There may be as many as three RF mount APS-C cameras on the horizon [CR1]

sustaining two very incompatible mounts doesn't make any sense. I've said this many times. RF mount with just a few "RF-S" lenses (one cheap kit lens, one upscale kit lens and one consumer tele zoom) puts canon and their customers where they were with the EF/EF-S mount. Which is a very sensible place.

Sorry, but consumers have clearly shown they don't care enough about size to warrant a separate mount for the sake of gaining a few millimeters.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
Upvote 0

josephandrews222

Square Sensors + AI = Better Images
Jul 12, 2013
608
1,845
65
Midwest United States
sustaining two very incompatible mounts doesn't make any sense. I've said this many times. RF mount with just a few "RF-S" lenses (one cheap kit lens, one upscale kit lens and one consumer tele zoom) puts canon and their customers where they were with the EF/EF-S mount. Which is a very sensible place.

Sorry, but consumers have clearly shown they don't care enough about size to warrant a separate mount for the sake of gaining a few millimeters.
Wrong.

No snark intended.

Just wrong.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 6 users
Upvote 0

Stuart

Hi, Welcome from an ePhotozine fan, & 6D user.
Jul 22, 2010
390
128
London & Woking
www.ephotozine.com
As much as I like it to be true that Canon puts focus on APS-C RF cameras, and especially an "R7", the naming R7, R8, R9 for an APS-C trio are rather surprising to my ear if true. Are those are just made-up "placeholder names", or does the sources expect them to be called like that?
Somehow I would expect Rn naming to be reserved rather high-end cameras. Lower end camera like RP could use the Ra naming scheme.

But of course, how can I believe to understand Canon's naming-logic with the limited number of RF cameras released :)
So the MK2, MK3 generations would be used instead.

Make me wonder what an R2 or and R4 might offer too?
 
Upvote 0
Mar 26, 2014
1,443
536
I don't see Canon killing EOS-M, unless it first sold crop RF cameras side by side and the later won the market over.

Canon is smart enough not to kill a profitable product or <censored> off a large portion of its customers, current and potential. I know people who got so <censored> Apple killed the IIGS in favor of the Mac, they haven't bought an Apple product since.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Upvote 0

justaCanonuser

Grab your camera, go out and shoot!
Feb 12, 2014
1,035
929
Frankfurt, Germany
Yeah, if the R7 comes with decent spec, I am in - for birding I want and need a good crop camera replacement for my ageing 7D2. I do not want to buy a 50+ MP FF camera to crop after shooting, that's just a waste of pixels and a waste of data throughput in and outside the camera.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 13 users
Upvote 0

koenkooi

CR Pro
Feb 25, 2015
3,574
4,110
The Netherlands
I don't see Canon killing EOS-M, unless it first sold crop RF cameras side by side and the later won the market over.
[..]
I would have expected that APS-C RF cameras would make developing M cameras cheaper, the sensor and software are already done. But I kind of expect CanonRumoursGuy to spell EOS-M doom for every development. "Canon announces LP-E21 battery" "EOS-M IS ENDED BY THIS BATTERY!!!"
 
  • Haha
  • Like
Reactions: 6 users
Upvote 0
For those speculating about "RF-S" lenses, what's the rationale? The distinction between EF and EF-S was incompatibility of the latter in a full frame body because of the size of the mirror. In the RF world, there is no mirror, so what's the distinction? Is it about making smaller lenses where the compact size comes at the cost of an imagining circle that's too small for full frame?

If that's the idea, and "RF-S" lenses could be made as small (or nearly as small) as EOS-M lenses, then I could see it replacing the M line. Hard to see the M line going away, otherwise.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Upvote 0
Sep 29, 2018
325
270
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Upvote 0

unfocused

Photos/Photo Book Reviews: www.thecuriouseye.com
Jul 20, 2010
7,184
5,483
70
Springfield, IL
www.thecuriouseye.com
Yeah, if the R7 comes with decent spec, I am in - for birding I want and need a good crop camera replacement for my ageing 7D2. I do not want to buy a 50+ MP FF camera to crop after shooting, that's just a waste of pixels and a waste of data throughput in and outside the camera.
You can select the 1.6 crop in camera -- no waste of pixels or data throughput. Then you have the flexibility of a full frame camera for every day shooting. Two cameras in one.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3 users
Upvote 0
Mar 25, 2011
16,848
1,835
There is little doubt in my mind that a Aps-c RF mount would be virtually the same size as a M body. Two things must be dealt with, the slightly larger lens opening and the 2mm increased flange distance. That could just result in a 2mm deeper mount on a M body.

Other factors that could make a R7 larger would be IBIS and a dual card slot. Throw in a larger battery and it would be a larger body but not as large as a RP.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Upvote 0
Aug 7, 2018
598
549
Wenn APS-C was introduced many years ago, the given reason was that it was very hard to produce digital full frame sensors. So it was born out of necessity and not as a feature to have a tighter crop for bird photpgraphy and stuff like that. So I thought that it would die sooner or later. Today full frame sensors can be mass produced much cheaper. So the reason for Canon still produces APS-C cameras might be some artificial crippling of the expensive full frame cameras. Those cheap cameras could easily be full frame, but then they might cannibalize the expensive cameras.

I do not think Canon will create any "RF-S" lenses.

I wonder which of the APS-C cameras will have IBIS. I think only the R7.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Upvote 0
Imho, I just can't believe this rumor for several reasons.
1. the name scheme... R7 makes sense, but R8 and R9 should be reserved for the successors of the R and the RP. If the proposed name schemes was indeed true, Canon would have no numbers left for their "full-frame entry camera" models because R2 & R4 would be extremely misleading... And an R6RP or R6R or whatever is just weird...

2. Nikon came out with the Z50 a year after the Z system came alive. And they're still figuring out how to place a second APS-C body (maybe Z30?) in the Z-line-up. The retro-style doesn't really fit in their scheme and according to rumors it's basically an Z50 in a retro body

3. APS-C sales have gone down tremendously...

And now Canon, after three years of hesitation (concerning an RF APS-C equipped body) and with a well-selling M-line (in some part of the world) jumps ahead with three APS-C cameras? Which by the way will take all their flexibility with their newly introduced naming scheme? No way, not buying it (literally).

4. Due to COVID Canon has so many limitations in its production (where the hell is my 100-500mm????) and development (where are the 2021 roadmap lenses...the year is half over...) that they'd never spent so much man-power developing THREE APS-C cameras... no way, even if they all use the same sensor.

5. Full-frame cameras have a bigger margin, why offer three APS-C?

I think Canon will produce a maximum of two APS-C cameras:
A "professional" R7 and a cheap R10 (in 2022/ 2023) to test the market whether they should keep the M-line or expand the RF. Further APS-C camera would surely have to wait...
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Upvote 0

FrenchFry

Wildlife enthusiast!
Jun 14, 2020
484
603
A crop high performance body at 30+MP for birding would be awesome, as we could leverage higher pixel density. For now, shooting the R5 in crop mode works pretty well.
But, these new rumors make me a bit worried that the previous rumor "Canon will announce more lenses at one time than ever before in the 2nd half of 2021 [CR2]" might include a mix of full-frame and APSC lenses, which would be less exciting. There are still many RF lenses that I would like to see released soon for wildlife photography, like the potential 300mm zoom, compact 500mm, 400mm DO replacement, more macro options, etc.
Very excited to see what Canon will be announcing this year!
 
Upvote 0
Even though Canon has historically never shared a mount between APS-C and full frame (EF-s, EF-m). It would behoove them to do so. With mirrorless (heck even with DSLR), it was never a big deal to just shoot crop mode if you had a lens that didn't cover the full size. Maybe EF proper didn't have a way to detect such lenses, but RF apparently does as you put an EF-s lens on an RF body, it automatically crops.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see Canon never really release crop only RF lenses, but instead, have less expensive RF lenses that do cover full frame, but aren't really that great in the corners, but are really good in the corners for APS-C. We kind of see that with the RF 50STM.
 
Upvote 0

docsmith

CR Pro
Sep 17, 2010
1,223
1,109
Just thinking of lenses, how many RF-s lenses might Canon release? I am thinking ~4. A kit general purpose zoom (18-55 f/3.5-5.6), a higher end general purpose zoom (~17-55 f/2.8), a nice UWA lens (10-22 f/4-5.6), and then an extreme range zoom (18-135 or 18-200 f/3.5-5.6). After that, it will depend on sales, but I can see Canon encouraging standard RF lenses.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3 users
Upvote 0

davidcl0nel

Canon R5, 17 TSE, RF35+85 IS, RF70-200 4 IS, EF135
Jan 11, 2014
219
95
Berlin
www.flickr.com
Imho, I just can't believe this rumor for several reasons.
1. the name scheme... R7 makes sense, but R8 and R9 should be reserved for the successors of the R and the RP. If the proposed name schemes was indeed true, Canon would have no numbers left for their "full-frame entry camera" models because R2 & R4 would be extremely misleading... And an R6RP or R6R or whatever is just weird...
What? why?
And i say, there will be never a R or RP replacements... R5 mark ii or R6 mark ii or so...
 
Upvote 0