Review on Canon EOS R Vlogging Camera: Full Frame Mirrorless with 30.3 MP CMOS Sensor, Dual Pixel AF, Wi-Fi, and 4K Video Recording by Kristi Davis

It took me some time to get used to the redesigned controls and the all new mirrorless system. I come from a 6D perspective. Looking through the viewfinder is unusual at first. You won't get such a crystal clear optical picture of ambient light. Instead you get this virtual reality view interpreted through a tiny magnified screen where you can see the subtle flickering of electrons on the screen. I can't say it's my favorite item. I like the optical look more, but that's just a flaw with ALL mirrorless cameras until they find a way to get the light through the lens straight into the eye, and I don't see how that could be done. Although I'm sure someone will guess in time. The GOOD thing about an electronic viewfinder is that you see live what the picture will look like, so getting accurate exposure is no longer a problem as it was with a traditional viewfinder. I no longer have to manipulate the screen and adjust the exposure. I just look and turn the control ring to increase or decrease the exposure in real time. A VERY nice benefit. For me, that's even a fee for the lack of an optical viewfinder. I'm losing some information as this happens in action when the viewfinder is updated. The screen can jump and lag at times, so this is a little distracting, but not much once you get used to it. The rear LCD screen is nice and clear, brighter than the viewfinder image and an accurate representation of what you're about to see. I really like the back screen. Tilt, touch, sensitivity - all very good. The camera feel is superb and feels like an army shooter in your hand. A truncated shape and added buttons, dials. They all feel very precise and solid, which makes me feel this setup will stand up to serious use. However, I have to say that the foldable LCD screen doesn't give me the same secure and strong feeling as if I felt like if the camera were to fall off a table with the screen open I could see that it might break off , if she landed correctly . The back of the LCD housing feels slightly hollow when tapped with a finger, indicative of the less than 5-star durability that the rest of the camera has. I don't think this is a downside to this particular camera, it's inherent to all folding screens. The solution is to simply store it folded up on the back of the camera so it's secure and out of the way. the thing is absolutely outstanding and conveys perfectly what my eye actually sees. That's the first thing that came to mind when I photographed my daughter in a sky blue shirt. The images look "dreamy", Canon once again proves its professional color reproduction. Note: I'm shooting with an older EF 24-105 4L lens here. Autofocus: This is a large lens that I went back and forth with at first. I had to play around a lot with the settings and practice with the different AF modes before I got comfortable with this part of the camera. The advanced servo tracking works very well to capture portraits of my kids jumping and playing. The eye tracker works very well in well-lit scenes and no more than 15 or 20 feet away. Don't expect to track an eagle eye hovering over your house. The entire autofocus system is a huge improvement over my 6D. I find the burst speed a little slow, but very decent at 5 fps with servo tracking. It sometimes seems to slow down closer to 3 or 4 fps despite being in full screen tracking. If you set the servo to a fixed AF area it will fire like a machine gun every 8fps, no problem, just not in full frame AF. I particularly like the wide horizontal AF area mode as it acquires and tracks subjects very quickly. I take photos with this camera and my 6d just fell asleep trying to lock and recompose it and skipping frames. Low light performance seems like an improvement over my 6d from what I can tell so far. I get very useful and vivid footage on 6400iso. You will lose some detail at this ISO, but .soft is fine for me for portraits. I haven't felt the need to use a flash yet, even when photographing children in ambient light. I couldn't do that with my 6d and felt like I could shoot straight. I can with that. I am confident that this year I will be filming my children's birthdays. Combined with the fact that you can customize all these new buttons, the control ring [if you bought it or the RF lens] just makes me feel like I've really reached the level of this camera. This makes me much faster and I can react and grasp what is happening around me. I recommend this camera for the price but I would say be aware that you are making compromises and what you are getting with this camera. If you specifically shoot wildlife or NFL football as your niche, I would say that 5 fps in servo mode would be a bit slow for you. 5DMkiv might be the best choice here. For everyone else, choose R and save some money.