Canon R3 Review: My Perfect Camera

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.

If you're usually focal length limited, and cropping even from a FF + 800mm image, the R7 with a 600 will give you pretty much the same pixels per duck (slightly more, in fact) as a Z9 or R5 with 800. The high ISO noise performance will also be very close, depending on which 600 you mount on the R7.

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?