R7 and Macro

Marceppy wrote:

Thanks I appreciate the information. The birding, wildlife, sporting, landscape R7 thread had pushed me back towards a 5dM4 due to the comments about the image issues with the R7. Some of what was being discussed did not relate to a macro setup so I thought Id ask the folks that have experience.

I've been one of the more vocal critics of the R7's very slow sensor readout speed and the resulting rolling shutter problems. But these are only relevant when shooting subjects which move fairly fast (bird-in-flight wings, dragonfly-in-flight wings, various sports subjects) and when panning. The R7 is a superb camera for static macro and near-macro subjects.

I spoke with CPS last week and specifically about the R7 flash capability in EFCS which was -- "it does not trigger flash speedlights. " If you have found a way to make it work .. please explain in detail.

There's nothing to explain, it's just not true. Flash doesn't work with ES (Electronic Shutter) but it works as normal with EFCS (Electronic First Curtain Shutter) and traditional mechanical shutter.

However there is a macro-related problem to be aware of, which is that the in-camera focus bracketing feature, which is really good for some macro subjects, works only with Electronic Shutter and therefore not with flash. It's hard to criticise the R7 for this, because very few bodies support flash with electronic shutter. The R3 does, and the Nikon Z9, but the one which is most relevant for macro is the OM-1.

There are of course other focus bracketing techniques, and/or you may be able to use continuous lighting, so this is still not necessarily a deal breaker.

Any experience pro or con for using the R7 or other Rs for macro would be appreciated.

Ive been back and forth on the fence with the R7 and a DLSR

There is no reason that I can think of to favour a DSLR for macro, other than price, and this is only because DSLRs are generally older models at discounted prices. But even here the difference is not huge - the 90D's street price is £1,100, vs £1,349 for the R7.

Full frame would not be my choice for most macro work. Is there a reason why you specifically mention the 5D4?

I see you've used Olympus before - it would definitely be worth checking out the OM-1 before you decide. More expensive though.