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- [Tom] The EOS R is arguably one
of Canon's most important releases in recent memory.
It gave users an idea of how Canon
was finally going to approach the mirrorless market.
And even though it's not objectively perfect
in the time since it's release,
the EOS R has gained a solid reputation
as a great camera for both photo and video.
My name is Tom.
This is the enthusiasm project
and today we're celebrating my one year anniversary
with my beloved EOS R.
So let's use this milestone as a chance to dive
into a longterm review of my experience
with the EOS R over the past year.
But before we begin, there are two things
that I do wanna point out.
One, I mainly use this camera for video.
So even though I've been very happy with the photos
it's helped me to take,
my perspective is geared mostly and very heavily towards
the video performance and that functionality.
And number two, I did not expect
to like this camera when I got it.
Prior to the EOS R, the 6D Mark II was my favorite camera,
is my camera of choice.
I love this thing and I still do.
I still use it all the time in my videos.
And when I needed a second camera,
I was pretty set on just getting another 6D.
But with a few price drops
and knowing that mirrorless really is the future,
I decided to see if the R would work for me
and one year later, as much as I still love the 6D,
the R is absolutely my favorite camera.
And I'm telling you this because this
is going to be a pretty glowing review
and I want you to know that I was pretty resistant
to this camera at first.
So the odds were not in its favor at all.
So how did it win me over?
Well, let's start with the main things that
I appreciate with the EOS R after using it for a year.
Right off the bat,
the EOS R delivers incredible image quality,
and for a camera that's really what matters most.
On top of that it's super durable.
It has great battery life.
It's basically everything you
would expect from a Canon camera.
And I mean that in a good way.
Having used it in conditions that range from freezing
and rainy to literally more than 120 degrees Fahrenheit
and blistering hot, I've had no issues with this camera.
It's not overheated, it hasn't given me any errors,
it hasn't frozen.
It's just been reliable
and I really hope that
I'm not jinxing myself by saying that.
And of course, it's got
that awesome flip out fully articulating touch LCD screen.
I am 100% spoiled by how nice this screen is
and I really don't think that any of those features
are gonna come as a surprise to you.
But let's move on to some of the other qualities
that have really helped me
to appreciate the EOS R, sorry about that.
The RF mount, it is the future
of where Canon is going with its lenses.
Canon announced several months back
that they're still manufacturing EF lenses
but they're not developing any new ones.
So you can still buy 'em, they're still making 'em.
Get brand new ones they're wonderful lenses,
but they're not adding anything else to that EF lineup.
They are putting all of their eggs,
their camera eggs into that RF basket.
And they're building out that lineup
which also to me makes it pretty clear
that we're gonna start to see more
and more R series cameras or
at least cameras with RF mounts in the future.
And with the EF to RF adapter,
you have access to all of Canon's, RF,
EF and EF-S series lenses, which is like hundreds of lenses.
I don't personally own any RF lenses yet,
although the ones I've borrowed have been terrific.
I use the adapter constantly and it works perfectly for me.
I've no issues with autofocus or lens communication.
You forget that you're using the adapter most
of the time 'cause it works so well.
Moving on now to a less obvious feature
that I love about this camera,
the top display is terrific.
It's easy to read and displays useful info,
so what more do you need?
And most of Canon cameras
and lots of cameras have these top displays
and I've had them for a very long time.
But the EOS R is a little more versatile
and I've found it to be easier to read.
And in fact, I found myself using it so often that
at this point I would consider it a must-have feature
on any future camera I purchase.
There's a couple of times I've thought about getting
the RP as a second camera 'cause
it's got that full-frame sensor,
that great image quality.
But that top-down display is so nice.
There's so many times especially me being
in this position when I'm standing up
and trying to adjust the camera,
just being able to see what's happening
on the top-down display is really, really helpful.
Let's spend a couple minutes and talk about price.
It's always risky to speculate on price
and future camera releases because things
can change so suddenly.
So here are my current thoughts.
I was able to get my R
at a decent price through Canon price watch.
This is not a sponsored video
and I did also make a non-sponsored video
all about Canon price watch
and why I use them to get good gear at really low prices.
And since then the price
for the EOS R has only gotten better.
Originally released at $2,300 you can now regularly find
the EOS R on sale
for 1650 $1,700 kind of in that price range,
which I think makes it incredibly competitive.
And as of this recording,
Canon has announced all the full specs for the EOS R5
and they've made some preliminary announcements
for the R6 and both of those cameras sound well incredible.
The R5 as the higher-end model basically
a five D mirrorless camera,
packs in the most features.
But of course, those are gonna come
at a much higher price than the R when
it was originally released.
And for me, that likely puts it beyond my budget.
Not to mention the new memory cards,
the CF express cards for the R5
are really expensive right now
and it's important to factor that into the cost
if you're planning to purchase the camera.
If you're gonna use that camera mostly for video,
you can expect realistically to pay between 400
and $600 just for one memory card
that's gonna handle those really high-quality video files.
From what I've gathered,
it seems likely that the original R probably won't get
a second version instead It seems like it's going
to be absorbed into the R6.
But again, the R6 presumably being
a mirrorless 6D series camera,
which is kind of competitive with where the R is,
will probably sell it at lower price than the R5.
Probably miss a few of those higher-end features.
But even that will likely be a higher price
than what R currently sells for.
So while I am interested in what these new cameras have
to offer, I'm actually more interested
in how they will affect the price
of the original R because I would genuinely love
to have a second R as part of my workflow.
And if that price comes down
to below $1,500 that would be amazing.
Why on earth would I want a second R?
Well, obviously I love it.
In addition to working on a few more complex projects
that require multiple cameras,
sometimes the R has just become such
a critical part of my day to day workflow
with clean HDMI out and incredible autofocus.
It's actually become my go-to webcam
when I'm not using it to film my videos.
It pretty much lives behind my computer for zoom meetings,
my online classes that I teach, podcasts,
live streams, interviews,
pretty much anything else that I need.
And sometimes it fills that role
for hours and hours every single day.
And I know it seems like a little bit extra
to have an EOS R as your camera for a zoom meeting,
but that's fine with me.
And speaking of that autofocus, holy cow,
I've never had a camera with better autofocus
for both photo and video.
It's pretty unbelievable and it's no secret
that Canon's Dual Pixel Autofocus is really top-notch.
It's gotten great reviews for many years,
but with the addition
of improved eye autofocus on the R, this thing is unreal.
As someone who typically films
at wide-open apertures like 1.4
this really helps keep things looking sharp
and in focus without any of that focus breathing
or those inaccuracies that can happen.
Even on the 6D Mark II you'd see
the background kinda pulsing in and out as I move closer
and away from the camera while I'm talking in my videos.
Eye autofocus just locks on
and it keeps everything very smooth
and it works really, really well.
Even sometimes it won't let go.
If I try to show something to the camera,
it still wants to focus on me.
I have to completely block my face
and then it will focus on that and then it'll come back.
And as someone who does a lot of video work,
I'm very appreciative of
how many different resolutions the EOS R offers.
I typically film at 24 frames a second
with 10 ADP and all eye compression.
And that super high bit rate
of 180 megabits per second delivers insane quality.
And then I'll also switch to 60 frames a second
for slow-motion when I need it.
And then I do switch to 4K
from time to time which has
that completely ridiculous 400 megabit per second-bit rate.
And I use that for some of my tighter shots.
And as you know, I don't personally
have a disdain for that cropped 4K.
Of course just to be honest,
if I had the choice I would prefer full-frame 4K
but the high bit rate,
high quality 10 ADP footage scales up
to 4K with no issues and just looks terrific.
So let's switch gears and jump into a few
of the negatives because I think that while
it is easy to nitpick spec sheets,
I only have two real complaints about
the EOS R after using it for a year.
And both of them have to do with
the physical functionality of the camera.
First, the proximity sensor on the back
of the camera is way too sensitive
and I don't mean that it starts crying
if you offer constructive criticism.
The whole purpose of the sensor is
to disable the LCD screen when you put your eye up
to the electronic viewfinder or the EVF.
But if there's like anything at all within like six
to eight inches behind the camera,
the sensor will turn off the LCD display.
And this can be really frustrating when you're working
in a tight location or you're trying
to use a gimbal that has pieces running behind
the camera like the Ronin-S.
Fortunately, you can turn that sensor off.
But in doing so, you have to select
to either have the LCD screen
or the EVF turned on all the time.
And the other one that you don't choose
will just be turned off.
Which I don't really like that option because
the sensor does do a good job at switching between the two.
And I think that that's a really helpful feature
to be filming with a display and then it gets too bright
or something happens and you need
to put the camera up to your eye
and it switches automatically.
I like that a lot.
I just wish there were
a sensitivity setting so I could tone it down a bit.
Don't know if that's something that could ever
be added with a firmware update, but wow,
that would be terrific.
My second con with this camera is the way
that you switch between photo and video modes.
At this point, after a year I built
up enough muscle memory that it's not quite as annoying
as it used to be, but it's still clunky.
It is objectively clunky.
To switch from one mode to the other,
you need to press the mode button, then info,
and then either press the set button
or halfway press the shutter button
to switch fully into that mode.
That's three-button interactions to switch between photo
and video mode, which if you're trying to do very quickly,
it can sometimes get in the way a little bit.
Now if you're in photo mode
and you press the video record button,
the camera will start recording
and it will default to whatever settings you
have set as custom function three.
So that's kind of a little workaround, but for me,
those aren't always the settings that I wanna use,
so it's still not the perfect solution.
If this camera just use the same photo video switch
that every higher-end Canon camera
has used since the original 70 back
in 2009 the switch is a perfect design.
And even though I don't personally dislike
the multifunction touch bar
on the EOS R like some people do,
I actually use it to adjust my audio levels
and I think that that's really helpful.
I was very curious when I noticed that the R5 does away
with the multifunction bar and I thought,
"Oh, that means they're gonna go back to the old switch.
They fixed it."
Nope, it's still the same process.
Even on the new flagship camera
to switch between photo and video mode.
So please Canon bring back the old switch it was perfect.
But in the grand scheme of things I recognize those
are actually pretty small complaints
and I've been able to work around them
or get used to them pretty easily.
And like I said, you can find flaws
with anything if you look hard enough.
But after putting hundreds of hours of use into
this camera over the past year,
these are the things that stood out
to me the most in real-world usage.
And in the end, how would I rate this camera, the EOS R?
Easy, 10 out of 10.
Of course, there's room for improvement
and that sounds like a very generous rating.
But this thing lets me do what I need
to do and delivers outstanding results every single time.
In fact, I'll give it an 11 out of 10 because it's
so dang fun to use and that's something
I don't think I can really communicate effectively
through video, but the EOS R is just simply a joy to use.
The ergonomics, the functionality,
just everything about it make me excited to pick it up
and use it every single time.
Over the years I've learned that there's no
such thing as a perfect camera.
But there's a very big difference between something that
is objectively perfect by all measures
and something that's perfect for you.
And I think that it's very important
when you're researching a camera
or anything like that that you find what works
for you the best.
I love the EOS R.
I gave it an 11 out of 10 which is a ridiculous rating.
Other people might give it like a four out of 10.
So it kinda depends on what you need specifically.
When I first got into digital photography
and cameras back in like the early 2000s
I would be on all of the message boards
where everyone does like pixel peeping
and color charts and all this stuff
which is very helpful.
And there's definitely a place for that in the world.
But what I discovered was it's so easy no matter
what piece of gear someone was testing,
they would find imperfections.
And if you were excited about getting something new,
you'd be like, "This thing has a problem.
It doesn't work that good."
Eventually what I learned is invest
in a thing that seems like it's gonna work the best for you.
And then all those little like nitpicks
and details usually just kind of disappear
when you're actually using it.
There's a very big difference between how
a piece of equipment performs on technical tests
in a controlled environment
and what you actually get when you take that thing
and go out into the world to use it for real.
And I've said it before, I'm sure I'll say
it many more times, but we should really
just appreciate that these tools are available
to us to use and that they're relatively affordable.
It's basically impossible to find a bad camera these days.
And it's all about finding the camera
that works best for you.
♪ I love I love I love ♪
♪ I love you like la la la la la la la la la ♪
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