New Canon R Full Frame Mirrorless Camera Review

Canon just this week, announced the new EOS R full frame mirrorless camera system.  I spent the week in Phoenix at Sue Bryce’s Portrait Masters Conference  where we were part of the big roll out.  I was able to play with the new mirrorless for a couple of days and thought I’d share some images and thoughts about the camera.

 

To be honest, I’ve tried out mirrorless cameras before but have never bought one.  For years now I’ve been using the 5D and 1D series of cameras.  I like the feel of a large heavy camera.  However, the EOS R camera was surprisingly comfortable in my hands.  The grip is bigger than the Nikon and Sony grips and it really makes a big difference.

 

With Nikon releasing their first full frame mirrorless camera just a couple of weeks ago and now this weeks release of the Canon R, there’s been a lot of comparisons in the specs between Sony, Nikon and Canon.  Yes there are many great specs and new features on the Canon R that beat the competition but I haven’t seen much about the “look” and color of the files on the new EOS R.  That’s what really sold me once I got home and opened up the files on my computer.  They are gorgeous.  It’s just something you can’t grasp from numbers.  On top of that, I’ve been only able to look at the jpg files since the RAW software has not been released yet.  I assume that will come with the release of the camera in October.  If the jpg’s are any indication, the RAW files are going to be awesome!

 

All four of the lenses produced beautiful images.  Just crazy sharp and super fast to focus.  I also really loved the addition of eye focus on top of the face detection focus we’ve had for awhile.  It was particularly comforting to use it with the new 50mm 1.2. 

 

Here are some of my images from this week.  Unfortunately I can’t share them at full size here but hopefully you can get an idea of the quality of the files.

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Explorers of Light at Imaging USA 2017

Each year Imaging USA brings around 10,000 amazing professional photographers who descend on a city for networking, friend-making and bonding.  This year the event took place in San Antonio, Texas.  The energy from the thousands of attendees, great speakers and the incredible gear from the Expo vendors makes for a truly spectacular conference. As with most years, Canon threw a fantastic welcoming party on Sunday night in the Grand Ballroom at The Marriott Rivercenter Hotel.  The party was open to anyone with an Imaging USA badge.

During the party I was able to get several Canon Explorers of Light to agree to pose for me for a few group shots.  Images were shot with a Canon 5D Mark IV and the new Canon 24-105mm IS f4 lens.

The Explorers of Light concept came out of Canon USA in the mid 1990s as a broad-ranging initiative for photographic education and inspiration. Today, the group is comprised of dozens of the most influential photographers and cinematographers in the world, each a master of their creative specialty.