Canon EOS R Review (for Photography)

The Canon EOS R is a quirky little camera. There are a lot of features I like about it, but there are a bunch of things that annoy me about it when I tested it taking photos too.

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Special thanks to B&H for letting me borrow this camera and 3 lenses to do this review.

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📖 Table of Contents:

👍🏼 PROS:
1:25 — Electronic Viewfinder
1:47 — Size of Focus Area
2:22 — New RF Lenses
2:43 — Lens Adapters
3:18 — Eye Tracking Autofocus
4:15 — LCD Screen
4:58 — Focus Peaking & Focus Guide
5:32 — USB-C Charging
5:47 — The new 35mm Macro IS Lens

👎🏼 CONS:
6:27 — Ergonomics & Manual Function Trackpad
7:57 — Front Heavy Lenses
9:00 — 1 SD Card Slot
9:39 — No built-in intervalometer for time lapse photos
10:13 — Summary/Who Should Buy The EOS-R

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[rhykko]

Good points, but image quality is not much different that the 5d Mkiv'

I both sell and use the EOS R and though a superficial look at an image may not
be much different from the excellent 5D mk iv, if one looks a bit more carefully,
the lenses that the new mirrorless design uses are SUPERB and substantially
sharper and better in many ways than the lenses that the 5D series uses .
This design has allowed Canon to engineer lenses that producing amazing
images with far fewer drawbacks than older EF lenses
including both center and peripheral sharpness
and reduction of may chromatic and other aberrations.
Truly all of the cameras we use today are pretty spectacular by the standards
of even a few years ago, but the R series is going to bring optical performance
up a substantial notch !  Cheers .

[TheKimcheez]

I am a EOS R user and I am growing on the touch bar. I dont like to use the 2sec lock thing but I actually use the button lock on the top. I have it set to just lock the pad and it's been working for me! Just my 0.02

[sasca]

Thanks to the firmware 1.2 update, eye AF now works great in servo mode for both stills _and_ video!

[stuart-hayes]

That’s actually reviewed it as a camera for taking photographs.

[roadbiker]

The EOS does indeed have a intervalometer/time-lapse feature. This is directly from the Canon website: "The EOS R includes built-in intervalometer functions to record and compile time-lapse movies. Record time-lapse in either 4K UHD or Full HD using intervals from two seconds up to 99 hours, 59 minutes long with finished durations of up to 3600 frames. Time-lapse movies are assembled in-camera and produce your choice of a finished 3840x2160 or 1920x1080 image sequence."

[TheVFXbyArt]

07:00 Ok “Touchbar-gate”...😝.

As a fellow 5D3 user, but also an eos-M5 abuser, i can understand why your thumb may rest on the touchbar. But having used the touch-drag M3/5 for the past 3 years, canon has essentially trained me to rest my thumb on the touchscreen. So much so that have tried touch dragging on the 5D3! It felt like I was playing space invaders when I would go back to the joystick! When I first held the R, my thumb went to the touch drag! Thats what 2 years of “training” did! Mind you that joystick has been my fav since the 2005 20D! Its what made me spend more for a 7D in 2011 instead of the sudden joystickless XXD’s that were coming out at the time!

Back to the touchbar:

For shooting I have the 2 sec delay and use it for AF modes.

For playback its always on, and i use swipe for the image forward and back (its faster than the touchscreen, #DualDigicChips4nextR). Left tap is image rating, rt tap is (un)protect images.

Makes on set image culling lighting fast vs mushing buttons!

❤️❤️#Learn2LuvTouchbar❤️❤️

😝😝

Seriously, give yourself time to train. I still want the joystick and thumb rotary back since on the future 5R (you heard it here first!), its more options that would make the camera more lovable. But touch-drag and touchbar are the future.

[SteveCoutts]

I am quite late to the EOS R party. I just recently started looking at it seriously. The 5D3 is my main photography camera. It's trustworthy and dependable - an absolute workhorse. I bought an 80D for video work, which is does well and it also became my backup shooter mainly because the autofocus is crisp and accurate. Of course though, the control layout of the 80D varies greatly from the 5D3 so it's not optimal switching back and forth during event shooting. The EOS R feels more like my 5D3 minus the joystick. I have contemplated adding a 5D4 to the lineup and relegating 5D3 to backup. I think you're right, EOS R is a great start but if Canons releases a "pro" body with ergonomics matching their current pro bodies and fix a few of the other lacking bits for pro photographers, it will be a big winner. Thanks for the thorough and thoughtful review.

[johnchedsey]

I've had the EOS R for a bit over a month and absolutely love it. I moved over from the 6D2 and have no regrets. Admittedly, that weird touchbar has been something I just avoid altogether. But otherwise, I've loved this camera for far better long exposure photos, landscapes and a few portraits. I appreciate this thoughtful, reasonable review of the camera. It definitely isn't going to suit everyone, but no product ever will.

[heythereitsajay]

I skipped five eos r review videos and got here, your review is the best!! you are up there with MKBHD :)

[MikeMuellnerMD]

The Eos R does 120 fps in 720 p, has a nice streamline single card slot, no superfluous in body stabilization, and lenses that are a bargain at $3, 000. What's not to like?

[HexForger]

I'm not sure if a single SD card is really that big issue since you can "instantly" auto-transfer photos, as they're being shot, to your mobile? Moreover, Cannon's app now supports auto-transfer of RAWs. It has some cons (transfer speed depends on number of factors, battery drained faster but apparently not dramatically) but to some extent having photos instantly backed up to my mobile, so a separate secured device, might be even a better option than a second card on the same device (camera).
EDIT: Also, a really well prepared review. Good job mate.

[MercMan]

Awesome review! I just purchased an EOS R today and can’t wait to get it!!

[constantinekulyk]

Man, why do you have not much views? Your content is made with good high-quality. Maybe you should invest a little in marketing so that you can gain the attention you deserve.

[dtotief]

Thank you for the video Caleb. One request though: you talk about the eye autofocus and say that it works only in single shot mode. Could you test the face tracking (without eye af) and tell us where it focuses? Because I've seen reviews saying that face tracking is actually eye tracking. It doesn't focus randomly on the nose, the cheek, the lips etc. but on the eye. I don't know if it's choosing the closest eye but please make a test and give us the results. If it is actually focusing on the eye then a lot of negative comments about the not so good eye af will go down the drain and prove that the little square around the eye isn't anything more than a try to compete with what Sony offers and to satisfy the ever increasing demand of us consumers to get more and more gadgets, even if it makes no sense.

[diggyz]

I consider changing from 5d mark iv to Eos R just because i want my sigma 35mm to work. Right now it only works in live view since it focuses on the sensor. When using the viewfinder the center point is most of the time pretty OK after calibration but all other points are not in focus which makes it useless.

[AdrianWilsonBridders]

I was looking for a B cam to add to my C100 mark 2 and to replace my 1 DS3 for photos, but to me this camera doesn’t add up and over priced at £2400 and the lack of features that Sony and Fuji have, Canon seem to have not listened to what photographers want and strip out and cut corners. The only reason I’ve been loyal to Canon is the quality of the glass and nothing comes close to the 70 - 200 F 2.8 L 2. I have looked at the Sony A 7 3 but the ergonomics are a nightmare and doesn’t have the robustness and could end up being broken easily and I don’t know whether Sony has the pro support like Canon does in the UK .

[onlysublime]

I love the EOS R! My past Canon were the 6D, the 80D, the 6D2, and the 5D4. It did take a bit of adjustment to go the EOS R in terms of the UI and ergonomics but now it feels so natural. I love the control ring so much! I actually went back to my friend's 80D to teach her photography basics and it took me a bit to remember how to do things on the 80D.

[_KJB]

Caleb, two questions for you: 1) for all the gear you show and list, one of the coolest seems to be that little flip-out stand you are using to support the camera in this video. What is it and where did you get it?, 2) What is the exact setup (equipment and settings) you used to shoot this video. I have been trying to achieve the look you achieved in this video and always seem to fall short. As for your video, you apparently shot it way too soon after you got the camera and didn't do much research after you hit a glitch. Most of your "cons" either already were addressed when you made this or weren't really cons (not including "opinions", "feelings" and "impressions") in the objective measurable world. While you are welcome to all your subjective comments, they certainly aren't going to be shared by everyone. I have fairly small hands (I wear a medium cadet golf glove) and truly appreciate the feel and size of the camera and love the ergonomics of this camera. The placement of controls is impeccable and the addition of the control ring and touch bar easily make up for the loss of the joystick. People who complain about the missing joystick, in my opinion, are simply hanging on too tightly to old, familiar systems and have not opened up to more efficient controls that work better, are less costly to build, more reliable and provide additional versatility. Give the camera another shot and use it exclusively for 3 months, when you hit a snag, hit the community channels to discover how others have overcome it (and I don't mean live with it, I mean find a perfectly acceptable solution that is just "different" than you expected) Personally, I believe Canon has started a new paradigm in camera control management that is going to be emulated by everyone very soon.

[diy-fixit]

ligament video. I'm a Eos R user with both RF 24-105 and RF 35mm. I'm with you about the 35 and future lens choices for travel and weight. Only other thing would like to add is the Adobe DNG converter and LR6 files look much better in Capture one pro 12.

[dris]

I went from the 5DIV to the EOS-R and love it mostly. I do think the image quality on the 5DIV was a tad bit better when it came to shadow noise.