The Canon EOS R8 full frame mirrorless camera is on the cheap side of such cameras, and yet, it offers a nice feature set sure to please professionals and advanced hobbyists alike. Does it offer the right combination of cost and performance for you? This excellent video review will help you decide.
Coming to you from Dustin Abbott, this great video review takes a look at the Canon EOS R8 mirrorless camera. At $1,499, the EOS R8 is quite affordable for a full frame camera, though it still comes with a good set of features, including:
- 24.2-megapixel CMOS sensor
- DIGIC X processor
- Native ISO range of 100-102,400 (expandable to 50-204,800)
- Up to 40 fps continuous burst speed
- Full-width 4K video at 60 FPS, 10-bit oversampled from 6K
- 1080p video at up to 180 fps
- Up to two hours of recording at 29.97 fps
- 0.5 seconds of pre-shooting for ensuring quick action is captured
- Dual Pixel CMOS AF II with 1,053 automatic autofocus points with full sensor coverage and sensitivity down to -6.5 EV
- HDR PQ and Canon Log 3
- Vertical movie mode for social media content creation
- Full HD livestreaming
- Digital IS for video work
- 2.36-million-dot electronic viewfinder with 120 fps refresh rate
- Vari-Angle touchscreen LCD
- USB-C, micro-HDMI, microphone input, and headphone jack
- Bluetooth and Wi-Fi
- Multi-function hotshoe
Altogether, the EOS R8 looks like a great option for a wide range of users. Check out the video above for Abbott's full thoughts on the camera.
I'm not on team Canon, but even I can say that on specs alone, for most shooters, it's likely the best value proposition from the current crop of full frame mirrorless cameras. There's almost always a "yeah, but" with entry level full frame, but I can't seem to find it with this one - maybe battery life could be better, and the buffer is likely unable to sustain a 40fps burst for long, neither are deal-breakers for most shooters.
Well some would add IBIS and the lack of fully mechanical shutter, but... I have R8 and the AF alone is worth it.
Oh heck, not sure how I missed lack of IBIS. Still, digital IS for video covers IBIS's most important base. Then some will knock the digital IS crop, but most of the R8's immediate competitors crop their 4K60 anyway.
Does it have a quiet/electronic shutter mode?
Yep, I use it most of the time. Drops to 12 bit to make the readout faster than peers.
No.
Why? If you're on a budget -- that means your lens budget is also lower -- and Canon R mount has a terrible selection of more affordable third-party lenses.
So you're better off going Nikon or Sony in this case.
Just bought an R8 body for my first mirrorless camera. Added the Canon lens adapter and all my full frame EF lenses, as well as third party EF mount lenses, work fine with the R8.
What do you mean by terrible selection of third party lenses? There is none! 🤦
Yet it does not matter at all as Canon has the largest library of superB EF lenses which are very affordable second hand and perform even better than on the former DSLRs, thanks to AF improvements.
And I know it for a fact coming from 5D to R8. Using 85mm USM, 17-40 F4L USM & the legendary 135mm F2L USM, alongside the superB RF 100-400mm with 1.4 extender and RF nifty fifty STM.
It seems like "being on a budget" means different things for different people. I recently got myself a 1DX classic in good condition for a fraction of what an R8 costs. This is unbelievably good value spec vs cost. Together with good glass it can create wonders as long as video is not needed. We all seem to be trapped in a G.A.S. loop where gear is discussed more than the art itself.
Generally agree but when you get a taste of R8's AF, you don't want to go back to anything inferior. It allows you to focus more on framing.
I owned an R8 - sold it for a few reasons. No 3rd party lenses and poor battery life. But the nail in the coffin was that Canon treats 3rd party batteries as "counterfeit" and the R8 would not work reliably or at all with them. That's deliberate cripple-hammer. On principle I can't patronize a company like that. Anyway I picked up a like-new Panasonic S5ii and it SMOKES the R8 for less money.
I ONLY use Canon because I used them since the 90s. If I had to start from scratch today I would avoid Canon as the plague, just because they started treating 3rd party lenses/batteries etc as fake or incompatible HW, I would definitely go for Sony, Nikon, or anything else instead.
Since I had bad experience with 3rd party batteries in the past, i.e. swelled up and was difficult to remove from the body, I was not going to chance it with brand new R8 and bought second original battery for £45.
So far I never needed more than two batteries. Also, S5 AF is inferior, lenses expensive and it has big crop in 4k60p. Owning few excellent EF lenses, R8 was way to go. You can get EF135mm F2L for about £300 nowadays (cheap weather sealed adapter for £50), and if you are into portrait, there is nothing quite like that for the similar money in Panasonic world.
Sure you can adapt it to S5 II too, but the hit rate for moving subjects will be lesser. I do mostly photo and for the video I do, R8 works better for me too, mostly thanks to 4k60p without crop, the brilliant separation of video/photo settings and the more sure footed AF.
With S5 II, many reported that S5 II AF strangely hesitates at times and that would frustrate me at times, especially if missing a good shot due to that.
Ultimately S5 II is geared more towards the semi-pro video making crowd & R8 towards those who value state of art AF, usability and EF lenses working natively. S5 II has better control layout but after you assing custom function to buttons the way you like it, R8 is not that far behind.
Both great cameras nevertheless.
Gyat Dayum. That's a pretty good deal. Even as a Nikon Shooter for my whole life, If I had Canon Lenses I'd buy one. Too bad Canon shits on 3rd party lens manufacturers.
News flash, Sigma and Tamron announced that they're starting to make RF mount lenses with AF as of today. And Canon isn't pounding them with the cripple hammer as Sony is doing with third party lenses.
For APS-C only, doesn't really apply to the R8.