Aloha from Maui, Hawaii — I’m here at Canon’s launch event for their just-announced EOS R Full Frame Mirrorless camera. I got a chance to get my hands on the new camera, and I have to say, Canon did a kick-butt job on this big-time Mirrorless.
Get The Scoop Live on The Grid and Ask Canon’s Tech Gurus Yourself
Before we get to the tech specs — today you’ll have the opportunity to ask questions directly to Canon’s photo and video gurus, along with YouTube sensation Devin Supertramp, and Fashion Photographer Lindsay Adler, as we’re broadcasting The Grid live from Maui, Hawaii today at 4 PM ET (kelbyone.com/thegrid or facebook.com/skelby) -These guys have the answers, and we’ll be taking your questions live – see you at 4PM EDT today!
OK, onto to my first impressions:
The camera specs are found all over the Web (here’s a link to Canon’s EOS R official spec sheet), but here are the features that stood out to me:
30.3-megapixels
5,655 AF points (read that one again, out loud)
They nailed the ergonomics, and the overall feel (and grip) feels great! It feels like a DSLR even without the battery grip. They crushed it on the ergo side, and everybody at the event was talking about how great the camera feels in your hand.
Touch Bar in the back is very clever, and it’s customizable. You can assign what you want it to controls (like your ISO for example), but you can have it control more than one thing. Really slick when you try it.
Full articulating touch screen, up/down, flips out, the whole 9-yards
The very small size of their just announced 24-105mm is worth nothing (more on new lenses in a minute)
It has 4K video at 30-fps, and 1080p HD at 60 fps, but the one that stood out to me was the 720p HD at 120 fps for super slow-mo.
There’s a $99 mount adapter so you can use your existing Canon EF or EF-S lenses.
Only one card slot, but at least it’s SD (SD cards are probably the lowest priced cards out there).
It takes the super popular, ubiquitous LP-E6N or E6 Canon battery (thank, goodness!), and you can get a battery grip for it, to add a 2nd battery. About 370-ish shots per battery.
My first impressions of the Electronic Viewfinder
Way, way better than I was expecting. I’m not a fan of Electronic Viewfinders at all, but this one might make me change my mind. Really well done.
But at the end of the day, features are just features
It’s like describing a guitar by telling you what kind of pick-ups it has and what type of wood the fretboard is made from. What really matters is this — how to do the images look? I got a chance to play with one, and see the images right from a pre-release model of the camera, including large prints (so it’s not a full production unit yet, and will still be tweaked, enhanced and such), and they are just beautiful! Vivid. Crisp. Rockin! I also saw some 4K Video Devin shot and it looked absolutely stunning. At the end of the day, how the images look — that’s what it’s all about.
Pricing:
I think they killed it on the pricing – $2,299.
Anticipated Ship Date:
The body ships in October 2018
They launched some nice new lenses for their new Mirrorless R-mount as well – smaller, lighter, very fast!
But, I think their new control ring feature is show stealer!!! Such a clever idea for adding controls right to the lenses themselves, and you even buy an adapter to add a control ring to your existing EF lens. This is really slick! OK, on to the new RF Lenses:
> 28-70mm f/2 ($2,999) ships in December 2018
> 24-105 mm f/4L IS USM ($1,099), December 2018
> 35mm f/1.8 MACRO IS STM ($499) December 2018
> 50mm f/1.2L L USM ($2,299) October 2018
> Mount Adapter for the EF-EOS R ($99) October 2018
Pretty serious-level lenses.
Lighter big lenses, too!
Another big announcement was the release of two big EF lenses (for sports and wildlife shooters), that are about 2lbs lighter than previous models, making them the lightest weight lenses of their kind. The crowd here dug ’em!
Lots more to share later today on our “Live from Hawaii” edition of The Grid. See you then – 4 pm EDT today!
Best,
-Scott
P.S. I also saw (though not covered in today’s launch event) Canon introduced a new EL-100 flash (Speedlight). 24mm coverage. Optical wireless. Mode dial driven. Very small, and simple. $199.99 – ships October 2018
24-105mm is worth nothing (more on new lenses in a minute)
You probably meant “worth noting” :)
Forgot to mention Canon has zero or suckass R&D on InBodyImageStabilization. IBIS on the EOSR would be 95% perfect and ahead of Sony and Nikon.
I’m actually a Nikon guy, just pointing out a spelling error for Scott (who IS a Canon guy. :) )
Or they just made a choice not to do in body IS. It’s a choice that a camera maker has to make.
I heard a few weeks back (not on this site) that another mirrorless camera had been introduced…
yeah, it only has one slot too but it’s newer tech. lol
Breaking news? Nikon just released the Z7 and several reputable sites noted they (Canon) would release a mirror-less not to be outdone by their chief rival. No surprise here!
It’s certainly exciting to see Canon with something that actually feels like a new and forward thinking product. It’s not perfect for me and I think this could have been the killer vlogging camera with huge sales and it still might be.
I do still feel Canon is holding back on this. Although I totally understand one camera needs to be different than the next one up, so you don’t put it all in one. Mostly it seems to disappoint folks on the video side. Perhaps we have too many bodies in the Canon line up now. But most of us aren’t experts in running a Camera company, so we can demand this and that. You know what. If they gave us it all, there would still be someone chiming up saying, you’ve given us 4K now why not 6k ?
I believe there will be another camera released within 6 months, and apart from the 6K, maybe it’ll have it all as well as all the new cool tech they’ve introduced. Really interesting times. And I don’t think we’ll have to hold our breath very long before Sony launches yet another camera as their answer. Which is good. More competition gives us better products.
Thanks for the review Scott, will enjoy hearing your honest views of where it could fit in your camera bag, if at all.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the ergonomics of Canon camera’s and the menu system, but they could have done way better!! I’ll be keeping around a Canon camera for stills, but have already started moving to other manufactures for video work.
My invite to Maui must have been lost in the post….
https://rickmcevoyphotography.com/