After considerable debate, reading, watching videos and a long discussion in TheCameraStore, I have purchased an EOS R. Even bringing it home, I was wondering if I’d keep it, but truth is, I fell in love.

 

This camera feels wonderful in hand, and to the eye, and works like I remember my old Canon cameras working. It’s solid, and it doesn’t feel like the R adapter is extra – it’s simply part of the camera.

 

The EVF is terrific, the LCD great, and of course it’s fully articulating. Using the lcd to change focus point while up to your eye is dead easy – I’m left eyed so I use the left side of the screen and my left thumb. I’m not going to miss a joystick.

 

What about that slidey controller? Don’t use it so far, but my plan is to use it for things like histogram and level etc. – things that don’t change image quality by accident – if at all.

 

Autofocus, well haven’t really given it a good test in moving crowds, but it’s been great for simple stuff – focusing an f1.4 85 mm. nicely on the eye. I’m sure it’s far from great in tracking – but that is a tiny part of the work I do, so for me… The real test will be with my grand daughter next month.

 

30 Megapixels – it’s enough for now – already half again more than the Olympus I was using, and far higher quality per pixel – tests show that in landscapes, I’m happy with a 33 inch print from this camera, but not with a 44. I can live with this and will likely do some stitching (which I was doing even with medium format – go figure).

 

Noise in the shadows – this is the one real disappointment – yes, it’s as bad as Tony Northrup says. I did a simple snap in the house this morning and it included a black fleecy. Lightening this near black object to mid grey there is more noise than I’d like, and certainly more than the competition. When I open the shadows 5 stops, you can see sig. banding in dark plain subjects, that said, I’m not sure it will be an issue in print. It I need to open up a small area, then i think I’ll be ok. If I have a massive area of shadow, then a second exposure will be the answer.

 

Finally, lenses and controls are back turning the correct way – it’s been several years since I sold off my 5D3, but the fingers don’t forget.

 

Making changes – so much easier and more predictable than my Olympus – after a year I still struggled to quickly change to the self timer – and remember was it the front dial back button, or back dial and front button… It would be nice to see another dial to change ISO. I may get the adapter with the ring and use that, but so far, using the touch screen to change ISO is working.

 

I’ll miss focus stacking but think I have a work-around for that. I’ll miss my 40-150(80-300 equiv.) lens but plan to get a 100-400 and use that instead of my 70-200. I’ll hang onto that and use it for travel.

 

What about weight? Currently I carry some 5 lenses, 8-18, 12-100, 45, 60 macro, 40-150, and leave out my 25. All in, I suspect that a 3 lens Canon kit is still going to weigh more – but there’s no getting round the ‘price’ of going full format. My tentative plan is for 16-35 f2.8, 85 1.4, 100-400 5.6,, all of them IS lenses and I might just carry my lovely 90 ts-e for macro work.

 

For the first time, I don’t think I’ll get an L Bracket. I’m using a geared head so it’s easy and reasonably solid to flip the camera to vertical, and of course with the 70-200 and 100-400 I’ve got a rotating collar anyway, so simple plates will do.

 

I still need to figure out a few things – is there a way to automatically magnify when I turn the focus ring in manual focus? Is there a painless way to jump to 10X in reviewing images instead of pressing two buttons and turning a dial?

 

Is this a done deal? I’d say 95% Is the camera perfect? Hell, no, but no camera on the market is perfect. The Fuji viewfinder had terrible noise when the light was modest, never mind low. The olympus can’t recover highlights worth a darn, I can live with the set of imperfections the Canon EOS R presents – others likely won’t be willing.

 

Oddly, I remember when the 5D4 came out – and thinking, if only it had an articulated screen, well…

 

I’ll do some tests and show some examples. Only living with the camera for months is really going to settle things, but for now I’m very happy.