I've been using the EOS R almost exclusively since it came out. Once I saw how much better the AF was in low light compared to the 5D, that was enough for me, and I made the switch. Initially, I struggled with how detached the EVF made taking photos feel. There are also a few controls that still really miss from the 5D. (joystick!!?)
Recently I needed a second camera for a shoot, so I got my 5D MkIV out for the first time in a while. And wow, I cannot believe how much I've gotten used to the R, and how out of date it makes the 5D feel to go back to. Yes in certain situations the OVF is nice, but in very low light I didn't realize how much easier the nice bright EVF of the R makes composing and taking photos. The 5D just feels dim and antiquated to look through, and part of me feels like the viewfinder itself is smaller than the R (???). The black outlines of the AF points in the 5D are easy to lose sight of, not to mention how restrictive it feels to go back to having one defined grid of AF points, all in the middle of the frame, when you've gotten used to moving the AF point seamlessly around the entire frame. Yes, the EVF is not quite the same as using an OVF, but I've found that that initial weird, detached feeling of using an EVF has pretty much fallen by the wayside after months of using the R.
And again, the autofocus. In poor light, while the 5D can function in most of the conditions the EOS R does, the 5D hunts around before it achieves focus when the lighting gets poor, and from past experience it's not 100% accurate when things get dark. Going back to this after using the R's quick, snappy autofocus that works under pretty much any condition you throw at it felt like going back in time. The R's autofocus feels advanced and assured. The 5D just feels like old technology. Not to mention I still can't trust the 5D's servo AF to work well at very wide apertures. Meanwhile, the R seems to just nail focus even in servo mode with a moving target at f1.2.
Right now I have two 5D MkIVs, and initially thought the R would be an interesting camera to play with, but I still thought that the 5D would be my main go-to camera. But after realizing how much I've grown to like the R, I'm seriously considering dumping one of those 5Ds in favor of having two Rs and just having one 5D around for those certain situations where I still want a DSLR.
**Disclaimer: I still recognize that there are a lot of cases where the DSLR will reign supreme... For very fast action, birds in flight, sports, etc, the DSLR is still probably the way to go. But for my uses, the R seems to exceed the performance of the 5D overall. There are still a lot of things that bug me about the R... Again, give me my joystick back, and I admit that the lack of smooth performance of the EVF during burst shooting is a little hard to deal with. But I'm confident that Canon will get these issues ironed out on future cameras, and I think the RF line of cameras has a really bright future ahead.
Edit: All of these impressions are with using adapted EF lenses only. I'd like to get the RF 50mm, but I'm waiting until they are a little cheaper on the used market.
Recently I needed a second camera for a shoot, so I got my 5D MkIV out for the first time in a while. And wow, I cannot believe how much I've gotten used to the R, and how out of date it makes the 5D feel to go back to. Yes in certain situations the OVF is nice, but in very low light I didn't realize how much easier the nice bright EVF of the R makes composing and taking photos. The 5D just feels dim and antiquated to look through, and part of me feels like the viewfinder itself is smaller than the R (???). The black outlines of the AF points in the 5D are easy to lose sight of, not to mention how restrictive it feels to go back to having one defined grid of AF points, all in the middle of the frame, when you've gotten used to moving the AF point seamlessly around the entire frame. Yes, the EVF is not quite the same as using an OVF, but I've found that that initial weird, detached feeling of using an EVF has pretty much fallen by the wayside after months of using the R.
And again, the autofocus. In poor light, while the 5D can function in most of the conditions the EOS R does, the 5D hunts around before it achieves focus when the lighting gets poor, and from past experience it's not 100% accurate when things get dark. Going back to this after using the R's quick, snappy autofocus that works under pretty much any condition you throw at it felt like going back in time. The R's autofocus feels advanced and assured. The 5D just feels like old technology. Not to mention I still can't trust the 5D's servo AF to work well at very wide apertures. Meanwhile, the R seems to just nail focus even in servo mode with a moving target at f1.2.
Right now I have two 5D MkIVs, and initially thought the R would be an interesting camera to play with, but I still thought that the 5D would be my main go-to camera. But after realizing how much I've grown to like the R, I'm seriously considering dumping one of those 5Ds in favor of having two Rs and just having one 5D around for those certain situations where I still want a DSLR.
**Disclaimer: I still recognize that there are a lot of cases where the DSLR will reign supreme... For very fast action, birds in flight, sports, etc, the DSLR is still probably the way to go. But for my uses, the R seems to exceed the performance of the 5D overall. There are still a lot of things that bug me about the R... Again, give me my joystick back, and I admit that the lack of smooth performance of the EVF during burst shooting is a little hard to deal with. But I'm confident that Canon will get these issues ironed out on future cameras, and I think the RF line of cameras has a really bright future ahead.
Edit: All of these impressions are with using adapted EF lenses only. I'd like to get the RF 50mm, but I'm waiting until they are a little cheaper on the used market.
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