Test of Canon EOS R: Evolution or Evolution

For fans of Canon photo equipment waiting for EOS R was long and tense. For the past few years the question was not even what Canon’s first full frame mirrorless camera would be, but whether it would be at all. The successful relaunch of EOS M line with very successful models M5 and M6, inexpensive and popular M50 gave hope for the imminent arrival of the senior system camera. And here it is. In order to understand the EOS R, a few things need to be made clear. The first is an amateur camera. Yes, it was created with the aim for professionals as well, but as a second number, an assistant camera, which is lighter and smaller, but not inferior in image quality to the main camera of the photographer. The EOS R does not pretend to compete with any of Canon’s existing line of DSLRs for EF-S and EF optics, nor will it send the EOS M to premature retirement. It simply is one more tool with special, additional possibilities which can be interesting to amateur and professionals in equal measure.

Canon EOS R mirrorless camera

Size matters

Yes, you can’t say the EOS R is very compact and will fit in your pocket. But one glance on the camera front panel is enough to understand that it is simply impossible to make it smaller without damage to its ergonomics. A large portion of the camera is taken up by the enormous lens mount, which also has a huge opening. There’s only room left on the right for the grip and fingers, exactly as much as you need. On the left is a small protrusion of the main body volume, where the body mount lock button is located, and all. Best-in-class digital viewfinder goes on top. Any attempt to downsize the camera further would negatively affect its performance, and it would simply become inconvenient to use.

The Canon EOS 6D Mark II DSLR and the EOS R system camera – the differences in dimensions may be small, but any reduction in weight and size is better.

The new system

The mount deserves a special mention because it’s not just an iron ring that holds the lens. In fact, it’s the backbone of the entire system. The key considerations here are the flange-back distance between the lens mount plane and the sensor, the diameter of the entry wound and the interface between the camera electronics and the lens. The first determines the overall size of the system: with a shorter operating range, optics and cameras can be made more compact while retaining optical performance.

the bigger the lens is, the more light it can let in, and you can direct the light striking the sensor as close as possible to a straight angle. Canon usa has a 54mm lens mount diameter.

As for the electronic pathway between the camera and lens, its bandwidth determines how efficient the autofocus, image stabilization and exposure systems will be. Here the developers created a great deal of groundwork for the future by increasing the number of pins from 8 to 12.

RF Lenses: Build your new system!

Most of the benefits of the new mount are available to photographers now. It’s worth starting with a small for now! but an impressive lineup of optics, sharp, fast and beautiful.

Kit usa 24-105mm f/4L IS USM – worthy lens. The novelty without reservations can be recommended to all buyers EOS R regardless of a set of available optics and genre preferences.

The usa 24-105 f/4L IS USM is only slightly smaller and only 95 g lighter than the EF 24-105 f/4L

IS USM

.

It’s worth restoring the working distance of the lens

RF 24-105 f/4L IS USM

With an adapter, how the differences in system dimensions become more apparent.

RF 50mm f/1 portrait lens.The 2L USM shows fantastic detail in the sharpness area and draws very nicely in the unfocused area, the 10-blade aperture contributes to that in part. But the main thing is that while most of the fast optics are not known for their sharpness speed, this lens reacts almost instantly to a press of the shutter button and shows itself perfectly with tracking AF.

Canon usa 50mm f/1.2L USM

– a large, rather heavy professional lens. But, it is one step ahead of its “mirror” counterpart in terms of performance and picture.

Canon usa 35mm f/1.8 IS Macro STM is the only lens shown that is not one of the proud carriers of the letter L, meaning it does not belong to professional optics. It’s a pity we didn’t have it for testing, as the feedback from those who bought it was very encouraging. The most interesting thing is that thanks to its image quality, compactness and autofocus speed it is more often used not for its intended purpose: photographers use it not for shooting insects and jewelry but for reportage.

For those opposed to automatic “enhancers”, the developers left the option to turn off the elimination of optical distortion. We also tried to do without it. This once again gave us a chance to make sure that the usa series lenses really are of high optical performance, and the camera doesn’t “finish” anything behind them. But in general the idea to refuse from DLO is comparable with a call of “bees against honey”: EOS R precisely and in the necessary volume performs necessary correction, saving a photographer time and energy for post-processing.

DLO is off in the first image, on the second one it is on: obviously the vignetting and “pillow-like” geometric distortion is corrected and a slight edge-of-frame chromatism is eliminated if you look closely. usa 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, 105mm, f/4, 1/250, 500 ISO.

The zoom ring on usa lenses is the only one with mechanical linkage. The focus ring is now fully electronic, and this has several advantages at once.

First of all, depending on its rotation speed, it disproportionately increases the lens speed. That is, turning it by, say, a quarter of a turn can shift the focusing distance by a couple of centimeters if you turn the ring slowly and by several meters if you do it quickly. Videographers using special focus actuators like focus wheels can return the “normal” behavior of the wheel to the menu, when the aiming distance corresponds exactly to a certain angle of rotation.

Second, now you don’t have to intercept the lens, losing aiming precision.

Those who switch from one system to another need not get used to changing the ring’s direction of rotation: you can select a convenient option in the menu. In addition, usa lenses now have a third ring, the functionality of which is set in the settings. That could be controlling aperture or shutter speed, setting sensitivity or making exposure adjustments.

We haven’t forgotten about cameramen here either. Initially, the function wheel clicks to give better feedback. However, at the official service center the “ratchet” can be turned off. In this case, the iris control would be silent. And if we consider that L-series usa optics allow you to change relative aperture in 1/8th of an EV step, the aperture will work during video shooting almost as stepless.

The “old guard” is also in line!

And finally, a bonus for those who aren’t ready to immediately swap out the old one for even something so great new. The short flange-back length makes it possible to attach optics from many other systems to the EOS R via adapters. Canon itself offers adapters for EF and EF-S systems. That’s right, this is Canon’s first full-frame camera to support lenses designed for the APS-C frame format. Naturally, the image is automatically cropped by a factor of 1.6, but there are plenty of cases where this can be useful. For example, if you still have a good TV-set or if you bought the unique Canon EF-S 35mm f/2 macro lens.8 Macro IS STM with built-in backlight. In the case of these lenses, the frame reduction is not as significant.

Three adapters: the standard one, coming with the camera at the start of sales, which we were able to try in our test, and two special. One has a built-in swivel mount for filters – a help for landscape photographers armed with wide-angle lenses without a threaded attachment for optical attachments. The second offers a function wheel similar to that of usa lenses: Why get rid of the good stuff when you want an SLR lens?

The old system

Adapters aren’t the only thing the new camera has in common with the Canon EOS world. Accessories and extras are extremely important in a system camera. The EOS R was made so that owners of the brand’s equipment don’t have the slightest impediment to upgrading to a new camera or expanding their existing arsenal with it.

SpeedLite flashes, GPS receivers, remote controls, wireless transmitters – everything a photographer has accumulated through toil for his DSLR camera, will most likely go with the EOS R.

It was an excellent decision to use in a new camera the battery LP-E6N – a source of power for EOS 7D Mark II, EOS 6D, EOS 6D Mark II, EOS 5D Mark IV, EOS 5DS R and a number of others. The camera will also work with the old LP-E6 battery, but will not be able to charge it internally with a power adapter.

Since the camera is brand new in form, it was hard to expect that the battery grip, an extension of the camera body, wouldn’t be an entirely original accessory for the EOS R. The BG-E22 doesn’t differ much from your average DSLR grip in its design: there’s a slot for an extra battery, a shutter button and some additional buttons that mimic the buttons on the camera but are designed to work in portrait mode. The package of this accessory is unusual and pleasant, it includes a 220V power adapter which turns the handle into an additional charger.

Third-party manufacturers of optics and accessories for the system Canon or have already brought to full compatibility with the new camera Canon’s lenses, flashes and synchronizers, or hastily working on software updates. So photographers who dare to look into the future now with the new EOS R can keep their familiar tools with them.

EOS R in action: outings in the city, home shoots, event shoots

There is no sense to describe the construction of apparatus, presence and arrangement of buttons and wheels in isolation from the way one can work with all that in practice. In the end, a list of all the controls is in the manual, available for free download on the manufacturer’s website, and there’s nothing new to tell.

When you first pick up the EOS R without the lens, you are surprised at its lightness. The camera feels in your hand like an ordinary Canon full-frame DSLR in terms of the texture of materials, absence of body backlash, reliability of fit in the hand, but as if something was missing. However, everything is in place. A magnesium alloy chassis, steel mount, and a full dust and waterproofing package – everything you’d expect from a camera designed for both amateurs and professionals.

Representatives of Canon emphasize, that on degree of protection and constructive firmness EOS R concedes EOS 5D Mark IV a little, but she in any case is better prepared to vicissitudes of destiny, than amateur cameras. During the test the camera was walking around uncovered in the snow for hours at a time, going from cold to warm and back again, and nothing happened to it. Even such a widespread problem as viewfinder fogging is not touched by it. Separately we want to note the foresight of the developers in terms of protection of the image sensor. Unlike other mirrorless cameras, the EOS R closes the shutter when you turn it off, and when you take the lens off, you can only see the shutter curtains.

A sensor hidden behind the shutter already gives you confidence in the future without going to the service center. It’s so difficult to get it dirty, it can’t get wet when you change lenses outside in the snow, and it’s less likely to get dust on it.

Besides, the sensors of mirrorless cameras are more exposed to ultraviolet light than the sensors of DSLRs, because they are exposed most of the time. Who doesn’t forget to close the lens cap every time?? So Canon’s decision to cover the sensor looks reasonable from all angles.

Finishing the subject of security, let’s not forget the important advantage of the original adapter system. When using a dustproof and waterproof lens series Canon EF L on protected camera EOS R you do not lose anything, because the adapter itself is equipped with a multi-layered system of gaskets, preventing penetration of moisture and dust inside the camera. It is unlikely that this will ever be possible with third-party adapters.

Operation: LCD screen + viewfinder + program buttons and dials

Almost all the controls of the EOS R are concentrated on the right side of the body. The only thing left on the left is the menu access button and the display. Here for the first time you come across one of few imperfections in the device. It’s not uncommon to need to change something in the settings when shooting, especially when working from a lower angle. The most convenient control for this turns out to be the touch screen display. It is extremely responsive, can be operated with conductive gloves for capacitive displays, it displays most of the necessary shooting options, and they can be changed in two taps.

Holding the camera in the left hand under the lens base, you reach with the finger of your right hand for the display and… all is lost. A movement of the hand reacts to the proximity sensor under the viewfinder, and the screen goes out. In the middle of the test I had to change the automatic switchover between the screen and viewfinder to manual by reprogramming the exposure lock key. I have not developed any other way of holding the camera and using the touch screen interface.

Touch control on EOS R is so conveniently arranged, that somehow the convenience of work with the camera with gloves was completely unnoticed. Yes, all the buttons on the camera are small, and it’s possible that you can’t feel some of them with your hand through the cloth. But, in the course of testing and the need for such did not arise. The screen responded perfectly to inexpensive gloves from one of the mass-market brands and allowed you to select all the options you want.

How to look

Despite the fact that we are used to working with a mirrorless camera, where, other things being equal, the display is more informative, quality and convenience of the digital eyepiece, in the EOS R is difficult to give clear preference to one or the other. Few mirrorless camera manufacturers yet offer a 3.69 million-dot viewfinder, and none, except Canon, for full-frame cameras. It’s clear, distortion-free, fast and finely adjustable.

It cannot replace the display when you need to quickly and accurately track your subject, when you need to frame the subject cleanly against an empty background, when you are not distracted by the surroundings unless the situation requires it. On the contrary, photographing on a tripod or from awkward angles, taking discreet shots, recording video – all these things require a sighting on the display. And the EOS R screen, which rotates on any plane, is a great help here.

For photographers who have just switched from a DSLR to the mirrorless EOS R and are not ready to switch to framing on the screen, it will still prove useful. When looking through the viewfinder, the viewfinder screen acts as a touch pad, which you use to move the area or focus point. It functions in two modes – absolute or relative.

In the first case, if, say, you click on the upper right part of the active area of the screen, the sharpening point will move to the upper right part of the frame.

In the second, the focus point moves with the movement of your finger across the screen, no matter where the movement started. The traditional methods of control with modern digital cameras stop working: it is still possible to click a 61 point of focus, say, on Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, but there are more than five and a half thousand positions of autofocus on EOS R.

Although there are two other ways to select the focus area – with the navigation button or the wheel and by holding down the AF point button – the touch screen is the fastest and most efficient in all situations.

Dials and keys: Customize everything!

The buttons and wheels on the EOS R body can adjust to your shooting style. And here it is necessary to notice one moment. Many manufacturers allow the photographer to reassign a wide range of camera controls. Say there are ten function keys and forty assignable options. So, any button should be allowed to be set to any of those 40 settings by the user.

Whether or not a photographer really needs it, whether or not an amateur will get confused in his own customized interface is a second question. Canon takes a different approach.

The function of each button is preconceived, and the user is free to choose within strictly defined limits. Only one of the 41 options can be assigned to the backlight key of the secondary display, the rest are less. And it’s not greedy or tyrannical, but rather helpful to the user. Don’t forget that this is, after all, an amateur camera, and it can be used by a fairly inexperienced person in terms of shooting technique.

The most curious at the time of the announcement and the most unproven during testing was the programmable touch slider. As conceived by the developers, by sliding a finger or pressing on the edges, the user can change various shooting parameters. The slider can respond to a touch instantly, or in lock mode after a few seconds.

In fact, it turns out that it takes too long to unlock, and with the mass of other ways you can change settings faster, the wait is not worth it. And if you turn off the menu mode, you are constantly knocking down the parameters you set: the touch bar is located where you often find your right thumb. Maybe with the firmware update the slider behavior will change.

Two things that could fundamentally improve a photographer’s life are the Dial Function menu and flexible AE priority mode. The first one will especially appeal to adepts of viewfinder sighting as it allows you to set most of the basic settings such as sweep speed, metering mode, focus area size, exposure compensation and flash output and others with two wheels without taking your eye off the eyepiece.

The new Fv mode lets you manually change one of four exposure settings: shutter speed, aperture, ISO and EV correction, while the other three are adjusted automatically based on meter reading. In difficult and constantly changing shooting conditions, this greatly reduces the reject rate and saves time.

The top-mounted service display makes it easy to read your current settings. The decision itself, obviously, is not new, and we already could observe the similar design on several cameras of other producers. But, Canon, perhaps, managed to realize it most successfully. It is informative, can show not only the basic shooting settings and the status of the device, but also additional options. Without turning on the main screen or holding the camera up to your eyes, you can already assess whether you need to change settings before shooting a new scene.

The screen is made with OLED technology. First, it is beautiful. It has a completely black background, and the information kind of protrudes from the camera body. Secondly, it’s crisp, allowing you to spread out a lot of data without sacrificing readability. And third, it’s economical. And this is especially important for mirrorless cameras.

As it was already spoken above, EOS R uses battery LP-E6N accustomed to many owners of cameras Canon. Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark IV can make more than 1000 shots from one its charge. The novelty, expectedly, has a lower claimed battery life of about 300 frames. Since the device constantly works with such ravenous consumers of energy as the sensor and the screen, the decrease in the number of shots from the battery is quite understandable.

During the test, however, it seemed, that Canon too cautiously estimated possibilities EOS R. One day, when shooting the event for 9 hours on the camera was taken more than 500 photos in single-frame and burst mode, recorded several videos in 4K, and filmed timelapses – two times 20 minutes for 400 frames each. During that time the camera was only charged once for 30 minutes, that is, not all the way to the end. Decrease in autonomy of EOS R on frost in a range of -5 -8 °C if takes place, it is insignicant. Fortunately we didn’t shoot in more extreme temperature conditions.

Better less or better?

Working with EOS R with one hand is possible, if you use light and compact lenses, like usa 35mm f/1.8 IS Macro STM or EF 40mm f/2.8 STM, EF 28mm f/1.8 USM, EF 50mm f/1.8 STM through an adapter. Large, comfortable grip lets you hold the camera with confidence while changing settings with Dial Function. L-class optics of both the usa and EF systems, already makes it necessary to connect a second hand as a reference.

Having established through the adapter some big aperture zoom, let’s say, Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM, one begins to feel keenly the need for a battery grip that can give a larger grip area. With all that, the combination of EOS R and a DSLR TV still looks reasonable and quite usable for serious work, rather than with some EOS M. So professionals considering this novelty as a second safety or additional camera can have no doubts about it.

Getting Ridiculous

An important advantage of the EOS R over all existing system cameras at the time of writing is the sensitivity of the autofocus system. With F1 maximum aperture optics.2 The camera is easy to focus at -6 EV. By comparison, a moonlit night gives us only -4 EV. In fact, the eye can hardly discern in the dark what the EOS R can focus on. Not only does it make it easier to capture low light scenes, but it also gives landscape photographers the ability to use autofocus with most neutral gray filters.

With the Hoya ND500 filter on the usa 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens, the sharpness was not fast, but accurate, in a room lit by dim fluorescent lights. You have to realize that such a filter reduces the exposure by 9 EV steps. The phase part of the focusing system in such conditions is switched off, and the sharpness estimation is based only on contrast. But for leisurely types of photography, like landscape photography, it’s not that important.

The tandem of an upgraded sensor with increased phase detection area Dual Pixel CMOS AF and DIGIC 8 processor brings further advantages in terms of AF speed and precision. The point is that the new camera reads focus information from more than 5000 photodiodes placed almost all over the sensor. And the enormous flow of information, thanks to the powerful processor, is instantly processed and commands are given to the lens to move the lens to the maximum focus position.

True, it is necessary to mention that it concerns first of all the frame pointing mode. The tracking mode works well, but with some caveats. In bright light, or when you’re not moving your model too fast in low-light conditions, there’s very little in the way of perfect focus. But, in difficult conditions, in low-contrast scenes, or if the subject is moving quickly towards the camera, there is a defect in focus.

limiting the batch rate with tracking sharpening to 5 fps does not allow the camera to be recommended for serious shooting, say, fast sports. Does it mean, that with EOS R it is impossible to shoot dynamics? No. It testifies only that the novelty does not apply to the niche of such cameras, as EOS 7D Mark II or EOS 5D Mark IV.

RF 50mm f/1.2L USM, 1/60 sec, f/1.2, ISO 8

00, Eye-Focused Face Tracking Mode

What comes out?

The first thing you notice once you have uploaded your shots from the camera to your computer is how accurately the EOS R reproduces color. It doesn’t matter what is in the frame – a riot of colors or delicate transitions of pastel shades – it will be difficult for you to pick on their transfer.

Photographers often suffer from low light conditions nowadays. The various types of energy-saving lamps that are now becoming ubiquitous, which are certainly an important innovation for saving the environment and resources, light up our lives in bizarre and usually incomplete spectra, which is a big problem for the camera. However, even in this imperfect world EOS R manages to show beauty. And if lapses do occur, they are not critical, or they are the result of absolutely horrible conditions.

RF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, 105mm, 1/40 sec, f/4.2, ISO

800

What’s important is that this result is available right out of the camera. For the professional photographer it’s easy to enhance color in post-processing, adding impact or creative effects. But an amateur who isn’t used to color correction gets a virtually finished shot right away.

EOS R does not offer any nowadays so popular digital filters. And maybe that’s a good thing. Picture Style’s built-in image processing profile system gives you the ability to enhance color reproduction to suit the subject. For the effects, our all-time favorite is the Adjustable B/W mode that makes for great graphical compositions.

RF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, 31mm, 1/150 sec, f/4.5, ISO

250

Even the scourge of most digital cameras – lamps of the blue spectrum, where sensors are most sensitive, the beginner is not afraid. The usual charge overflow on neighboring pixels doesn’t happen here. And the blue backlight is rendered without horrible halos. State-of-the-art sensors with Dual Pixel CMOS AF technology have already proven themselves in other Canon cameras, but it seems that developers have improved this technology a bit more.

RF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, 74mm, 1/60 sec, f/4.5, ISO 800

Detail – the second aspect on which it is necessary to pay attention.The camera gives you literally pixel-by-pixel sharpness. The photo of the Peking Hotel can be used for surveillance purposes: the cornice above the clock and stucco numerals in 1949, which, by the way, is not the year the building was built, but the year the clock was “born”, is pretty dilapidated and needs repairing.

usa 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, 24mm, 1/200 sec, f/8, ISO

800

You can get shots with ringing sharpness at slow shutter speeds – the stabilization efficiency of the EOS R has improved noticeably. Credit goes to Dual Sensing IS. Clear handheld shots at 1/8 sec at 45mm focal length and at 24mm, and even with HDR turned on in three exposures, a very real result.

RF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, 45mm, 1/8 sec, f/5, ISO

800

RF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, 24 mm, 1/8 sec, f/4, ISO

200, HDR + 2 EV

By the way, automatic stitching of images with an expanded dynamic range works wonderfully nicely. The algorithms are also successful at converging handheld shots, and somehow handle moving subjects well, avoiding unpleasant artifacts and outline doubling. Fast UHS-II card requires only seconds to merge, making it well-suited for spontaneous street photography.

RF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, 24mm, 1/10 sec, f/4, ISO

800, HDR +2 EV

And finally, let’s talk about sensitivity. Performance EOS R here is very close to the professional camera Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, with the only difference that to our taste on ISO values above 1600 units, when shooting in JPEG and the standard noise reduction setting, the fine details are washed out more than we would like. At the same time, reducing the level of noise reduction to “weak” gives a sharp increase in image quality with minimal grain and poorly distinguishable extraneous color flecks. In reportage mode you can use ISO 1600 and even ISO 3200 without any doubts.

RF 50mm f/1.2L USM, 1/100 sec, f/3.2, ISO

3200

At ISO 6400 the detail is noticeably lower, but with a resolution of 30.3 megapixels this picture still has a lot of applications other than printing in large format, where losses can be noticeable.

Go higher – ISO 12,800. Working for an online publication? Your pictures live on social media? Feel free to set this value, and win another step for shutter speeds. For the more image-resolution-demanding spheres, you’ll already need some good chromatic noise control. And it’s better to switch to RAW format, thanks EOS R provides its lighter version C-RAW.

A further increase in sensitivity to ISO 40,000, which is curious, also has the right to exist for special occasions and more serious post-processing.

Multimedia is trending

Canon EOS R has got the full range of professional features you need for video recording. 4K format with MP4 encoding and three compression options – heavyweight ALL-I, saving every frame for serious editing and maximum image quality, lighter IPB, more suitable for amateur processing, and compact IPB Light only for 1920×1080 .

While the C-Log dynamic range expansion feature used to be a paid option for the EOS 5D Mark IV, it’s already in the camera in the EOS R. You can record an 8-bit stream with 4:2:0 color coding on the card. When you connect an external HDMI recorder, you can record a 10-bit, 4:2:2 picture bypassing the flash drive.

The camera is demanding on memory. When trying to start recording on any card slower than SDHC UHS-II, the unit politely but emphatically refuses to do so, showing a warning on the screen. The frame rate when recording at maximum resolution is 23.97 fps. It is possible to achieve higher frequency by reducing the resolution: up to 59,94 fps in Full HD and up to 119,9 fps in HD.

All interfaces, necessary for high-quality recording, are provided in the device. In addition to the already mentioned HDMI, which lets uncompressed video stream through, there’s an external microphone jack and a headphone jack – a means of audio control over volume and track clarity.

There is one nuance which very much excites a wide public and it is impossible not to mention: EOS R records 4K video not from all area of the sensor, but only from area equivalent to a cropped factor 1,74, as well as at EOS 5D Mark IV. That’s probably a bad thing. Maybe even very. But, only for the camera which declares itself as a professional apparatus for video recording.

But, our subject is not like that. This is a camera with some very serious video capabilities. What the amateur will lose from the cropped image? Hardly much. By the way, if it already has EF-S optics, especially if it is EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM with a fast and really quiet autofocus drive, it’s great for shooting wide-angle stills.

For the professional photographer, who is pushed from the usual haven of photography in the world of multimedia “invisible hand of the market”, EOS R is still sufficient tool to obtain high-quality video material.

Much more important and interesting, it is the first Canon camera, using all possibilities of technology DLO at a video. Neither amateur nor professional photographers are likely to bother fixing aberrations on the optics during editing: it’s time-consuming and computationally intensive. And here it’s all ready out of the camera.

Other than that, the autofocus system that works great in still mode also works great in video mode. During testing, I sometimes wish the tracking focus would switch slower: an instant jump from one subject to another at a considerable distance does not look pretty enough. But we didn’t notice any “yawing” or delays in changing the focus.

The time-lapse photography mode deserves a special mention. 4K photos captured at pre-set intervals are recorded in ALL-I compressed MP4 clips. Quality results look just as good as with the EOS R – beautiful color, high detail and low noise. But especially handy is the interface to configure the shooting. It’s nice to know before you even press the shutter button that the settings you choose at random – interval length and frame count – will result in you having to stand out in the cold for 40 minutes waiting for the end of the shoot. And choose other settings.

TimeLaps, taken with a Canon EOS R camera, shooting parameters: 1/8 sec, f/8, ISO

1600

See all Canon EOS R video tests

Instead of a conclusion: for whom the Canon EOS R

A modern digital camera is not about individual features being better or worse than others. It’s a sophisticated all-in-one tool that will fit perfectly in some photographers’ arsenals, and find no place in others’. Besides, one should never forget that cameras with interchangeable optics are an integral part of the system, and one shouldn’t consider a camera in isolation from it. EOS R, undoubtedly, is a success. Expectations have been fully met and more. The usa optics we’ve had the pleasure of working with reveal a new level of quality and performance: more light, more detail, a better stabilization system. Instead of judging what’s new, it’s more interesting to see who should pay attention to this camera.

Any amateur photographer who has had time to get hold of some set of Canon lenses and is considering going full frame, will find in EOS R a universal device which is capable to work out practically any scene perfectly. A keen photographer shoots straight today, astrophotography tomorrow and studio portraits the day after. Timelapse? We have to try! Videotaping? Why not?!

The EOS R is capable of performing at a high level in all disciplines, and immediately lets you share the result with the world through a perfectly realized connection with your smartphone. For sports and serious wildlife shooting we recommend opting for DSLR’s only.

In other genres, choosing between EOS 6D Mark II with EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens and EOS R with similar optics usa 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens, we would not hesitate to choose the latter.

And what about the professionals?? The studio portrait, food-photography, object and commercial photography, wedding and even interior – the device is too well conveys the details and textures – if you recently began to earn money in these kinds of photography, EOS R can become the main working camera.

If you’ve made a career as a photographer, “erka” would be a great second number. You can take it for a second shot, an assistant can backstage with it, it bravely takes the place of the main camera that fell victim to unfortunate circumstances at the time of the order. In most cases, the customer won’t even notice the switch. This is the second lighter camera for the wedding photographer who already has to lug around or burden an assistant who is also human a lot of equipment all day long. And then, who knows, maybe the mighty DSLR will increasingly be left on the bench. We already know quite a few of these cases.