M5 II "Mini RP" concept

The RP is roughly the same height as the M5 and M50, but has higher shoulders.  Even before it came out, I was thinking about doing the same thing to the M5 to give it a little more real estate and possibly even a better/taller grip (though, I do think it is very good for how small the overall body is.)

The RP also has a bigger grip and lens mount, both of which require it to be notably wider than the M5 and M50.  So, I thought about what Canon could do with an RP-type design, but utilizing the smaller EF-M lens mount and grip.  The latter being possible due to the smaller/lighter EF-M lenses.

Finally, I've said that I wanted a higher magnification viewfinder on the M5 (could differentiate future M50 series with the current one), but that it didn't need to be as high as on the X-T_ series or the R.  The RP came out with a perfect compromise.  It is the lower-end one in the R series, but it could be the perfect upper-end one for the M series.

This is what I came up with (not a perfect mock-up, but close enough.)  Thoughts?

As I said in another post why not just put an M mount on the RP. Not a major job to re-tool for that run. An M5 ll with that body I would buy it.

Canon doesn’t want to go bigger on the M, that’s it’s strength.

But, I suspect an optional grip could be offered.

That said Canon may borrow features like focus stacking, continuous eye-af, Fv and perhaps employ feedback on the manual focus rings on M lenses for control function like the R. That last part is up to Canon. They could do it, but may retain that feature for the R. If control ring functions come the the MF ring on EF-Ms, you can bet it’ll be a M5 / M6 II only affair.

fstopx2 wrote:

You do nice work in Photoshop.

Canon will never let the M compete with the RP.

Thanks.

It still wouldn't compete with the RP, since the RP is FF.  This is just borrowing some design cues (probably a little less literally than I did) from it.  The physical dimension of the same as the current M5.

Peter_Birch wrote:

As I said in another post why not just put an M mount on the RP. Not a major job to re-tool for that run. An M5 ll with that body I would buy it.

To each their own, but I wouldn't be as happy with a body that wide.  The RF lens mount is so much bigger and the heavier lenses require a beefier grip, so you get a less ideal setup (for my purposes.)  It easier to swallow if you're getting the FF sensor with it.

RLight wrote:

Canon doesn’t want to go bigger on the M, that’s it’s strength.

But, I suspect an optional grip could be offered.

It's not bigger, though.  The height, width and depth would all be exactly the same as the current M5.  In fact, the viewfinder on the RP actually sticks out less.  All I did was give the shoulders more height.  The viewfinder simply doesn't stick up as much.

I think it sounds like a very good idea. Why not. You’d get most of the size benefits plus a better grip.

One point, the RP viewfinder has the same specs as the M50 viewfinder, as far as I am aware, so that wouldn’t be a differentiating factor.

Nice mock-up!

To me the strength of the M series is the size; the M6 is the largest M I'd like to carry around. I'd enjoy having a built-in EVF, but not if it makes the camera any larger.  (The M100 is even smaller of course, but dearth of buttons irks me.)

With this in mind, RP and M5 are already way too big - when I played with one next to an R and M6 the RP felt much closer in size to the R than the M6.

It'd of course be fine if Canon did an M5 II like you propose as long as they also did an M6 II no larger than the current M6

sobrien wrote:

I think it sounds like a very good idea. Why not. You’d get most of the size benefits plus a better grip.

Thanks

One point, the RP viewfinder has the same specs as the M50 viewfinder, as far as I am aware, so that wouldn’t be a differentiating factor.

Well, that's surprising and disappointing.  I thought that I had read that the M5's viewfinder was .6-something-x magnification, and comparing with the X-T1/R that have 0.77-0.78x magnification, there is a world of difference.  As such, I was thinking that the 0.70x on the RP had to be somewhere in between the two.  It does, indeed, look like the RP and M50 use the same screen.  Odd that the glass on the EVF opening on the RP is larger.  At least, it does stick out less from the back.

carpandean wrote:

sobrien wrote:

I think it sounds like a very good idea. Why not. You’d get most of the size benefits plus a better grip.

Thanks

One point, the RP viewfinder has the same specs as the M50 viewfinder, as far as I am aware, so that wouldn’t be a differentiating factor.

Well, that's surprising and disappointing. I thought that I had read that the M5's viewfinder was .6-something-x magnification, and comparing with the X-T1/R that have 0.77-0.78x magnification, there is a world of difference. As such, I was thinking that the 0.70x on the RP had to be somewhere in between the two. It does, indeed, look like the RP and M50 use the same screen. Odd that the glass on the EVF opening on the RP is larger. At least, it does stick out less from the back.

They might be similar on paper but the RP EVF is very different, much larger than the M50. It's very similar to the difference between APS-C DSLRs and a 6D, it feels like a FF EVF.