Canon R3 Review: My Perfect Camera

Summerjoy wrote:

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 with the R3. The R5+RF 600mm+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?

First of all, it is correct in terms of content that there is no such combination at Canon, or not yet.
First of all, it is a very special field of application, and secondly, the combination unfortunately also has weaknesses.
As far as I know, the 800mm lens is not as fast in terms of focus as Nikon's lenses with shorter focal length and higher speed. This leads to focus hunting when there is not enough light available.
Possibly the Z9 is the cause here!
It would be interesting to know if the VCM motor was not installed here.
For me, a 400 2.8 would be the better choice in any case, even with Nikon. These lenses are faster and quieter.

Therefore I see, especially with the mentioned lens, a very limited working range and would clearly not be a feature to opt for this combination if I had to choose.

As someone who has used a Z9 and 800 PF, I laugh whenever I hear people infer its slow. That was definitely a fast focusing combo. I've used combos including the 1DX III and EF 600 III, A1 and Sony 600 GM, and various other expensive combos, and the 800 and Z9 did not feel substantially slower, if at all. In all honesty, it felt faster than my R5 and 500L II, and I rate that combo as very fast. I shot it on an overcast day tracking very fast weasels and thought it worked very well (but that is far from "low light"). Its possible the newer VC motors are faster, but calling the 800 PF a slower focusing lens just shows that someone hasn't used the product. A slow focusing lens IMO, is the Nikon 200-500, but that's a $1,500 fixed aperture f/5.6 500mm zoom.

Where the Z9 falls short is the AF consistency. It is very good, just not Canon/Sony good (note, this is from early firmware). Didn't notice hunting when I used it, but it did drop subjects quicker than I expected.

On the topic of the 400 f/2.8 & 600 f/4 TCs, I wish Canon had listened to its customers years ago when we asked for a TC integrated prime. I've been asking for it since the chunky but excellent 200-400 f/4 was released. The only barrier for me would be if Canon tried to milk its customers like they did with the RF 800 f/5.6 and RF 1200 f/8. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening for us for another 6-10 years.