It's not every day that someone experiences a full rotation of the earth around the sun in a way that corresponds with the exact numerical interval of their birth. It is because of this yearly event and its subsequent bestowment of tributational treasures that I was able to purchase the mirrorless camera designated by its manufacturer as the Canon R8. I had just turned 40 and received a generous gift from my mother. I was determined to spend it well.

After a few months of casual research, I decided on getting the Canon R8 for its full-frame, exceptional sensor and processor, advanced autofocus, and price. As much as the Canon R7 and Canon R6 MKII were enticing, I decided that, for my budget, the R8 was the best option. I have had it for about a week now and have taken it out a few times and I will impart my first impressions in this photo blog post.

The majority of the photos posted here are from my walk around Blue Lake Regional Park in Fairview, OR. The park had been closed for quite a while and when I discovered that it had reopened recently I was very excited to return to the park where I have had so many good experiences with photography. My friend Kyle came along and we were treated to wonderful weather and saw some cool stuff. (A snail eating a mushroom!) More first shots and a video at the bottom of this post.

Another pertinent fact about my photography life is that I had been using a version of Lightroom from 2019 and assumed that it had been automatically updating but when I tried to upload CR3 files from the new camera Lightroom wasn't recognizing them. So I thought that I needed to change my subscription to get Lightroom Classic. I canceled my subscription in anticipation of this but when I uninstalled my old version and installed the current version I found that it was not only able to recognize the new raw files but also had all the new AI and masking features that I had been aware of but unable to use because of my ignorance. Now that I have a new camera and a new version of Lightroom I can experience photography in a new and modern way.

AF system:

Coming from the Canon 80D I am very impressed with the autofocus of the Canon R8. Having the eye AF seems to work very well and even detects eyes at long distances and on small animals. Just having the subject-specific detection is a great feature and I'm excited to test it further, especially with flying creatures and such. I am not so sure about what focus mode to use as the AI Focus option switches between one-shot and AI servo automatically and I could see this being an issue sometimes.

One thing that I am finding tricky is deciding what focus area to utilize. There are a lot of options but going with the full area option and letting the camera figure things out didn't work for certain subjects or in areas where the foreground and background were complex such as an animal in dense trees. I had to reduce the area and change from AI focus to AI servo in that case or the auto-focus was all over the place. Overall the system is fast and responsive.

Ergonomics and Interface:

I am used to having a dedicated button for ISO and the Canon R8 doesn't have that so going from auto ISO to manual takes an extra step which is not ideal. Also, the battery is smaller than the 80D and went dead after about 400 CR3 raw photos with JPG backups and some short videos. This is not terrible but if I was doing more video it would probably be an issue. I like that the back screen turns off after a short time but it means that I can't change settings until I wake it back up by half pressing the shutter button. I also set the back screen to just have info instead of the live view to save battery. Not sure if that is helpful yet but I don't need a live view anyway except when doing video. I recommend having extra batteries anyway and I will buy at least one more.

The camera body is quite small and light and I like that. If I had a bigger hand I would probably need the extension grip but I don't have a big hand so it works for me. I found that with my bigger lens and when I was in a hurry I would accidentally hit the zoom button on the far right side. It didn't seem to do much except to weird me out. The touch screen is great and I found it easy to change settings using the Q button with the touch screen. The menu system is user-friendly and allows for extensive customization.

Full Frame and Picture Quality:

One of the main reasons I purchased the R8 is because of the full-frame sensor. I have been using the APSC sensor of the 80D and the one problem that always came up was how it struggled in even slightly low-light situations. It wasn't able to use higher ISO settings without rendering the image unusable. So far I have noticed that the Canon R8 can handle higher ISO settings with less noise. The bigger sensor and advanced processor handle low light better and produce more usable shots. It allows for more flexibility, especially when my longer lens has a relatively slow aperture and I want to use higher shutter speeds. I don't mind sacrificing a little bit of magnification using the full frame instead of the crop sensor.

ISO 10000 no noise reduction

After Noise Reduction

Things to test out next:

Time-lapse
4 K video and audio
Macro, macro, macro!
Long exposure, light painting, and night photography.
Flying birds. Fast-moving subjects.
Portraits.
Flash photography.

To conclude this first impression review I would say that I am impressed with the image quality I am getting so far and the myriad of auto-focus options. With the previous camera, I felt like the autofocus was fighting me sometimes and I would have to take a lot of extra shots to try to force it to focus on the eyes or some specific subject area, but I am hoping that the new AI systems of the R8 will cooperate with my intentions and we can work together. The camera doesn't really feel like a professional camera with its lack of dedicated buttons, its size, and its lack of certain features. It doesn't have in-body stabilization, dual card slots, or larger battery life but for the price point and the impressive processing and sensor the Canon R8 offers a lot for the price point. To get a full-frame camera with the same sensor, processor, and autofocus features as the more expensive R6 MKII is not bad at all. I am excited to continue to learn about this camera and I will be posting the results.

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