Jump to content

Canon EOS R First Impressions


DBounce
 Share

Recommended Posts

Yesterday the post man delivered to my waiting hands the new Canon EOS R. Today I finally had a chance to have a quick play with it. I’m fortunate enough to also have a Nikon Z6 on hand for comparison. As I type this post I have a straight out of camera comparison doing a VLog style shoot of the Canon vs the Nikon uploading for your viewing pleasure.

I tried to keep things even. Canon is set to standard picture profile. Nikon was flat with just saturation and a little constrast added. Auto ISO was kept to 6400 and below. I wanted to see the transitions as I walked to see if it was smooth. I did test with digital IS enabled and off... in both UHD and FHD. 

I’m a bit perplexed by the results. I starting to think that UHD is overrated. To my eyes there is little, if anything between the Z6 in 4k vs the Canon in FHD. I’d be curious to hear everyone’s input regarding this pair. Try to leave any predilections behind as you view the footage. I’m starting to feel the most hated camera on the internet is actually a sleeper.

Watch this space... footage incoming shortly ??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

EOSHD Pro Color 5 for Sony cameras EOSHD Z LOG for Nikon CamerasEOSHD C-LOG and Film Profiles for All Canon DSLRs

There is a huge difference between the canon 1080p & even their own 4k. The canon 1080p looks so mushy, especially when shooting foliage (outdoors). Things that are closer up, like people, it's not as noticable. 

Click on the photos and you can see how gross it is lol. A canon rep did a video showcasing that the S35 mode on the eos r, is supersampled and it looks extremely good. Try that mode out, you will be surprised at the quality. The normal canon 1080p is just upressed 720p lol. 

Eos R 4k only IPB

EosR4k.thumb.jpg.c35e31bc278e333e76f5cf32805c52bf.jpg

Eos R 1080

EosR1080.thumb.jpg.bf892ab187ca219fbc888a199c1431b4.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Most camera tests are more influenced by how accurate the focusing of the lenses is, or how similar the shots are (true A/B comparisons require you to point the cameras at the exact same thing under the exact same lighting - something most reviewers don't understand!).

You want to do normal tests and also stress-tests.  Trees blowing in the wind is a good stress-test.  I designed a torture test by making a 4K video file with 3 frames of completely different photographs, exporting it as Prores and playing it on repeat, then setting the camera to a very short shutter-speed and framing up the monitor.  Codecs normally do well when frames are similar to the previous ones, but do badly when frames are very different.  This test absolutely destroys some cameras and others hold up very nicely.  It's a total exaggeration but gives useful information if you don't have a tree handy.  It's also 100% repeatable between cameras so is a valid test.

My advice is to test things properly, make your decisions, then move on to making real content :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Out of curiosity, why did you choose the Standard Profile in the Canon to go against the Flat Profile in the Nikon? This may be the only time that I’ve liked Nikon colors better than Canon?

Don’t get me wrong, I love Nikon Flat but with the Prolost Neutral Profile, the Canon should look better than the Nikon.

IMO. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is going to be a "sleeper"(= a big hit, in my opinion) camera because it is the first full frame mirrorless of the biggest photo and video user base on the planet.

For me, even spec wise, is a no go anyway, but another thing that bothered me is that the ergonomics are sub par. It seems like an afterthought of a camera to me, it is going to be surpassed - internally - very fast. Like the XH-1.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, mercer said:

Out of curiosity, why did you choose the Standard Profile in the Canon to go against the Flat Profile in the Nikon? This may be the only time that I’ve liked Nikon colors better than Canon?

Don’t get me wrong, I love Nikon Flat but with the Prolost Neutral Profile, the Canon should look better than the Nikon.

IMO. 

I was shooting with the Nikon for a couple weeks and left it in flat as that's what I prefer them grading. It may have been best to leave it in standard. But with two cameras loaded up on the rig my arms got tied pretty quick. 

All settings were default on the Canon. With exception to resolution, IS and codec. 

6 hours ago, liork said:

A very big crop in EIS...

Go out the house and shoot, then you will see the real difference between FHD and 4K. You know what, even a whole room shoot inside the house will show it.

I understand the crop is huge. Which is why I picked up a 10-18mm EF-S lens in addition to my 16-35mm L lens.

I'm concerned more with quality.  Not seeing a massive difference between UHD and FHD imo. Granted there is some,  and in certain cases, that may be important... but when filming people does it matter? I'm not so sure. 

What are your thoughts on there other aspects of the image (crop asside)? Colors,  motion,  stabilization, detail, overall image quality?

The Nikon nailed the focus in my VLog test. I honestly was concerned the footage would be out of focus, but without NLog enabled, the video AF is quite excellent. Better than the very good Fuji X-T3 and superior to the Sony A73. 

I accidentally did a low-light test of the Canon,  when my shutter was mysteriously increased to 125 and F-Stop to 5 (user error im sure). While there was noise, I thought it looked very filmic. This is preferable imo to what we generally see. 

Today I will share my first hands on video with the EOS R. I'm still not decided.  The Nikon is far better than I had expected it to be. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, DBounce said:

Not seeing a massive difference between UHD and FHD imo. Granted there is some,  and in some instances that may be important... but when filming people does it matter? I'm not so sure.

I agree its does look quiet good, but maybe its relevant for a very specific case : shooting faces from real close distance. If its the only or mainly the thing you shoot, than its OK for you. I remember the first Sony A7S had a great FHD quality (sharpness and details), but on most cases, I see a clear difference compared to UHD (on a UHD screen of course). Surely it will gain you much wider angle on the EOS R which is a good thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, liork said:

I agree its does look quiet good, but maybe its relevant for a very specific case : shooting faces from real close distance. If its the only or mainly the thing you shoot, than its OK for you. I remember the first Sony A7S had a great FHD quality (sharpness and details), but on most cases, I see a clear difference compared to UHD (on a UHD screen of course). Surely it will gain you much wider angle on the EOS R which is a good thing.

FHD has other benefits in post. Easy to edit on most computers. If delivery is YouTube their may be a case to be made for it. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Kisaha said:

For me, even spec wise, is a no go anyway, but another thing that bothered me is that the ergonomics are sub par. It seems like an afterthought of a camera to me, it is going to be surpassed - internally - very fast. Like the XH-1.

Does it matter if it's passed internally spec wise? Will that somehow make its image worse? I'll share my thoughts on the handling shortly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Definitely have a look at FHD Crop mode. It is indeed supersampled from 4K and has super good sharpness/detail that rivals C line FHD.

The way i have my EOS R setup is FF FHD on Movie Custom 1, FHD Crop mode on Custom 2 & 4K on Custom 3.

By pressing mode and selecting C1/C2/C3 i can very quickly switch modes depending on the scene and double the focal length of my primes.

Personally, I love the ergonomics. I use the grip though. Its quite different from any other camera so it might take a moment to get used to it. 

The customisation of the camera is pretty deep, i really enjoy that too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, Django said:

Definitely have a look at FHD Crop mode. It is indeed supersampled from 4K and has super good sharpness/detail that rivals C line FHD.

The way i have my EOS R setup is FF FHD on Movie Custom 1, FHD Crop mode on Custom 2 & 4K on Custom 3.

By pressing mode and selecting C1/C2/C3 i can very quickly switch modes depending on the scene and double the focal length of my primes.

Personally, I love the ergonomics. I use the grip though. Its quite different from any other camera so it might take a moment to get used to it. 

The customisation of the camera is pretty deep, i really enjoy that too.

Great tip!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Django said:

Definitely have a look at FHD Crop mode. It is indeed supersampled from 4K and has super good sharpness/detail that rivals C line FHD.

The way i have my EOS R setup is FF FHD on Movie Custom 1, FHD Crop mode on Custom 2 & 4K on Custom 3.

By pressing mode and selecting C1/C2/C3 i can very quickly switch modes depending on the scene and double the focal length of my primes.

Personally, I love the ergonomics. I use the grip though. Its quite different from any other camera so it might take a moment to get used to it. 

The customisation of the camera is pretty deep, i really enjoy that too.

I do this with all cameras, it makes video so easy! I set it to m-fn, then you can just hit the button once & it switches. Used to keep it on a locked set of settings, but now I have it auto update which seems best

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • EOSHD Pro Color 5 for All Sony cameras
    EOSHD C-LOG and Film Profiles for All Canon DSLRs
    EOSHD Dynamic Range Enhancer for H.264/H.265
×
×
  • Create New...