Canon EOS RP Review (gets a lot right, DPReview)

Canon Eos Rp Best Mirrorless

DPReview completed their full Canon EOS RP review. They gave the Canon EOS RP an 83% score and a silver award.

Funny fact: DPReview learned they had “to create a new scoring category [since] this is the first camera to really fall into the ‘Entry-level Full Frame Camera’ space”. Well, a “kudos Canon” wouldn’t have been displaced.

From their conclusion:

The biggest trade-off comes from the 26.2MP full-frame sensor. Sure, with the right lenses, that large sensor gets you access to shallower depth-of-field (blurrier backgrounds) than cameras with smaller sensors. But when shooting in Raw, the RP’s images are also noisier than most current full-frame cameras, and similarly noisy to some APS-C cameras. The video features and quality will also disappoint power users, and the battery life is perhaps best described as ‘tolerable.’ It’ll get you through a day of heavy shooting, provided you turn the camera off between shots.

On the other hand, there’s a lot that the EOS RP gets right. The combination of pleasing JPEGs, an excellent grip, light weight, good controls, strong connectivity options and compact size is just a recipe for fun. The autofocus system is reliable, and Pupil Detection makes it easier to get perfectly focused portraits – though some competitors’ eye-focusing systems are more effective.

Read the review…

DPReview had an interview with Canon’s lens designers about the RF mount lenses.

Canon EOS RP:

America: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA
Europe & UK: Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon IT, Canon IT, WEX Photographic, Canon FR, Canon UK, Canon DE

Canon Lens Designers Talk About Latest RF Mount Lenses in Interview

Canon RF 85mm

DPReview sat down with Canon lens designers (Manabu Kato – Head of EF + RF mount R&D, Yoichi Sato – EOS camera electronics R&D, Shogo Yamaguchi – Optical planning specialist).

The interview was about the new Canon EOS RP, the six RF lenses Canon is set to announce soon, and in general what’s going to happen with the EOS R system.

Excerpts from the interview:

How do you prioritize which [RF mount] lenses to develop?

So the idea for the initial four lenses was we wanted to deliver the surprise factor, so we decided to deliver the 28-70mm, as well as the 50mm F1.2, with stunning resolution. That was the concept behind these two lenses.

With 24-105mm we thought it would be the best match as a standard zoom lens to the EOS R camera, and the 35mm F1.8 was supposed to be an affordable and compact travel companion. Those were the concepts behind the four initial lenses.

With the six additional lenses that we introduced as development announcements this time, we believe we will be able to deliver more surprise factors, for some models compactness. These two concepts with the addition of these models.

About the Defocus Smoothing technology.

Can you give any insight into the DS technology?

With lens such as the 85mm F1.2 bokeh is a really important factor, because it’s a portrait lens. We really wanted to deliver something that was not possible with the conventional lenses, so we decided to develop this technology of defocus smoothing.

The fact with our DS technology is that it’s a coating technology, so it’s relatively easy to apply this technology to a range of different lenses. This is all we can say at this moment.

Read the interview at DPReview.

Here Are Some Lesser-Known Canon EOS R Facts and Settings

Canon Eos R Firmware Update

Gerald Undone posted a 9 minutes video where he discusses some less known features of the Canon EOS R, and also tips and tricks for settings and customisation. If you have the “left eye issue” then this video might be for you.

Canon EOS R:

America: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA
Europe & UK: Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon IT, Canon IT, WEX Photographic, Canon FR, Canon UK, Canon DE

Does The Canon EOS RP Have A “Left Eye Issue”?

Canon Eos Rp Best Mirrorless

Is this real? Photographer Michael the Maven made a short video where he points to what he feels is a “left eye problem” some Canon mirrorless cameras have.

Basically, Michael the Maven complains about the ergonomics and the user interface of the Canon EOS RP. He writes:

The left eye problem deals with cameras which lack a joystick and are asking photographers to use their right thumbs on the touch screen while looking through the viewfinder to move their focusing squares. The left eye problem is not unique to Canon, the Sony A6400 has the same issue, as well as a few other cameras. The reason Im picking on Canon is because I have seen this 3 times now on the Canon R, RP and M50.

Anyone made comparable experiences with Canon cameras?

Deal: Canon EOS M5/M6 with EF 15-45mm Lens – $484.49 (refurbished at Canon Store)

Canon Eos M5 Mark II

The Canon Store has refreshed EOS M5 and EOS M6 kits with the EF-M 15-45mm lens on sale at $484.49. Use code FRIEND15 at checkout to get the final price. Expires 3/29/19.

More refurbished gear listings (code FRIEND15 might work here too):

Canon Patent For 8-15mm Fisheye Lens For APS-C Mirrorless

Canon Patent

Canon patent application US20190094490 describes the optical formula for an 8-15mm fisheye lens. Given the back focus distance this is most likely a lens for the EOS M system.

From the patent literature:

In order for a zoom lens to have a wide angle of view and achieve high optical performance across the entire zoom range and the entire object distance range, it is important to appropriately set the elements constituting the zoom lens. For example, it is important to appropriately set the zoom type (the number of lens units and the refractive power of each lens unit), the lens configuration, and the lens unit selected for focusing, and so on. 

If these configurations are not appropriate, achieving a wide angle of view will increase the size of the whole system and also increase the variations of various aberrations caused by zooming and focusing. It will therefore be difficult to achieve high optical performance across the entire zoom range and the entire object distance range. 

For example, for a fisheye zoom lens having an imaging half angle of view of 85 degrees or more, a meniscus lens having an extremely strong negative refractive power needs to be disposed closest to the object side within the first lens unit in order to take light rays into the zoom lens from such a wide angle of view. Generally, lenses in a first lens unit not only have strong refractive powers but also have large effective diameters. Thus, when it comes to a fisheye zoom lens, its first lens unit is heavy and large as well. Then, if the entirety or part of the first lens unit (the closest lens unit to the object side) is used as a focus lens unit, quick focusing will be difficult.