R 50 / 7 / 10 for a beginning photographer

Good morning - I am wanting to buy a new camera and at present with been reading alot of reviews and doing camera comparisons. I currently own a bridge camera.

I come from a "film camera" many years ago and had the classic Canon AE1. From there I had several Canon Powershots.

I have tried to dip my toe back into interchangeable lens cameras (owning Olympus 520E and Fuji XT-20) however my biggest problem was I found the menus to be cumbersome.

I have decided to go "back to school" (I'm well into 60 years) and take a beginner photo class so I need an easy to use camera I can grow into.

I'm currently considering both Olympus and Canon brands.

I have read a number of reviews recommending the R50 as a good beginner camera, but that it has limitations for user growth and there were recommendstions to look at the R10.

I'm also looking at the R7 as it is environmentally sealed (which appeals to me as I am going whale watching this year and I enjoy bird photography).

Having said that if the R7 is not as user / beginner friendly I will look at the R10.

Any thoughts / recommendations would be appreciated.

sheepless wrote:

Good morning - I am wanting to buy a new camera and at present with been reading alot of reviews and doing camera comparisons. I currently own a bridge camera.

I come from a "film camera" many years ago and had the classic Canon AE1. From there I had several Canon Powershots.

I have tried to dip my toe back into interchangeable lens cameras (owning Olympus 520E and Fuji XT-20) however my biggest problem was I found the menus to be cumbersome.

I have decided to go "back to school" (I'm well into 60 years) and take a beginner photo class so I need an easy to use camera I can grow into.

I'm currently considering both Olympus and Canon brands.

I have read a number of reviews recommending the R50 as a good beginner camera, but that it has limitations for user growth and there were recommendstions to look at the R10.

I'm also looking at the R7 as it is environmentally sealed (which appeals to me as I am going whale watching this year and I enjoy bird photography).

Having said that if the R7 is not as user / beginner friendly I will look at the R10.

Any thoughts / recommendations would be appreciated.

The R7 and R10 are similar in many ways, and in terms of the user interface are very similar indeed, so I would not regard the R7 as less user friendly, or the R10 as less capable of progression. As you say the R7 has better weather sealing, it also has a bigger battery, are larger sensor (32.5 vs 24MP), is larger overall, and has a slightly better viewfinder, and is generally regarded as more suitable to wildlife photography. The R10 is smaller and lighter, the sensor is capable of very good results, and it has the same autofocus as the R7.

I use an R5 with a range of lenses from 14mm to 500mm, but have recently bought an R10 as a small walk around / weekend away type of camera, and I am very pleased with the results. With the RF18-150 lens It is in most respects better than the "crop sensor" dSLRs I've had before (80D, 90D) and is very compact.

The R7 would do very nicely for your whale watching trip, but so would the R10 if you are careful with it. The ideal lens would be the RF 100-400, affordable and good image quality, but not weather sealed. If you can justify it, the RF100-500 L is the absolute best lens for wildlife, but it is a lot more expensive, fully sealed, larger and heavier.

Another system to look at is Olympus (now OM Sytems), the OM1 series have superb weather sealing (a friend dropped his in the water with no ill effects) and a very good range of lenses. The sensor is smaller, but still has very good image quality. Personally I prefer the handling of the Canons, and in my view the menu system is far better, but this is very personal. Are you able to get to a store to try them out?

Good luck with your search, feel free to come back for more advice but be aware that if you ask 10 photographers for their opinions you'll get 20 answers!  PS I'm well into my 60s too...but been fully digital since the first dSLRs came on the market.

drsnoopy wrote:

sheepless wrote:

Good morning - I am wanting to buy a new camera and at present with been reading alot of reviews and doing camera comparisons. I currently own a bridge camera.

I come from a "film camera" many years ago and had the classic Canon AE1. From there I had several Canon Powershots.

I have tried to dip my toe back into interchangeable lens cameras (owning Olympus 520E and Fuji XT-20) however my biggest problem was I found the menus to be cumbersome.

I have decided to go "back to school" (I'm well into 60 years) and take a beginner photo class so I need an easy to use camera I can grow into.

I'm currently considering both Olympus and Canon brands.

I have read a number of reviews recommending the R50 as a good beginner camera, but that it has limitations for user growth and there were recommendstions to look at the R10.

I'm also looking at the R7 as it is environmentally sealed (which appeals to me as I am going whale watching this year and I enjoy bird photography).

Having said that if the R7 is not as user / beginner friendly I will look at the R10.

Any thoughts / recommendations would be appreciated.

The R7 and R10 are similar in many ways, and in terms of the user interface are very similar indeed, so I would not regard the R7 as less user friendly, or the R10 as less capable of progression. As you say the R7 has better weather sealing, it also has a bigger battery, are larger sensor (32.5 vs 24MP), is larger overall, and has a slightly better viewfinder, and is generally regarded as more suitable to wildlife photography. The R10 is smaller and lighter, the sensor is capable of very good results, and it has the same autofocus as the R7.

I use an R5 with a range of lenses from 14mm to 500mm, but have recently bought an R10 as a small walk around / weekend away type of camera, and I am very pleased with the results. With the RF18-150 lens It is in most respects better than the "crop sensor" dSLRs I've had before (80D, 90D) and is very compact.

The R7 would do very nicely for your whale watching trip, but so would the R10 if you are careful with it. The ideal lens would be the RF 100-400, affordable and good image quality, but not weather sealed. If you can justify it, the RF100-500 L is the absolute best lens for wildlife, but it is a lot more expensive, fully sealed, larger and heavier.

Another system to look at is Olympus (now OM Sytems), the OM1 series have superb weather sealing (a friend dropped his in the water with no ill effects) and a very good range of lenses. The sensor is smaller, but still has very good image quality. Personally I prefer the handling of the Canons, and in my view the menu system is far better, but this is very personal. Are you able to get to a store to try them out?

Good luck with your search, feel free to come back for more advice but be aware that if you ask 10 photographers for their opinions you'll get 20 answers! PS I'm well into my 60s too...but been fully digital since the first dSLRs came on the market.

Thank you for your thoughts on this. I do have the opportunity to handle both Canon and Olympus systems in store. I previously owned an Olympus E520 camera but found the menus cumbersome and ended up returning to Powershots / and a bridge camera.

Easy of use is a priority for me - and I have decided it would be beneficial for me to sign up (again) for a beginner photography class to learn the basics. The classes I have looked at all require a camera with an interchangeable lens format.

tkbslc wrote:

sheepless wrote:

I have tried to dip my toe back into interchangeable lens cameras (owning Olympus 520E and Fuji XT-20) however my biggest problem was I found the menus to be cumbersome.

Do you still own the X-T20? If so, that's nearly as good a camera as the R7/R10 and much better than the R50.

Unfortunately I no longer own the X T20.

Quite frankly, you should not be spending that much time in the menus for general photography and it's all a matter of getting used to them. Canon is not magical in this regard and you will have a similar learning curve with Canon.

I think it would be quite a waste of a good camera to get a very similarly spec Canon when you already own a very nice Fuji with a similar sensor. Fuji has a much more complete APS-C specific lens selection as well.

Fuji is certainly something I can revisit.

I say this as someone who has a lot of experience with both Canon and Fuji.

Thank you! Back to more research... : )

I'd go for the R10. I've got an R6 and R5, and I've thought about buying an R10 for walking around. The R50 doesn't have as many control points, and the R7 has a weird dial/joystick layout, along with a more demanding sensor. I think the R10 is a good middle ground.

R50

Pro: smallest, most compact, inbuilt flash, cheapest

con: no IBIS, hotshoe not compatible with elder flashes, battery

R10

Pro: Still small, slightly better grip, inbuilt flash, 4K 60fps, Joystick, medium price, bundle with 18-150 available. A bit weather sealed.

con: no IBIS, battery

R7

Pro: Better Grip, better battery, larger viewfinder, IBIS, horizon tilt correction, closed shutter during lens swap, many buttons and joystick, more resolution, weather sealed, bundle with 18-150 available,

Con: price, weight

If you plan to shoot on a boat that moves, than get the R7 because of the IBIS and wheater sealing.

I don't think the R10 has any weather sealing.

You are right! R10 is NOT weather sealed.

sheepless wrote:

Good morning - I am wanting to buy a new camera and at present with been reading alot of reviews and doing camera comparisons. I currently own a bridge camera.

I come from a "film camera" many years ago and had the classic Canon AE1. From there I had several Canon Powershots.

I have tried to dip my toe back into interchangeable lens cameras (owning Olympus 520E and Fuji XT-20) however my biggest problem was I found the menus to be cumbersome.

I have decided to go "back to school" (I'm well into 60 years) and take a beginner photo class so I need an easy to use camera I can grow into.

I'm currently considering both Olympus and Canon brands.

I have read a number of reviews recommending the R50 as a good beginner camera, but that it has limitations for user growth and there were recommendstions to look at the R10.

I'm also looking at the R7 as it is environmentally sealed (which appeals to me as I am going whale watching this year and I enjoy bird photography).

Having said that if the R7 is not as user / beginner friendly I will look at the R10.

Any thoughts / recommendations would be appreciated.

Any camera can be made to work for a beginner.  Depending on how much of a beginner one is, one can start with A+ mode or use a semi-automatic mode.  The R7 is plenty user friendly in A+ mode and with it you can grow as you desire to.

Franz Weber wrote:

You are right! R10 is NOT weather sealed.

I have read your earlier post - thank you for your pros / cons list it 's very helpful.

Hi

I own the R10 and now the R7 too along with an R5 and M6II. Reason for saying this is the R10 and R7 only have 2 control dials, vs the 3 on the M6II and R5 I have owned before and I did initially find losing 1 dial annoying. Losing 2 dials (e.g. only having 1) would be a non starter for me - hence I'd dismiss the R50 for that reason. Controlling quickly exposure, aperture, shutter speed, any compensation and ISO are key for me and suspect would be you too as you get into it.

The R10 is a little powerhouse and great value - reduced now to £799 in UK. Ergonomically it is great apart from with the chunky new RF lenses like the 100-500 and 50 1.2. As others have noticed, no weather sealing, but it survived dust on a 3 week safari just fine in open jeeps. Use either CRAW or JPEG alone and a fast card not to run into buffer problems.

The R7 is bigger and better (other IMHO the joystick / control wheel, but I'll get used to it) but is more expensive, I'd still be cautious with salt water as this from LensRentals can kill even fully weather sealed cameras like the 1D series. IBIS is nice with non IS lenses and video plus the more advanced video features. A little extra resolution too but not radically game changing over the R10. Rolling shutter is not great on the R7 either - so if that's a concern, looks like the more expensive OM1 is best option.

Enjoy and good luck.

sheepless wrote:

my biggest problem was I found the menus to be cumbersome.

With the R7 and R10 - you can set up a customised tab with just the controls you normally need.  Helps quite a lot in the field

KevinRA wrote:

sheepless wrote:

my biggest problem was I found the menus to be cumbersome.

With the R7 and R10 - you can set up a customised tab with just the controls you normally need. Helps quite a lot in the field

Thank you for your insights. It's always helpful when someone has experience with both cameras.

You mentioned the OM 1 and unfortunately it's out of my price range - but I have also been looking at the Olympus OM-5 lll as a consideration as it is also weather resistant and a lighter in weight, and like the R7 it has image stabilization.

I'm fortunate that I have a few local camera stores that carry both brands, so I feel need to check them out and see how they feel in the hand.

jwilliams wrote:

KevinRA wrote:

Hi

Losing 2 dials (e.g. only having 1) would be a non starter for me - hence I'd dismiss the R50 for that reason. Controlling quickly exposure, aperture, shutter speed, any compensation and ISO are key for me and suspect would be you too as you get into it.

Seems you're forgetting the control dial on the lens ring

True for these RF lenses or if one buys the more expensive control ring adapter and the ergonomics work for you.  Good point.

and also the capability of the R50 to set ISO via a button press+dial.

True also, but fiddly but simply would rather not have to do it.

I'd always rather have more control but I've looked at the R50 and can set 3 exposure parameters rather easy. I typically shoot in Av mode so the main dial would set aperture and pressing the ISO button would set the ISO via the control dial. Set the lens control ring be to exposure compensation and you're all set.

works well if you have lenses with a control wheel - e.g. 2 dials.

I'd prefer for 2 control dials on body so I don't have to do any button presses, but given the R50s small size it seems to be reasonably easy for more advanced users to get the camera to work the way they want.

It's annoying though IMHO - the M6II is small as is the M5 and one gets 3 wheels. Market differentiation I guess for commercial reasons.