So I got a mirrorless full frame camera. The EOS R from Canon. But this is actually not supposed to be about the EOS R (only a bit), but the camera may help to make a point here: It is about photography.
Let me get this out of the way: The EOS R works beautifully, the images are crisp & sharp and everything I wished for. You can check out some of my impressions from the camera below.
I was shooting with the Canon 6D until now, which is also full frame and also a great camera. I travelled quite a bit around the world with my 6D and I enjoy looking at all the pictures I took. People back than basically where asking the same questions about the 6D that people are asking now about the EOS R: “But it misses feature xyz”, or “It has not enough MP…”, or “Why didn’t they do this and that…” – all the bla bla you can read in many posts that basically seem to justify their own existence by finding something they can bash.
Faisal Yaqub has posted a review of the EOS R after two month of usage and points out a few features and what he really likes about the camera. It is important to note that he focuses on things that actually help him to take good photos. When I got my 6D I couldn’t help but notice how well Canon seemed to understand what I really really needed in a camera and what features I basically do not care about so much. Possibly because they understand the fundamentals of what is necessary to take good photos. And they left those additional features out in the 6D.
And they did something similar with the EOS R. The EOS R combines many things that are actually helping me to take photos and/or support my workflow with the camera. The excellent ergonomics of the EOS R is only one of the many points. Or the “FV” mode that makes it so easy to control e.g. exposure compensation when you do not have an R-mount lens on with the brilliant additional ring on the lens (e.g. one of your old EF lenses). But many of these things are not mentioned in most of the reviews, maybe because they can not be compared on paper or against other cameras or brands. It is personal.
Jamie Windsor makes a wonderful point in his video on how photography can make you unhappy (Disclaimer: I think his channel is brilliant!): “The pursuit of gear is not photography!”. And it is actually why I am writing up this EOS R post: Having a good camera that actually helps you with the little things and (I think) purposely misses out on certain features is maybe the better camera for you because it focuses on you as a person taking the shot and not on other cameras, other brands or things to be compared on paper. It is a tool and, hence, has to take a step back for us to be able to focus on what actually is important to us: The art of photography!
