Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsGame changer - with some drawback and added benfits.
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2020
It took some getting used to the redesigned controls and the entirely new to me, a mirrorless system. I'm coming from a 6d perspective.
Looking into an viewfinder is strange at first. You don't get that crystal clear optical view of the environment's light. Instead, you get this virtual reality view interpreted through a tiny magnified screen where you can see the subtle flickering of electrons on the screen. I can't say it's my favorite thing. I like the optical view better, but this is simply the drawback of ALL mirrorless cameras until they come up with some kind of way to get light directly to your eye through the lens, and I can't imagine how that could be done. Although I bet someone will eventually figure it out. What is GOOD about the electronic view finder though, is the fact you are seeing a live representation of what the image will look like, so nailing exposure is no longer a problem like it was in a traditional viewfinder. I'm no longer having to chimp my screen and readjust my exposure. I simply look and turn my control ring to bring the exposure up or down in real time. VERY nice benefit. To me this is an even trade for not having an optical viewfinder. I loose a little bit of information as it happens in action, as the viewfinder refreshes the screen can jump and delay sometimes, so it does take a tiny bit away but not much when you get used to it.
The LCD screen on the back is nice and clear, brighter than the image in the viewfinder, and a pure representation of what you're going to see. I like the back screen quite a bit. The tilt the touch the sensitivity are all very good.
The feel of the camera is excellent and just feels like a military-grade shooter in the hand. The trimmed-down shape and the added buttons, the dials...all have a very precise and solid feel to them that gives me a feeling of confidence this rig will put up with some serious use. I will say however that the fold-out LCD, when folded out does not give me that same confident and strong feeling, as I feel like if the camera fell off a table with the screen swung open I can see it possibly getting snapped off if it landed the right way. The back of the LCD screen housing feels slightly hollow when tapped with a finger, revealing a less than 5-star ruggedness that the rest of the camera has. I don't think this is so much a flaw with this particular camera as it is probably inherent of all fold-out screens. A solution is to simply keep it folded into the back of the camera where it's secure and out of the way.
I haven't yet actually uploaded any images that I've shot but I can tell from the camera already that the colors from this thing are absolutely outstanding and beautifully captured of what my eye actually sees. This is the first thing that popped out to me when snapping images of my daughter with a sky blue shirt on. The images have a "dreamy" feel to them, Canon delivers yet again on their expert color capture. Side note: I'm shooting with the older EF 24-105 4L here.
Autofocus:
This is a big one and one I initially was back and forth with. It took me some serious playing around with the settings and practicing with the various modes of autofocus this thing has to feel confident with this part of the camera. The advanced servo tracking works very well to capture portraits of my kids jumping and playing around. The eye tracker works very well in well-lit scenes and when within about 15 or 20 ft maximum. Don't expect to track an Eagle eye soaring overhead your house..lol. The entire AF system on this is a huge step up from my 6D. I find the frame per second burst rate somewhat slow but very decent at 5 fps while in tracking servo. It does seem to slow down closer to 3 or 4 frames per second at times though when in full-screen tracking mode. If you set the servo to a fixed AF zone then it will fire all 8fps like a machinegun no problem, just not in full-screen AF. I particularly like the wide horizontal AF zone mode, as it picks up and tracks subjects very quickly. I'm capturing shots with this camera my 6d would simply snooze through while I attempt a lock and recompose, missing shots in the process.
The low light performance seems to be a step up from my 6d from what I can tell so far. I'm getting very useable and vivid shots at 6400iso. You will lose some detail at that iso but for portraits ...soft is ok for me. I have yet to really feel the need to use a flash even inside shooting my kids in ambient light. I couldn't do that with my 6d and feel like I could nail shots. With this, I can. I feel another level of confidence in capturing my kid's birthday parties this year. Combine this with the fact you can customize all of these new buttons, a control ring [if you purchased it or an RF lens] just makes me feel I have truly leveled up with this camera. It allows me to be that much faster and able to respond and capture what's going on around me.
I recommend this camera for the price but I would say, know what you're compromising and what you're gaining with this camera. If you shoot specifically wild life action or NFL football as a niche I would say the 5 fps in servo mode would be a bit slow for you. The 5DMkiv may be your better choice here. For everyone else, go with the R and save some money.
