It seems that 2018 is rapidly becoming the year of the full frame mirrorless camera system. With other marques hot on their heels, Canon offer the new EOS R and its accompanying lenses, plus of course a handy adapter to enable the use of current EF and EF-S optics. The Canon RF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens has been looked at in detail and now we examine the EOS R camera body, along with the Mount Adapter EF-EOSR. That both the body and lens are the start of a brand new system makes this an especially exciting prospect, so let's see how it works out in terms of both handling and the overall quality of the results.

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Canon EOS R Features

The main benefit of mirrorless CSCs is perhaps the removal of the mirror box, eliminating the vibration known as “mirror slap” and reducing the register distance of lenses. This latter point means that lenses can be less dependent on retrofocus design and in theory can be more compact, simpler in optical construction and theoretically providing better quality as a result. In practice there is little evidence that full-frame lenses have generally become smaller or lighter, but camera bodies have reduced slightly in bulk and indeed the EOS R weighs in at just 580g.

The core of the EOS R is a new, solidly made metal RF mount with electronic contacts. This has a wide throat, 54mm, the same as the Canon EOS DSLR range, that will make the design of wide aperture lenses much easier. Built into the concept from the start is an inexpensive, well designed mount adapter that gives the register distance for using existing DSLR EF lenses, plus all the necessary electronic contacts. At least for now, the adapter is supplied with the camera on its own or as part of the kit of lens plus body.

There is a 30.3mp full-frame CMOS sensor, plus DIGIC 8 Processing and in-camera Digital Lens Optimiser. Dual pixel CMOS phase detection AF is fast and reliable, with an impressive 5,455 focus points. The camera offers silent shooting thanks to an electronic shutter, and continuous shooting is available at speeds up to 8fps, or 5fps with continuous AF. The silent shooting is a clear advantage over the clatter of DSLR mirrors, and press events may become eerily silent if the mirrorless concept takes over. The AF is active down to a rather impressive -6EV.

The camera features Dual Pixel Raw – which was first introduced on the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV (see the review for more details) – and this can be used to fine tune the focus after you’ve taken the shot on your computer.

With the new RF lens mount, Canon has introduced four new lenses, including a standard RF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens, a 50mm f/1.2L USM lens, a 35mm f/1.8 IS Macro lens, and a rather large 28-70mm f/2L lens. The camera does not feature in-camera image stabilisation, instead relying on the lens featuring image stabilisation. Electronic image stabilisation is available for video recording, however, this crops into the image.

The electronic viewfinder (EVF) in the EOS R offers a high resolution of 3.69million dots, and has a 0.76x magnification giving a large view. The rear screen is a 3.15inch touch-screen with a 2.1million dot resolution. There's also a top LCD display giving shooting information, as well as battery life when the camera is off.

4K video recording offers frame rates up to 30fps, and there are built-in stereo mics. 4K video is UHD video resolution, for CINE resolution, you need to look at the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. Video is recorded internally in 8-bit, and for 10-bit video recording you need to use the HDMI output.

As you would expect, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are built-in, which lets you remotely control the camera, and transfer images. Bluetooth offers lower power consumption compared to simply relying on Wi-Fi.

Key Features

• 30.3mp full-frame CMOS sensor, with low-pass filter
• RF lens mount
• Dual Pixel CMOS AF, -6EV
• DIGIC 8 image processor
• Face detection focus with Eye-AF
• 3.15inch vari-angle touch-screen, 2.1m dots
• 3.69million dot OLED EVF, 0.76x magnification
• ISO50-ISO102400 (Extended)
• 4K video recording. 10-bit output (via HDMI), stereo mics
• Mic, headphone sockets
• 8fps continuous shooting (speed maintained for 100 JPEG, 47 RAW, 78 C-RAW images)
• 5fps continuous shooting - with AF
• Silent shooting
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth built-in
• LP-E6N battery, 370 shot battery life
• Single SD card slot
• USB 3.1 Type-C

Canon EOS R Handling

The general feel of the EOS R is similar to a small but solidly made DSLR, and with lens it is fairly close in size, bulk and weight to a Pentax K-1 with its 28-105mm lens. The bulk just lies in different places. This means that although the mirrorless camera is in some ways more compact, we still need a bag to carry it in, it isn't pocketable, and it will burden us weight-wise to a similar degree. However, this isn't the whole point.

The 24-105mm f/4 lens is fully covered in our review and it does blend very well with the camera body. Balance is perfect and the two feel very good indeed in the hand. Good solid manufacture inspires confidence.

Different cameras have different strengths and the one real practical strength here is using the camera on a tripod. Being able to touch the screen and have the camera both focus on that point and release the shutter is fantastic. Being right handed unfortunately means that when our right hand moves in to touch the screen it passes the sensor that switches the view to the EVF and the screen goes dark. The answer is to use the left hand to operate the touch screen, maybe a minor point but also a minor irritation every time it is forgotten. There is also quite a dependence on the menu system to control commonly used parameters, rather than dedicated buttons. This is a question of familiarity though, and ultimately once we are used to the way it works it probably makes little difference. The options are all clear and the menu system works well.

The silent shooting is amazing. No more clattering mirrors, something that will be very welcome in all sorts of shooting situations. The camera is also brimming with potential, as can be seen from the vast list of available features. There is virtually endless capability and any ergonomic inconveniences are as much a matter of familiarity as anything else. The rear monitor is excellent and the touch facility a great way to make all the menus work.

Looking through the viewfinder, we see a slightly garish view of the world, but a detailed one that has no visible lag. This OLED EVF is actually pretty impressive and can be set to mimic the changes that are being dialled into the image by the photographer. It may still not have quite the same real-world clarity of the best glass pentaprism finders, but it is a different sort of beast with its own advantages, not least the absence of the bulk of the pentaprism housing.

Operational temperatures down to 0C do not match the DSLR performance of -10C or so, perhaps because the viewfinders will black out at very low temperatures, but this will only affect quite specialised use. Apart from some specialised uses, this CSC can do more or less anything that a DSLR can do.

The mode button needs to be pressed to switch between the different shooting modes:

• Scene intelligent auto
• Fv - flexible priority AE
• P - program AE (variable) 
• Tv - shutter priority
• Av - aperture priority
• Manual
• Bulb
• Custom modes: C1p, C2p, C3p

Pressing the mode button and then the info button will switch between stills and movie shooting. In the movie mode there are auto, P, Tv, Sv, Manual and 3 custom modes. It's a shame there isn't a quicker way to switch between the still photo and video modes. - although you can simply press the video record button in photo mode, however this means you're not able to frame the scene before you start recording. 

The front lens ring can be customised, the rear "Multi Function Bar" (touch pad) can also be customised, as can a number of other controls on the camera. However, we didn't find the Multi Function Bar particularly intuitive or quick to use, with the front and rear control wheels being quicker and easier to use. With so many customisable options it can take a while to get to grips with how the camera operates and it may take you some time to get the camera configured to how you would like it. 

There is side access to the memory card slot, which is a single SD card slot, which will disappoint some. The top LCD screen can be illuminated so that you can view it in low light. 

Auto focus controls and performance

There are numerous AF controls, and you can use the touchscreen to set the focus position. You can use the 4-way controller to set the position after pressing the AF point button.  You can customise how the AF system responds with five pages of AF options in the menu system. 

There are 5,655 AF points, which is a lot! However when selecting an AF point you can set the size to small or normal and there are around 65 points vertically (covering 100% top to bottom) and 88 horizontally (almost to the edges - covering 88%) when using the smaller size. 

Face and eye detection worked reasonably well but not in all circumstances, so often it was quicker to manually select the AF point using the touch screen and simply press the screen on the subject (for example on a person's eye). 

Battery life - Battery Life is rated at 370 shots, and can be extended further by enabling ECO mode. In battery info you can view the battery life left as a percentage (eg 71%) as well as the number of shots taken with that battery.