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

[SereneSpeed]

In most of the cameras the 2nd card slot is slower. Typically people store there jpg... and this backup is given...

"Typically" - based on what? I've read that on the internet, but never observed it in person.

I don't know anybody who uses both card slots and doesn't shoot RAW to both. Now, that's limited to the photographers I know...

And again:

No 2nd SD card slot needed due wifi backup for instant sharing

Yes, a second card slot is needed for backup. Or, Canon needs to allow redundant RAW transfer. Backups should not be confused with "instant sharing". JPEGs are not 'backup' for any photographer I know who is concerned about backing up images.

 

[Deleted member 7828]

So last night I played around with the R RAW files a bit more and noticed something...

I feel like the files process very differently from the 5D4. Even though both cameras are soft (IMO) at default settings - the R perhaps a bit more so - at least based off the pool of shots I’ve analyzed with the 24-105, I feel the R files take sharpening adjustments better than the 5D4 files do, with fewer artifacts produced, particularly in OOF areas. This leads to an overall “cleaner” output which I mostly enjoyed from my old 5D3 as well as my 5DSR (with 85 1.4). I almost always sharpen 5D4 files and especially once I turn NR down (to recover some detail) the images can get blotchy sometimes, particularly at high ISOs. The R files seem to be a bit more resistant to this phenomenon, but probably needs more testing and with different lenses and ISO settings for me to be confident in these findings. Note that this is full-size RAW I’m speaking of - have not tried CRAW yet.

Very encouraging development, would like to dig into this further...Nevermind. I think the R files do take sharpening better than 5D4 files - but R files are softer OOC, which contributes to this. Breaking point seems to be similar, but on R files this may be at a setting of 8 or 9 instead of 5 or 6 on the 5D4.

 

[dak723]

"Typically" - based on what? I've read that on the internet, but never observed it in person.

I don't know anybody who uses both card slots and doesn't shoot RAW to both. Now, that's limited to the photographers I know...

And again:


Yes, a second card slot is needed for backup. Or, Canon needs to allow redundant RAW transfer. Backups should not be confused with "instant sharing". JPEGs are not 'backup' for any photographer I know who is concerned about backing up images.

I have two cards on my Olympus. One records RAW, the other JPG. I am concerned about backing up my images. Now you know at least one photographer who doesn't need RAW backup.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I record jpegs to the 2nd card as well. They are for emergency backups, and I've never had to use one since I started with a dual card 1D MK II many many years ago I use a large card so I may swap out the CF card when full, my SD card is big enough to hold all the backup jpegs for a shoot of thousands of images. I have heard of people saving raw images to both cards, but they quickly learn that they can't do a high FPS when doing it that way.

Its fine for people to use that second card as they want, some use it as a extended memory, when card 1 is full, then the camera switches to card 2. There is no right or wrong, just the work flow that a person prefers.

 

[GMCPhotographics]

In most of the cameras the 2nd card slot is slower. Typically people store there jpg... and this backup is given...

But if you do that, the RAW / JPEG buffer is limited to the throughput of the slowest card. Which means less continuous shooting until the buffer is cleared and the cards are written to. My 5DIII's buffer drops to about 5 frames if I write anything to the SD card. I belive the mk4 is similar in this regard. Great...it's got 2 card slots...oh bugger...I loose half my buffer if I use them both....

 

[JoFT]

But if you do that, the RAW / JPEG buffer is limited to the throughput of the slowest card. Which means less continuous shooting until the buffer is cleared and the cards are written to. My 5DIII's buffer drops to about 5 frames if I write anything to the SD card. I belive the mk4 is similar in this regard. Great...it's got 2 card slots...oh bugger...I loose half my buffer if I use them both....

And my experience was even worse: If you want to do backup for video - that doesn't work either...

 

[GMCPhotographics]

And my experience was even worse: If you want to do backup for video - that doesn't work either...

For me as a stills photographer...I can't see any real world value in a 2nd slot other than extra card capacity. But soon as the 2nd card is engaged...the buffer drops and the write speed to the card is a lot slower. Hey ho...
My primary photographic needs are Versatility first. Which is why I'm currently using a pair of 5DIII's. One of my cams is up for replacement next year...so it'll be a tough choice between a heavily discounted mk4 vs a "new to the market premium" Eos R. The AF on the 5D series is already sufficient. But the low light abilities of the Eos R are very useful. For low light weddings...it'll be a boon shooting first dances in Winter. I've already shot available light in cathedral crypts by candle light...with a pair of MkII's...so it's a marginal benefit when I've already got my fast primes. The other point of interest for me is the ability to use rear filters on EF lenses like a 11-24L, 8-15L fisheye and TS-e17L. That's a massive benefit where serous landscapes are concerned. In fact that one feature might swing this camera for me...in landscape work. But it depends how good the camera is in more general use....and for Wildlife. I regularly use my 5DIII's with a 400mm f2.8 LIS...and I can capture Puffins in flight with it...so I'll need to see how well the R does in that regard. I also don't like to have different cameras for different roles, which is why I never went 1D series. I like a pair of identical cameras with the same User Interface. So for me an Eos R will need to excel in all of my photographic needs...not just one or two. What I love about the 5D series...is that it's just SO versatile...it can shoot anything.

 

[GMCPhotographics]

Yesterday I went to Wex in Norwich, who have several copies of the Eos 5 on display. I spent around 20 mins playing with the camera using some of my lenses and the new RF 24-105. My initial thoughts where..."this feels like a posh digicam". I was shocked how different the UI was and how far removed from the Canon DSLR interface it was. Actually it felt like I was picking up a camera from a different brand...it was THAT far removed. The EVF was a lot better than I thought it would be. It had a lot more contrast than the usual glass viewfinder...and it showed exactly what was going to be shot with the simulated exposure. It also showed the real dof...most DSLR viewfinders are DOF limited to around f3.2-4 due to micro lenses on the viewfinder screen. But, under florescent shop lighting...it seemed to flicker a bit and I would get eye strain if I used it a lot. The rear LCD screen was nice and it's the first touch screen swivel unit I've used...I like that feature a lot. The sensor and IQ look great...and the WB and metering look excellent. BUT....I hated the camera...the eye controlled AF was very hit and miss. It often swapped eyes and wouldn't stick to what I wanted. The face AF tracking was fine at f4...but pretty awful at f1.4 (35L). When fitting an EF lens to the body using the adapter, there wasn't any movement or slop in the mounts...but it did make my lenses feel excessively large on the camera. My 135L felt huge and more obtrusive than on my Current 5DIII...which I didn't expect.
So in conclusion...my buying decision...is that while this new camera offers a lot of new features and ideas....it's still a very immature product. At the moment, my purchasing decisions will be in the 5D line. But I might buy a 2nd hand Eos 5 to play with in about a year, but at the moment...it's not the camera for me, which is a pity and surprise. I really wanted this camera to appeal to me more.

 

[Viggo]

I have no issues with face tracking at all, I even tried with my daughter on a swing yesterday where I know for a fact the 1dx2 struggles horribly.. I had more keepers with face tracking, and no issues with single point either, in 5 minutes that I had with the 1d in a whole summer lol. Shot with 5fps, but took just one at the time, and with the 85 f1.4 L. It’s just so nice to not have to shoot 14 fps just to make sure I at least have something, the R is what I always wanted in an AF-system..

 

[Larsskv]

I have no issues with face tracking at all, I even tried with my daughter on a swing yesterday where I know for a fact the 1dx2 struggles horribly.. I had more keepers with face tracking, and no issues with single point either, in 5 minutes that I had with the 1d in a whole summer lol. Shot with 5fps, but took just one at the time, and with the 85 f1.4 L. It’s just so nice to not have to shoot 14 fps just to make sure I at least have something, the R is what I always wanted in an AF-system..

Same here! Face tracking in AI Servo works amazingly well. There is no doubt I get more keepers of my child moving around with the EOS R than the 1DXII, and it is soo much easier, since I don’t need to concentrate on having the AF point on her eye, while framing and getting the best moment.

I do prefer the optical viewfinder, especially when I am out in daylight, and I do prefer the overall feel, use and handling of the 5DIV and 1DXII. At the same time, I am convinced that the EOS R is way better in getting the shot, in perfect focus, especially when coupled with large aperture primes.

 

[Deleted member 7828]

How are you guys setting up servo on the R? When I tested it I was getting extremely mixed (ok, mediocre) results.

 

[Viggo]

How are you guys setting up servo on the R? When I tested it I was getting extremely mixed (ok, mediocre) results.

I do what I always do, place the tracking settings as their own option in My Menu so I have easy access to them. I then remove all zone AF options and keep single point, with 4 and 8 expansion and perhaps the face tracking to test it when the shots doesn’t really matter.

The R is the first camera ever, where I can use Release priority and don’t miss any shots, so I haven’t bothered with focus priority and get my excellent focused 5 fps.

Oh! And most important, disable silent LV shooting and use normal mechanical shutter.

 

[Deleted member 7828]

I do what I always do, place the tracking settings as their own option in My Menu so I have easy access to them. I then remove all zone AF options and keep single point, with 4 and 8 expansion and perhaps the face tracking to test it when the shots doesn’t really matter.

The R is the first camera ever, where I can use Release priority and don’t miss any shots, so I haven’t bothered with focus priority and get my excellent focused 5 fps.

Oh! And most important, disable silent LV shooting and use normal mechanical shutter.

Aha! I'll try to remember to disable that the next time I have a chance to get hands on with an R. (Although it shouldn't affect anything beyond perhaps the banding issues in low light?)

 

[killswitch]

I finally had the chance to test out the new EOS R at a local BestBuy for half an hour. I currently own the 5D3 and using a borrowed 5D4 for last couple of days. I also had 60D before all of this and always thought fllppy-screen is a great feature (often under-rated) for landscape, and situations that require high or low angles without breaking the back. I missed it on the 5D on every shoot. I have also used Nikon D7000 and D810. Here's my initial impression of EOS R and questions

Great
1. Grip and build quality - Having held all the camera bodes mentioned above, I was not sure what to expect. I had the chance to feel 5D4, 6DII, A7RIII, A7III side by side. Definitely a lot lighter and pfft, easily the best grip than any of Sony's. Super comfy and felt like a baby 6DII.

2. AF Tracking - Pretty smooth and fluid, although I feel 5D4 tracks faster, and perhaps the refresh rate on the EVF makes it appear to have a very slight lag? I dont know. But it tracked subject well.

3. EVF Information Display - Simple and intuitive. Everything felt elegant and not cluttered with excessive text or icons.

4. RF 24-105 F4 L w/ body - Felt solid and fairly compact. I hope the can manage to make the RF 24-70 F2.8 IS similar in size. Wishful thinking.

5. Control ring - felt great but I think one will need to get used to it as it is on the far end of the lens barrel so a slight adjustment on how you hold the lens + camera with your left palm.

6. AF tracking + selection with Flippy screen - Pretty nice, but I feel it can be faster.

The Bad or Could Be Better
1. AF selection using touch screen - Unless I am doing this wrong, there is no way to select the far left AF points even if you position the "AF window" to the top right corner of the screen. My thumb just could not reach far left region of the "top right" AF window section. The only way is to use the Relative mode so you can swipe multiple times to pan the AF point around. With Absolute mode it is not possible unless you let go of the grip a bit to stretch the thumb all the way whether it is using the whole screen or the "top right" corner. Also for extreme cold weather I dont see anyway this is usable, I aint taking my gloves off. D-pad is the only option left =(

2. AF-ON button should be where the M-FN bar is. It is cramped to the right corner too much.

3. No wheel, instead a dial on the top. When reviewing photo your thumb will naturally position where the wheel is on 5D4. On the EOS R I have to let go of the grip in order for the thumb to reach the top dial. Assuming you grip the body such that the screen facing up towards you and you looking down at it when reviewing photo after taking the shot.

4. M-FN Bar is cool but I feel a subtle tactile feedback would make it nice.

5. On/Off switch - Probably the worse design decision and waste of precious real-estate.

Overall I would sell my 5D3 and get this but I am in no hurry and want to see what they do with the next 2 that is supposedly due next year. Seeing bundled prices and discounts already, so hopefully near Black Friday and Xmas it will heat up even more. I feel Canon got it mostly right. If they can match the AF (Eye + Face) tracking speed with SERVO, I will buy it right away. They will need 2 generations or so to sort out the ergonomics and button layout, it is just a matter of time.

Please feel free to correct me as I may be wrong in my assessment in some aspects as I merely intended to get a general feel of the handling and how my hand naturally tried to place or move around using the camera.

 

[jolyonralph]

I've been using my R for 4 days now and I have to say I'm impressed.

Good things are that the autofocus performance both with the R 24-105 and with adapted lenses (16-35 f/4 and 70-200 f/2.8 IS II) is superb.

The body is smaller than I was expecting, only fractionally larger than the A7RII, but grip is good. I can shoot single handedly with the 70-200 attached, which is harder on the A7RII.

The viewfinder is superb. I've been using it at night and today on the beach in full sunshine. It performed perfectly both times, you forget you're using an EVF.

I've got two batteries, but so far I haven't needed to change the battery during the day. Your usage may be higher than mine of course.

The EF-RF adaptor is weather sealed, which is great.

The best thing though is the write speed to card. I am using a 64GB Sandisk UHS-II card rated at 300mb/s and the buffer clear time is absolutely astonishing. I don't ever want go back to expensive CF or CFast cards when UHS-II is now much cheaper (and of course you can use slower SD cards if necessary and they're ridiculously cheap.

If you have an R and haven't got a UHS-II card yet, I suggest you invest, you won't be disappointed.

The control arrangement is fine. I am happy with the new mode switch arrangement, and it makes sense when switching between video and still modes. I haven't used the swipe bar thing yet, but I'm sure I will given time.


Negatives:

My biggest gripe is a tiny but irritating one. The rear caps for the RF lenses can only be fitted on at one orientation, so you have to align the mark on the cap with the red dot on the lens. This is very frustrating if you're trying to change lenses quickly.

It doesn't seem that the face/eye detection is as reliable yet as on the Sony. I need to wait until I can get all the raw files into Lightroom and see how well it actually did, but there were many times I thought it should have locked on and it didn't appear to.

Other than that, I can't really fault the camera. It does everything well.

I'd like one with two slots, with higher resolution, with IBIS and no AA filter. But that will come, I'm sure. In the meantime, this is going to take over as my primary camera.

 

[Viggo]

Aha! I'll try to remember to disable that the next time I have a chance to get hands on with an R. (Although it shouldn't affect anything beyond perhaps the banding issues in low light?)

No, it affects the ability to freeze action. With any silent LV or silent mode enabled I couldn’t get sharp shots with any movement, including camera shake, no matter the shutter speed. I hated the output of the camera until I actually disabled anything silent. It now works properly. Never saw any banding except with flash use, which is still there no matter what I do. I spoke to Broncolor and the plainly said they had no intention of fixing it, gee, thanks, Bron

 

[SereneSpeed]

No, it affects the ability to freeze action. With any silent LV or silent mode enabled I couldn’t get sharp shots with any movement, including camera shake, no matter the shutter speed. I hated the output of the camera until I actually disabled anything silent. It now works properly. Never saw any banding except with flash use, which is still there no matter what I do. I spoke to Broncolor and the plainly said they had no intention of fixing it, gee, thanks, Bron

I forgot that you had banding even with silent mechanical shutter disabled. Have you tried with any other flash to confirm it's just bronclolor?

I found out last week that ETTL with Youngnuo yn600rt's on camera is useless. But with the yn-e3-rt, they work fine. Strange.

With the Godox v860iic the eTTL is prefect for about 90% of the images and then shoots lowest power for no discernible reason for the other 10%.

The joys of early adoption.

Glad you got the softness issue sorted out.

 

[Viggo]

I forgot that you had banding even with silent mechanical shutter disabled. Have you tried with any other flash to confirm it's just bronclolor?

I found out last week that ETTL with Youngnuo yn600rt's on camera is useless. But with the yn-e3-rt, they work fine. Strange.

With the Godox v860iic the eTTL is prefect for about 90% of the images and then shoots lowest power for no discernible reason for the other 10%.

The joys of early adoption.

Glad you got the softness issue sorted out.

Thanks

I haven’t tried with any other flash, but I have tried other triggers and the result is the same, and the Northrup’s also mentioned this issue, not sure what they use for studiolight...

Hopefully Canon can adress it in a firmware upgrade. Otherwise I just need to be extremely careful ( I usually am) to get everything spot on in camera when using flash...

 

[Viggo]

Just found a better way to set up my Touch Bar.

I have Kelvin adjustment with sliding. And touch right I have the Histogram and touch left I have the Level. That works so much better than using the info button to toggle histogram and level in the viewfinder.

 

[Don Haines]

Just found a better way to set up my Touch Bar.

I have Kelvin adjustment with sliding. And touch right I have the Histogram and touch left I have the Level. That works so much better than using the info button to toggle histogram and level in the viewfinder.

Personally, I think the inclusion of the slider is brilliant, also, the addition of the extra control on the lens adapter adds functionality to all that legacy gear out there....