Canon mirrorless

doug56hl

So how did that turn out? Are you still using it 9 months down the line or have you got rid?

I bought a Sony A7 Mk1 cheap in the black friday sales last year but I don't particularly like using it. Its ergonomics don't suit me and the body, buttons and dials feel a bit fragile. I find the 2.4 MP EVF (same MP as the A7III) doesn't have enough resolution for precise manual focusing using shallow depth of field.

Then bought an EOS R on the grey market where its price is now fairly similar to the A7III and cheaper if you factor in a EF-FE lens mount adaptor. Body and dials feel much more substantial and the 3.7 MP EVF gives good results for me using 10x zoom for manual focusing as does the Focus Guide.

If you take the best camera is one you want to use; for me, at the moment, that is the EOS R. I'm even finding the much maligned 1.7X crop in 4K video suits me turning my 150-600mm lens into 850mm equivalent at its 500mm setting which came in useful the other day videoing gannets doing their greeting rituals.

A question re video: My LG E8 won't read 4k .mp4 straight from the EOS R so file has to be rendered to suit my LG.

So far I've tried Adobe Premiere and Vegas Movie Studio 15 to output a 1GB 22 second 480 mbps timelapse movie file from the R. Premiere 14 puts out a 8MB file (despite saying in the setup, file would be 500MB) and Movie Studio 15 outputs a 60MB file. Both files have low bit rates.
Any recommendations for free/cheap software  to get a file size and bitrate closer to the original?

snerkler

I too made a ‘strange’ swap recently in that I changed the wonderful and very highly regarded D850 for the comparatively mediocre Z7, however I couldn’t be happier. I prefer using the Z7, and ultimately prefer the mirrorless format. The D850 was superb and I respected it immensely but I never truly enjoyed using it, and preferred using my EM1-II. However, the Z7 is a joy to use and ultimately gives the same astounding images as the D850. The only thing that lets it down is frame rate and blackout (with real time view) but as my EM1-II is my wildlife and motorsports camera this doesn’t bother me.

It’s made me realise how important it is to enjoy using your gear.

Jules

Yep still using it as a video B cam.
The ergonomics are poor though and I much prefer my Panasonic G9 for stills even though it is technically inferior.

The drop in ND filter for the EOS R is THE reason I'm keeping the EOS R.  No other mirrorless camera that is small enough to use on a gimbal has this option, and for video its utterly priceless.


As for a cheap video converter... well I use FinalCutProX to edit, so not cheap...but have you tried Handbrake to convert it?  Its free.

Jules

Completely agree.. being comfortable and efficient with your camera is way more important than its technical abilities, and that's exactly why I prefer to use my Panasonic G9... the most ergonomic and customisable camera I've ever used.

doug56hl

I'm surprised you find the ergonomics poor as many mention that as one the plus points of the R. I suppose it's what you are used to. In my case, not so ergonomic cameras

I much prefer the layout of the buttons/dials on my EOS R to my 6D as I never got on with the Canon back wheel as a 2nd dial to change things. Now with the front dial and the rear top dial everything falls closer to hand for me. I rarely have to access/open the LCD to change things in the menu as the most often used stuff for me is under the M.Fn button next to the front dial (ISO, AF focus mode, frame rate, and metering mode). I find that much preferable to the old individual buttons along the top LCD as I rarely managed to select the one I after (no M.Fn button on the 6D).

Thanks. I forgot about Handbrake. Sorted the video issue (eventually) using Premiere Elements.

Jules

The ergonomic issues with the EOS R for me stem from the touch bar.  Its a royal pain in the butt!

You can have exposure compensation set to the rear dial, but it only works after half pressing the shutter.. its not permanently active, and it also doesn't have an option to reset exposure compensation automatically when powering off the camera.

Everything on the EOS R takes a few seconds to think about how to achieve it, with numerous combinations of buttons and screen touches to get there... which often means pulling the camera away from my eye and missing the shot.
Also, the menu and power buttons are on the left hand side... which requires a change in grip or again, pulling the camera away from your eye.

Then the mode dial has been replaced with something that requires a minimum of 3 actions to switch to movie mode (press mode button, press info, press custom movie mode)!  Its a bit bonkers!

I used to love Canon's ergos, and the touch screen implementation is very good, but after using the Panasonic G9 its difficult going back.