We have talked a lot about the Canon EOS R100, but there are some good uses other than a doorstop, or an experimental submersible for the Canon EOS R100, so we’re going to dig deeper into this.
While the Canon R100 may not be the most powerful or feature-rich camera on the market, it offers affordability to dive into the RF mount. Its APS-C sensor still produces decent images, especially in well-lit conditions. Let’s face it – most users at this level of photography don’t even need a full 24MP, as they would be sharing on Facebook, Instagram or taking videos for social media. High-end performance, while always nice, isn’t necessary in all cases.
The autofocus system, though not as lightning-fast as some newer models, is generally reliable for most everyday photography. The only issue, of course, is moving around the focus point if you are using fast lenses. I do find the lack of a touchscreen a major limitation, but these use cases don’t really need it as much.
But since there’s a lack of controls and also a lack of a touchscreen on the Canon EOS R100 we are going to focus on use cases that work to its strengths and where the weaknesses are either an advantage or simply not that important.
Point and Shoot Youngster Camera
It’s harder to find compact cameras that are decent and look like “dad’s camera” for the younger person, but with the current sale on the R100, it’s cheaper now than most compact cameras.
Pair the Canon R100 with a manual focus lens, especially with a lower focal length, and you have an F/8.0 and “be there” system where autofocus (and thus lack of touchscreen) doesn’t impede taking photos, as you would want your child to simply look at the screen or viewfinder and press the shutter button.
In this scenario not having a touchscreen works to your advantage as settings cannot easily be changed by your budding little professional photographer.
Webcam
We have already written an article on using the R100 as a webcam, and I still think that it is one of the better uses for the Canon EOS R100. With the current sales happening, it’s almost cheaper than top-of-the-line web cameras with an infinitely smaller sensor than the Canon EOS R100. The R100 boasts clean HDMI out which is a little of a surprise for the bottom rung of the RF camera lineup.
When you consider the image quality from a small compact camera sensor versus an APS-C camera, it’s no contest. The only downside is that the Canon EOS R100 is considerably larger than a webcam if your desk space is limited.
We recommend the following pieces to get you going with your R100 as a webcam.
- Camlink 4K to USB HDMI Capture
- Canon EOS R100 Mirrorless Digital Camera with RF-S18-45mm Lens
- DR-E18 AC Adapter Kit
Infrared Photography
If you are looking to start exploring infrared photography or wish to explore the genre more but cannot afford to rip apart your brand-new Canon EOS R5 Mark II, then this may be the next compelling option for you.
With the camera body cost being relatively negligible, you can convert the Canon EOS R100 and even if you don’t like infrared photography, you most likely sell the camera for more than you paid for the camera body.
The 24MP sensor works well for infrared in this case, because you don’t need a ton of resolution – you are going to be dealing with small amounts of smearing and loss of resolution for most mirrorless lenses.
Another advantage of going cheap? Most of Canon’s STM cheaper lenses are decent for infrared, but the more expensive professional L series lenses tend to have more problems with hotspots. Most lenses prefer to be stopped down to F5.6 or F6.3 for infrared so even the cheaper lenses suit this genre.
If you are going this route, we recommend using Kolari Vision's conversion service.
I honestly cannot find any information on how well the RF-S 18-45mm or the 55-210mm works with infrared at this time, so I would recommend purchasing the single lens kit and trying the kit lens before going any further. Most cheaper mirrorless lenses work best as the fewer elements and hardly any exotic elements seem to work best for infrared.
Purchase the Canon EOS R100 Mirrorless Digital Camera with RF-S18-45mm Lens $399.99
Once you get your camera converted to a full spectrum or dual spectrum camera (highly recommended) remember you'll need IR filters – and again, Kolari is a good choice for that as they have snap-in magnetic clip filters for the RF mount.
Adapting Manual Focus Lenses
If we are going to just leave the autofocus, and focus point selection out of the mix – then a good use of a Canon EOS R100 would be to adapt an older manual focus lens. There are a couple of good reasons for this. 24MP is a high resolution, but not that extraordinarily high in this day and age so it wouldn’t stress older lenses.
And as well, the APS-C sensor is smaller, so lens performance in the corners for APS-C tends to be better than with a full-frame sensor. So, a lot of old lenses shine under a camera such as the R100.
The good thing about mirrorless versus a DSLR is the EVF can still be bright when the lens is stopped down manually, but with a DSLR, the viewfinder dims noticeably.
Make sure you have focus peaking turned on, or if it’s a wide-angle lens, set it to F/8 and almost everything is in focus.
Metering usage is straightforward. Just put the camera in aperture priority, set the aperture manually on the lens, and let the camera handle the shutter speed. You can also turn on Auto-ISO just to keep everything without reasonable shutter speeds.
Kit or Body Only?
Now that you have decided to purchase this little camera, I would strongly recommend the 18-150mm kit or the 18-40mm kit. Going body only, will limit your resale, and also any uses that you actually may have for the small kit lenses.
In the past, I always found it much easier to sell a camera if I tossed in a kit lens, so much so that at times when I was wheeling and dealing camera bodies around in the used camera market, I would keep an eye out for cheap kit lenses so I could toss them on a camera I was trying to sell.
In times past, I have used both the EF-S and the EF-M versions of the 18-45 and 55-210mm and while they didn’t reach the expectations of L glass, they certainly were decent for the price.
We are recommending you get the current deal that MidWest Photo has on for the Canon EOS R100. For a very limited time, you also get a 2-year Canon CarePak thrown in for free when you purchase.
This, of course, is a very limited-time offer so we hope you act quickly. The discounting right now is crazy with the dual lens kit around the same as the regular price was for the body only. So basically, you are getting two lenses for practically free. Here are the two recommended kits, and no matter what you decide I hope you enjoy the R100 and discover novel ways of using it.
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Nice tip; but the thing doesn't actually have a swivelling screen... :geek:
I can see why having just a infrared camera conversion could go for a R100 but wouldn't they start with a IR front filter and just use long exposures/tripod?
There are reported issues with some RF lenses and long exposure IR, the lens itself has a weak IR light that shines toward the body.
That product is real garbage.
That's all folks (looney tunes closing).
As @neuroanatomist mentions, there are issues with some RF lenses for long exposure IR "leakage"/ hotspot. Kolari only tested some RF lenses so others may also be problematic.
https://kolarivision.com/canon-mirrorless-rf-lens-internal-infrared-led-fact-or-fiction/
The cost is 300 for the conversion - I'm not sure where you are getting $950 from
There are, a fair amount of Canon RF's L's that are not suitable for IR, that's for certain.
that's one of the "joys" of infrared photography, navigating what lenses work.
a couple of the Sigma primes on the M's had this problem too.
it's too long of exposure really, with more modern sensors in their cut filters, older DSLR CMOS sensors had a more relaxed cutoff, but these days? you are losing too much light. Also I don't think that would work for some filters such as IR chrome.
"there are some good uses other than a doorstop, or an experimental submersible"
I actually asked Gemini AI for some commentary on the R100, and the shade was real. I was going to add it to the end of the article, but thought better.
When the R100 Mark II or whatever comes out, I'll go to town on it.
https://kolarivision.com/product/full-spectrum-converted-canon-eos-r100-mirrorless-camera/
ah yes, if you get the body directly from them - yes, they haven't adjusted the prices for discounting. I would get a conversion not a direct camera.
it was hilarious, to be honest. I had a good laugh for a few minutes.
Even Gen AI didn't like the R100.
But - I have used that APS-C 24MP sensor with great results.
The 18-45mm is a sad POS. It made me pine for the bulky EF 18-55mm IS STM that came with the SL1, a lens that vastly outperforms its RF sibling, despite being 10+ years older. As soon as I got some primes for my R50 it was relegated to a drawer.
The idea of making it an infrared camera is nice; do you have any articles detailing the performance of the basic RF primes for it? It makes sense, I can see how the R100 with the 16mm, 28mm and 50mm could be an amazing infra/UV kit at an unbeatable price.
then don't do 100% pixel peep. for that market - it's probably not that important.
try using DLO on the images.
that will be an article in the new year once I get my converted R8 and associated RF lenses.