Canon is back and the RP is outstanding....

This is quite possibly one of the best Full Frame bodies on the market especially at the “kit” price point of $999 with the RF 24-105 STM lens.

Things I absolutely love:

1. Well designed, comfortable mirrorless body. One of my biggest gripes with mirrorless bodies is the size which often is an ergonomics compromise. While my former Fuji is well loved by folks who appreciate the analog dials, I greatly prefer Canon’s approach which replicates their respected DSLR layout. The grip is large, deep and quite comfortable and the button layout is well organized.

2. Dual Pixel Autofocus. It’s rock solid, fast, accurate and very predictive. The camera easily follows the eye of my toddler even at far off distances which is impressive.

3. Menus. I have owned numerous brands over the years and no matter how hard I try, I still find myself fumbling through menus. Canons menus are clean and crisp and well organized.

4. Finally a SmartPhone Class Touch Screen ! The swivel touch screen is superb. Canon nailed the touch capabilities of this body. It’s incredibly intuitive and the UI is well thought out.

5. Colors. Yep I said the “C” word. So I have been around the block over the last few years: My last stop was with Fuji a camera highly coveted for its colors and I totally agree Fuji is (or was) king of hill. Coming back to Canon I really didn’t know what to expect. To be honest in my own comparison I found Canon’s standard profile to be very close to Fuji Provia. They are both very beautiful profiles with the Fuji delivering cooler tones compared to Canon.. That being said there is a certain “depth” to the colors and tones of the RP that really stand out to me. It’s quite honestly one of the best JPEG makers I have ever seen.

6. Image Quality. Yes this goes with the “C” word but I felt the colors were impressive enough to earn their own point. Images are extremely detailed. Images are noise free and as ISO rises the camera is really good at retaining color and contrast. Dynamic Range is arguably the biggest complaint on the web and while I won’t get into this debate, I have had no issues with lifting shadows or recovering highlights. I will put it to you this way if people never measured DR with charts and graphs I don’t think anyone would really notice.

Things I like

1. Finally great connectivity. The ability to transfer both JPEGs and RAWs wirelessly and quickly is nice. The remote camera functionally is again (thanks to Canon’s designers) very well implemented. It takes seconds to transfer files to my iPad.

2. Lens selection. Fuji has nice glass no doubt, but having access to Canon’s entire catalog of EF glass, third party glass, and the new RF mount glass is a big plus for me. I like having a variety of price points to choose from and I appreciate the large selection of glass at my disposal.

3. The RF control ring . Man this is cool. The ability to assign the ring on the lens to things like ISO or aperture is very cool. Kudos Canon.

4. Customization. The cameras is highly customizable considering the price point.

5. Build Quality. It feels like a Canon 6D body (with the top cut off). It just feels very solid, the construction is top notch.

6. Battery Life. I get about a day of light use (tethered to WiFi for auto transfers). It’s not bad as some reviews claimed, but it’s not going to win any awards either. The battery is tiny, so carrying a few is not an issue.

Things i am ok with, but could use some work:

1. DPP. It’s slow and clunky, but it’s the only way to maintain Canon’s colors. Adobe’s default color profiles are absolutely hideous and they currently do not offer a matching profile.

2. The EVF. It does the job, but the rear LCD is probably the best I have ever used on any camera to date. I wish the EVF was as clear and color accurate as the rear LCD.

3. RF Lenses. They are coming I know, but compact primes are a great match for this body and currently the only compact prime is the 35 1.8. Would love to see a trio of primes like the Fuji F2 offerings.

So who is this camera for ?

To me this is the ultimate family camera, the ultimate travel camera, and the ultimate hobbyist / enthusiast camera. If you are not a fan of processing RAW (or you just want a beak sometimes like me) this is quite possibly hands down the best JPEG maker on the market.

P.S. buy this with the RF 24-105 STM (unless you want to spend money on the bigger L):  The RF 24-105 STM is small, compact, has a great all purpose nice range, the optics are sharp, the bokeh is suprisingly good, it has good macro capabilities, and is stabilized.

I agree with all of the above. And to think that today, for 1000$, one can get, as a travel and family camera, either the rp with 24-105 stm kit or the G1X mark III.  Won't get into comparisons here but it's quite the choice.

wats0n wrote:

If you are not a fan of processing RAW (or you just want a beak sometimes like me) this is quite possibly hands down the best JPEG maker on the market.

This.  This is a very important aspect. I find my M50 doing a better job as a jpeg maker than my R, and although i won't choose the RP over the R, this is where the RP is having an important winning point over the R.

Robert Sheldon wrote:

"To me this is the ultimate family camera, the ultimate travel camera,"

The one thing missing to make it the ultimate travel camera is a light weight, wide zoom lens. When I travel 24mm is just not wide enough. Too many cathedrals, bridges, castles, etc demand at least 15 or 16 mm. The wide zoom lenses in this category are all over 1 lb. They are heavier than the RP itself.

I have to imagine a an ultra wide STM Lens is in the works...fingers crossed !

thunder storm wrote:

wats0n wrote:

If you are not a fan of processing RAW (or you just want a beak sometimes like me) this is quite possibly hands down the best JPEG maker on the market.

This. This is a very important aspect. I find my M50 doing a better job as a jpeg maker than my R, and although i won't choose the RP over the R, this is where the RP is having an important winning point over the R.

Agreed. After years of Lightroom, sometimes I just want to shoot and have the satisfaction of enjoying and sharing my work straight from the camera. I have never understood why rock solid JPEGs are not a priority for everyone when looking for a camera.

thunder storm wrote:

This. This is a very important aspect. I find my M50 doing a better job as a jpeg maker than my R, and although i won't choose the RP over the R, this is where the RP is having an important winning point over the R.

I am deciding between the R and the RP. Could you elaborate on what is lacking in the jpegs from the R?

Wouldn't it just be a tweak to one of Canon's picture styles?

Robert Sheldon wrote:

"To me this is the ultimate family camera, the ultimate travel camera,"

The one thing missing to make it the ultimate travel camera is a light weight, wide zoom lens. When I travel 24mm is just not wide enough. Too many cathedrals, bridges, castles, etc demand at least 15 or 16 mm. The wide zoom lenses in this category are all over 1 lb. They are heavier than the RP itself.

I looked high and low for some kind of answer to this when I was on Sony. The sad reality is if you want a decent ultrawide zoom- it's gonna be at least 1 lb. I feel your pain though. I have found that with architecture a wide prime works fine. The buildings aren't going anywhere I can take my time. I like a 14/2.8 for that use.

kd6vm wrote:

thunder storm wrote:

This. This is a very important aspect. I find my M50 doing a better job as a jpeg maker than my R, and although i won't choose the RP over the R, this is where the RP is having an important winning point over the R.

I am deciding between the R and the RP. Could you elaborate on what is lacking in the jpegs from the R?

Skintones aren't warm enough in some situations. It happens often in low light situations when a face is surrounded by a relatively dark back ground. Or bright sunny conditions when the exposure is a bit too much at the bright side.  It seams the white balance doesn't have enough reference in these cases. However, my M50 does not have these kind of problems (although that one paired to the sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 can't handle low light situations as difficult as my R + 50mm f/1.4 is able to handle, so.....  it could have to do with how difficult the situations are in terms of available light)

Sometimes not only faces but an image as a whole is a bit on the green side.

There's a tab in the menu where you can tweak the colors, and setting it one or two steps on the horizontal axis to the reds helps for me. Probably this messes up true to life colors a bit (not to a degree i would notice it though), but that's not as important to me as having warm enough skin tones when i need it.

Wouldn't it just be a tweak to one of Canon's picture styles?

I never dived so deep in this i can exclude this could solve a problem. I didn't find anything setting like "gimme warmer skin tones in the situations they are too cold" or "handle the colors as smart as the M50". I don't find categories there fitting the problems i am experiencing. But there are forum members around having far more knowledge and experience than me.

thunder storm wrote:

Skintones aren't warm enough in some situations. It happens often in low light situations when a face is surrounded by a relatively dark back ground. Or bright sunny conditions when the exposure is a bit too much at the bright side. It seams the white balance doesn't have enough reference in these cases. However, my M50 does not have these kind of problems (although that one paired to the sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 can't handle low light situations as difficult as my R + 50mm f/1.4 is able to handle, so..... it could have to do with how difficult the situations are in terms of available light)

Sometimes not only faces but an image as a whole is a bit on the green side.

I have a Canon 60D that sometimes will throw the entire picture out of color balance.  However, just adjusting the gamma slider in any photo program will fix it.

I certainly would not want that to happen with a new camera.

There's a tab in the menu where you can tweak the colors, and setting it one or two steps on the horizontal axis to the reds helps for me. Probably this messes up true to life colors a bit (not to a degree i would notice it though), but that's not as important to me as having warm enough skin tones when i need it.

Maybe the Canon portrait picture style would  fix that.

Wouldn't it just be a tweak to one of Canon's picture styles?

I never dived so deep in this i can exclude this could solve a problem. I didn't find anything setting like "gimme warmer skin tones in the situations they are too cold" or "handle the colors as smart as the M50". I don't find categories there fitting the problems i am experiencing. But there are forum members around having far more knowledge and experience than me.

I just use the landscape picture style as a starting point and reduce the contrast and up the saturation a couple of notches.

I would look forward to the extra features in the 'R', but if the 'RP' produces more consistent quality jpegs, I might have to consider that.

I would add excellent focus peaking to the list of positives.

Agreed, even a 20mm f1.4-1.8 at a reasonable cost and size would be nice.

wats0n wrote:

thunder storm wrote:

wats0n wrote:

If you are not a fan of processing RAW (or you just want a beak sometimes like me) this is quite possibly hands down the best JPEG maker on the market.

This. This is a very important aspect. I find my M50 doing a better job as a jpeg maker than my R, and although i won't choose the RP over the R, this is where the RP is having an important winning point over the R.

Agreed. After years of Lightroom, sometimes I just want to shoot and have the satisfaction of enjoying and sharing my work straight from the camera. I have never understood why rock solid JPEGs are not a priority for everyone when looking for a camera.

Agreed.  After using RAW for almost 20 years, I am done with it for non-pro photoshoots.  In camera jpegs are very nice.  This is why I want the new heif format to take off.

I ended up opting for the RP the first part of July and have never regretted that choice.

Jpegs are superb and, like others, after playing with the RAW files, It is nice to just be able to enjoy the photos straight from the camera.

Thanks for the review. Ordered the RP Body and EF-R Control Ring Adapter for US$770 on Amazon.SG.