xtam667 wrote:
I used the 1DX series and have been a Canon shooter since forever. The R3 is the best Canon body I have ever tried and among the best of anything, really. There is only one use case I find it inferior to the Z9, focal length limited bird photography. Too bad this is 90% of all the reasons why I want a top of the line camera. There is nothing like the Z9 + 800mm f6.3 PF lens in the Canon camp, unfortunately. Even if the R1 came along a lightweight and compact super tele below $7000 was still missing and it is not even rumoured. Z9 with 45mpix behind a 800mm f6.3 makes a big difference compared to R3 with 24mpix behind a 700mm f5.6 (the EF 500mm f4 + 1.4x that I have) and it is lighter and cheaper at the same time. I could go with the RF 600mm f4 but did you see the price of that one? And still only 24 mpix. The R5+RF600mm+1.4x gets a similar pixels/duck ratio but then there are usability issues in the field.
I totally get that for the OP's purposes the R3 is ideal and I really wish that it was for me too. Anyone else of you bird shooters whose primary targets are not close-by ostriches feel the same? Do you see the Z9 + 800mm f6.3 PF a better enough combo to make the switch?
The R3 is definitively a sports/photojournalists/events camera. There is no way I want to shoot a full day of event/wedding with a 50mp camera. It sucks for people who also want to do wildlife with it, but I suspect that not many wedding photographers or journalists does wildlife/birds as well. Id rather have specialized tools that excels at their jobs, and 24mp is way more than you need for everything that ends up on web paper.
If I want hi res, I reach for the GFX100.