Canon EOS R review

I bought this knowing that it's not technically the best FF mirrorless out there, and while it has its faults, honestly it really is a really good camera.

Outstanding battery life, fantastic AF, nice features like moving the focusing point via the touchpad and it being compatible with all of my EF lenses is just the icing on the cake. This is the first time coming to a mirrorless camera, so features like focus peaking etc. are also massively useful to me.

Noise wise, it's the same as my older 6D (which itself is already fantastic), but dynamic range is better.

It gets criticism over it's video support and lack of IBIS, but honestly they're not deal breakers. Any lenses I have that need it already come with decent IS. I don't do a lot of video work so I'm not phased by that either.

I do wish the ergonomics was a little better, customisation options for buttons/dials weren't so weirdly limited and that I had the option to turn off the back display via the INFO button when not in use.

I dont own this camera yet, but I dont think 80% is a good number. From what I can see this camera takes some of the best photos out there. It has one of Canons best sensors. It now has very good eye af. I think this camera offers better image quality than the 90d. I understand the video factors are not up to par, but 80% just doesnt work for me. It gives cameras with much less IQ a higher score. I think that is unfortunate for those of us that are just interested in great photographs.

HI DPR editors, Thank you for updating your EOS R review with the latest firmware.

I am a bit puzzled by some of your 'What we don't" (like) comments in the summary.
*Quirky questionable ergonomics: Maybe more specific terms would be more helpful for prospective buyers.
* Very difficult to follow moving subjects while shooting bursts: I have been shooting dogs running and birds in flight with no problem following the subject.
* DPAF unreliable in video: I tested this and found no problems
* Evaluative metering may vary greatly from one shot to the next...: Problem not encountered by me.
* AF struggles in back lit scenarios: I have not encountered this either.
* Unimpressive burst shooting speeds: I am getting 5-6 fps with AF, AE and live view on each frame. I find that in fact 5-6 fps works well for many moving subjects.
* Video output generally soft: FHD 25p All-I video (PAL) looks pretty clear and sharp to me and certainly good enough for vlogging.
Andrew

Could we review more cameras who have had their firmware updated?

I came to this article from a panel on the homepage labeled: "REVIEW UPDATE Canon EOS R retest...". Am I now supposed to read 13 lengthy pages to find out what changed since the first test? Is there a summary somewhere?

Sorry but it’s hard for me to take someone seriously who shoots sports at 1/500.

Also the available light at the frisbee game was abysmal. Good high school stadium lighting can be shot at ISO 4000, 1/1000, f2.8. Poor high school lights, ISO 8000. If I found myself needing ISO 16000 and 1/500, I’d just put the camera away.

Yep, loving the R (https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/63579372)

It's a bit weird, to me, that the R has the same sensor as 5D4 with an upgraded Digic 8 processor and it's a lot less expensive. The R5 is (my guess) not going to be available on the cheap.

My question is after the R5 is released, will the R look like the value pick of the litter ?

its a good camera and superb system from Canon, with EOS R 5 looks like the giant has awoken.

But what about that catseye focus and doghair tracking?

Keyboard fighting, quite meaningless.

I find myself reaching for my Canon R over the 5DIV more often than not. I was a late adopter based on early reviews, however after owning the R I am realizing mirrorless is the future and offers some game changing advantages. My adapted AIS Nikkors are a joy to use on the R and EF lenses autofocus more accurately. Future lenses will be RF exclusively.

While I prefer an optical viewfinder outdoors in bright sun, for almost every other use the R is a very solid camera with the Canon color science I prefer. The touchpad selector is a miss for me, but I find the ergonomics otherwise well thought out. I really like using the touch screen for AF point selection. I don’t miss the joystick.

Good job for Canon!

EOS R, gateway drug for the R5

Thanks for updating the review of the Canon R after firmware v1.6, DPR.

Guess this puts an end to the ridiculous notion (recently promoted by the Zee brigade here) that Nikon Z's Eye-AF performance was now better than Canon R's thanks to Nikon's v3.0 firmware. Nope, when it comes to AF for mirrorless it's still clearly Sony in first place, Canon in second, and Nikon dead last.

I really dislike that fully articulating screen.

Dynamic range and noise are both a positive and a negative? Seriously?

Canon eos R is an outstanding camera. As a wedding photographer I don’t need 1000fps. Image quality is sensational and the video output is sublime. RF 24-105, RF 35 F1.8 and EF 50L and you’re all set.

How did anyone ever shoot a portrait without eye autofocus? A mystery for the ages.

Did they release similar firmware to the RP? And why not give love to M50, it has the same Digic 8, no?

Agree the RF lenses are very impressive, but the primes are large, heavy and for many purposes, overkill.

I think more credit should be given to Nikon for the different direction they have taken. Their Z range of 1.8 primes are not the kind of lenses that get camera reviewers all misty eyed and hyperbolic when they borrow them ( unlike Canon ) , but in the Real World the Nikon lenses are not only superb quality, but amazing value.

The Z 50mm 1.8 is perhaps one of the best 50mm it is possible to buy at ANY price, yet it costs just a few hundred dollars. You could get the 50mm and 85mm for the same price as one Canon RF lens. And the quality is amazing.

The RF lenses are loved by testers - but lets remember those people who actually spend their own money.

Having said this - I do totally get the magic of the 50mm or 85mm RF prime and the EOS R and how the thing can AF so well at F1.2... that is pretty cool.

C’mon - gotta be worth a Silver now....?

Without the discount price of EOS R during last Christmas, I won't complain. I have to find the way to work with it. The only thing I don't like is to use EF lenses with EF adapter which makes lens kind of longer and heavier. I was thinking of getting RF 24-105, but f4 is not the ideal focal length for me. I used to own EF 24-105 L II and I didn't like it. However, I think EOS r + RF 24-105 is perfect combo for traveling.

Thanks for the updated review of AF, DPreview!

Would you say that this camera can now be used to shoot erratically moving kids reliably?

With the arrival of the R6 (presumably later this year), I can't help wondering whether it will kill off the EOS-R, which is/was clearly a stop-gap designed to keep people from switching to Sony while Canon were developing bodies with IBIS.

I'm very impressed by the quality and quantity of the firmware updates. This bodes well for all manufacturers and particularly us consumers, extending the life of our bodies for free. Good for Canon, Nikon, Fuji, Panasonic, Sony, and Olympus.

A friend is very interested in jumping into the deep end of cameras, going from his Canon G7 or somesuch to a FF mirrorless. He's convinced he needs 40+ MP, eye-detect, and IBIS. I'm trying to convince him to start at the ~24 MP area. Now this R would be a pretty good place to start.

The guy at mirrorlesscomparison did extensive testing with a number of cameras finding the best settings for each, and then rating how good they are with those best settings. (too often cameras are judged with the wrong settings for unfair comparisons)
He found the EOS R to be the best FF camera besides the A9 and A9ii. Its a little misleading because he didn't account for FPS, and the R has a much slower FPS. If he did account for FPS, cameras like the X-T3, EM1X, etc. would be at the top ahead of all the Sonys (except the A9 and A9ii).

https://mirrorlesscomparison.com/best/mirrorless-cameras-for-birds-in-flight/#cameras

"A potentially confusing typo in the interface persists in firmware 1.6, which can make it a little difficult to know whether Eye AF is active or not. When the camera says '[Info: Eye] Enable' it actually means 'Enabled', so when you're first getting used to the camera, you'll have to remember that this isn't an instruction to press the Info button to enable the function: it's already on."

I'm amazed that Canon haven't fixed this yet. All that's needed is to simply reverse the functions of the "enable" and "disable" options, to make it operate like any other camera!

Any chance of getting an updated review with the latest firmware installed?

Will you retest the camera with the new firmware? I think a lot of problems are fixed now and the rating is obolete...

Worth mentioning are some annoying and seemingly arbitrary ergonomic limitations that affect this camera, as well as other Canon models:
1) The electronic level disappears when you enable face-/eye-detect AF.
2) The electronic level, as well as the histogram and the gird lines, disappear when movie recording starts.
Canon, please throw a bone or two to your loyal customers and fix these limitations.

I have read MANY different reviews of the R and they are not all the same at all. Poeple hating first and loving at the end represent some of them.
Anyway I could test the one my wife bought and... I bought one after I sold my 5d4.
Even if I don’t understand DPR note, perhaps the note could be revisited after the 1.2.0 update???

I think many reviewers and bloggers have missed the point of how Canon intended the EOS R to be controlled and set up. I bought the camera simply because I have a lot of Canon lenses, so it made financial sense. At first I found the R a little frustrating to use, but as I learned to work with their new control system it slowly became apparent they have put some serious thought into this, and I would never want to go back to the old way of changing settings. The custom settings remember absolutely everything, even what controls you assign to which wheels and buttons. You can then cycle through the main mode and the custom modes with a single click of a button. If you set up the camera correctly, you can jump around settings lightening fast. Nothing comes close, and it must be brilliant for a wedding and events photographers. I've even finally got used the the touch pad and now wouldn't want to be without it. Focussing is extremely quick too. All in all it's a great camera.

Latest comment from Canon, interviewed by Amateur Photographer at CP+ :

"In terms of IBIS, we are looking into it for the future. We believe IBIS will work together hand in hand with optical IS lenses, such as the ones you see in front of you, to offer better features."

Well, we all know what "looking into it for the future" means, don't we? It means that it is in an early stage of development, and is unlikely to appear in any Canon camera for at least 18 months.

DPR, Please, you really need to have a section on the EVF and explain how awful they are for pixel lag and blur compared to an OVF.

It was extremely disconcerting and discombobulating when I tested one and it was a horrible mess inside the viewfinder.

Please have some *Special Notes* in your reviews about OVF and EVF differences and quality.

Where is the score? I don't see it on the conclusion page.

We all know that the screen and the viewfinder on the EOS R are much better than that on the A7III – yet Dpreview rates the A7III's screen and viewfinder slightly better. Why is that? You can not be serious. The A7III's screen/viewfinder sucks in comparison.

I am thinking of buying my first Canon digital camera ever, and this EOS R might have been that one, but 4K video is sort-of important to me. After reading about the 4K center cropping, I have calculated how much physical area of the 36 x 24 mm sensor is used for 4K video. The actual size is very important for estimating the total amount of light used for making 4K video image. 1 mm2 (square mm) on the 6720 x 4480 sensor has 186 x 186 pixels. So, a 3840 x 2160 UHD pixels covers a 20.6 x 11.6 mm area of the FF sensor, which is only 28% of the total 864 mm2 FF surface. This 238 mm2 is only 73% of a regular Canon 22.2 x 14.8 mm APS-C sensors, which is anyway smaller than the Sony APS-C sensors used in Sony, Nikon, Fujifilm cameras. A 4K video image in Canon EOS R gets light only from 28% of the total sensor area; not really an impressive efficiency factor for a $2500 camera in 2019, honestly.

"Video: Enabling digital IS crops in slightly further, with 'enhanced' digital IS cropping significantly further"

Major reason will not consider this camera.