SET- UP | CANON EOS R
For those who remember early EVEs, which resembled ancient TV screens, this is worlds apart and a customisable control ring – when adapting lenses. The drop-in filter mount adapter is available with a variable neutral density (V-ND) filter or a circular polarising (C-PL) filter, while a third clear (CL) filter is also available if you don’t wish to have any effects. The ND variety in particular is going to be of keen interest to filmmakers. So Canon is making sure its army of current users can take the journey to the mirrorless promised land without the inconvenience of losing the use of all those lenses they’ve so expensively acquired over the years. However, there can be little doubt that the long-term future of Canon lenses will be RF-shaped, and that this is where all the advances will be seen. The new mount features short-back focus and the widest lens throat of any sub-medium format system, and Canon say this will enable future advances in lens design and performance. CAMERA DESIGN So to the camera itself, and this did indeed feel good in the hands, being noticeably smaller than a conventional DSLR but nicely balanced and solidly made. It’s not easy to get to grips with a new model when you’ve only had it placed in your hands a few moments earlier, but I started off in the auto modes and slowly but surely investigated a few of the many customisation options – such as autofocus, ISO and white-balance – that are available, these being accessed via a swipe or a tap on a multi-function touch bar just to the right of the EVF. The EVF itself is one of the most impressive features of the new camera, as it needed to be for a mirrorless model to make any sense. For those who remember early EVFs, which resembled ancient TV screens complete with horizontal lines and flickering, this is world’s apart. It’s so good, in fact, that one professional who had been working with the camera said that he’d forgotten this wasn’t a direct view and had then been surprised when wording suddenly appeared. The reason for the low-light setting was to demonstrate how well this camera
ABOVE A high-spec sensor and top-level performance means the EOS R signals a system to watch.
SHOOTING VIDEO I managed a few short video clips, and having subsequently spoken to a few filmmaking pros they tend to agree that there’s enough onboard here to satisfy most professionals that might want to shoot some video around the stills for the benefit of their clients. The EOS R can shoot in 4K at 30fps – though, as many have pointed out, not at 60fps, which is only available at 1080p. This, however, will still be more than enough for most pros, and there are further video-orientated features on board such as Canon Log with 12 stops of dynamic range, 10bit 4:2:2 HDMI output and a maximum recording time of 29 minutes and 59 seconds. The side of the camera also features mic and headphone jacks, but this is still clearly a photographer’s camera rather than one specifically aimed at filmmakers. Then again, if it was, where would that leave the C-Series? CONCLUSION It’s disappointing to some to find that there’s only one SDXC memory card slot, especially if you like to have an automatic back-up – but there’s much else to enjoy. The full benefit of the new RF system will reveal itself in the fullness of time, but lenses such as the new 50mm provide a tantalising taste of what can be expected, and this is where all the innovation will be coming in the future. There will also be a line-up of R camera models to choose from as well, with this first one destined to be somewhere in the middle of the range. Maybe it’s best to hold judgement until we get a clearer idea of what’s coming, but there can be no doubt now that mirrorless is the bright new technology, with DSLR the technological dinosaur with its best years behind it.
functions once the light starts to drop. In short, it’s very well indeed: in fact looking through the EVF or on the 3.1in LCD viewing screen you get a much clearer view of things than you do using your eyesight. The idea was also to show us how good the new AF system is, thanks to the impressive number of autofocusing points it features, no less than 5655 manually selectable points up to f/11 (compared to a more modest 61 in the EOS 5D Mark IV). It uses Canon’s Dual Pixel CMOS autofocusing system and can acquire focus in very low light, right down to -6 EV. It also focuses extremely quickly, with Canon suggesting that it’s 0.05 seconds. Focus acquisition is the fastest in the world, claims Canon. Suffice to say that I found AF to be lightning-fast, even when the lighting got really atmospheric, and this is set to be one of the big selling points. Although it wasn’t necessary in the situation I was in, I can also confirm that the camera operated in complete silence, which could be crucial for those in wedding or tense sporting situations. So quiet is the whole process that, at first, it can be difficult to believe that the shutter has actually fired, but fortunately Canon has thought this one through and there is confirmation in the viewfinder that the shot has been successfully taken. At the heart of the camera is a 30.3-megapixel CMOS sensor with a native ISO range of 100-40,000 (expandable to 50-102,400), backed by a DIGIC 8 image processor. There’s a low pass filter in front of the sensor that helps combat moiré patterns at the cost of slightly reduced sharpness, and the camera features an 8fps continuous shooting speed for bursts of up to 100 max- quality JPEGs, 47 Raw, or 78 C-RAW. The shutter lag is as short as 50 milliseconds, and start-up time is 0.9 seconds.
12 DEF I N I T ION | OCTOBER 20 1 8
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