable leap in DR from my MKIII and I didnt have to worry so much about trying to do HDR stuff (ie two RAW shots) as I could see I could push and pull easily. Back home and viewing on a 4K screen in Lightroom, the images are fantastic, loving the sharpness and noticeable detail increase and dynamic range. This is from the low range 50mm 1.4f EF with adapter and non-pro 35mm RF. Imagine what the other lenses are like! I do appreciate the larger pixel quantity as even if I rarely crop I love to zoom in on details and scan over photos, especially landscapes and city scenes, so I can imagine myself being tempted 3 years down the line upgrading in future if they bring out higher pixel models now they no longer have the problem with mirror vibrations.
Which brings me onto my Sixth thought, especially with the 35mm RF lens it makes for a great walk-around/travel camera, especially for packing into a bag, so it certainly ticks the main priority of the purchase. I threw on a Black Rapid "street" strap as the Canon strap was horrible and cut into my neck as there is still a fair weight to the camera, I`ll probably save my full-width Black Rapid I use on my 5D for when I buy a larger lens for the EOS R.
Last thought, hang on does the EOS R have exposure associated with AF point?! Obviously the world would be on fire if it really did, but I am pretty sure as I use the touch pad to move the focus point around, the exposure changes, or is that just the EVF adjusting its visibility based on focus point? Maybe Canon accidently forgot to disable that £xxxxx feature on my model