The Canon EOS R has been out for a while now, with newer mirrorless cameras from the company offering updated feature sets, but it still sits as a decent all-around full frame camera at an affordable price. This great video review takes a look at how it holds up over the long run.
Coming to you from Photo Tom, this excellent video review discusses how the Canon EOS R holds up after a year of usage. When the EOS R first came out, I did not find it to be a particularly great value, but now that its price has come a bit, especially on the used market, where you can get it for a little over $1,000, I think it is a great entry point into the full frame mirrorless world, especially since with an EF-EOS R adapter, you can easily leverage an existing Canon EF lens library. On top of that, it uses a very similar sensor to that found in the 5D Mark IV, and I have always been very fond of that one, especially for its colors. Certainly, the EOS R6 and R5 have leapt well ahead of the original EOS R, but at a low price, the EOS R still has a place as an affordable full frame body or backup camera. Check out the video above for the full rundown.
The one thing that I don't like about my Canon EOS R is the viewfinder. I like to focus and recompose. For example, if I wanted to do a backlit portrait, I would focus on the person, then recompose. When I do this with my EOS R the viewfinder brightness adjusts for the bright background by making the view much darker. My subject goes so dark I can't see the expression on their face, or even if they have their eyes open. When shooting landscapes the image in my viewfinder goes darker as I tilt the camera up to include more of the sky and brighter when I include more foreground. This happens regardless of my exposure settings, even when shooting in full manual mode.
Turn off exposure preview in the EVF?
One of the first things I did when I got the camera was to go into the menu and disable exposure simulation in the EVF, but it made no difference.
With all the sensor area available for focussing, why do you want to focus-recompose? With mirrorless cameras, you need to "UNLEARN" and relearn things.
With DSLR, most of them has only the center AF point accurate, that was forcing you to focus-recompose.
I totally agree with you. However, with the EOS R I find looking through the viewfinder while trying to move the focus point with my thumb on the LCD screen to be quite clumsy and uncomfortable. As far as I know, there isn't any other way of doing it. With my 5D Mark III I can adjust the focus point with the multi-controller. It's so much easier; and it's a DSLR.
Matter of few weeks of getting used to it
You can do the same on the R. Just have to mess with settings. The touch screen really isn't necessary for most things, and can be avoided if needed.
And yes, focus and recompose only existed because focus points didn't reach the edges of the frame. It also caused issues with lenses that had significant field curvature. Mirrorless avoids all of that, and lets you nail focus exactly where you want, anywhere in the frame.
It sounds to me like you need to meter the scene, lock in the exposure and then compose. Look into the exposure lock function. By default it is the * button. If you use exposure lock, the exposure is locked-in and is not affected by your recomposition.
It may also make life easier for you to use a different exposure mode. Try center weighted average mode. It may help, because exposure in this mode is not linked to the focus point.
This is not a problem with the EOS R. Metering works like this in any Canon camera. The effect is just more obvious when you see it in real time as you take the photo.
I love my R. To me, 30mp is the sweet spot. I don't do fast action, so the limited frame rate and servo af speed/accuracy aren't important. Plus i don't have any issues with it's DR.
I completely agree. It is a great camera for my needs.