Best Canon Mirrorless Cameras

We were recently in the market for a new digital camera. My wife is a coloured pencil artist who want's to get high quality reference photos of birds… Read more

and wildlife for her art. Over the years, we've had a plethora of film cameras, digitals and bridge cameras that were good but not top quality. Even the excellent camera in the modern phone could not compare to a modern digital camera for picture quality. A friend loaned to us their Nikon P950 bridge camera to try out. It was a nice camera to use with pretty good picture quality but it had some minor limitations and lower picture quality than we really needed. When we were seriously looking at a new camera to buy for wildlife photography, it came down to a toss up between the Nikon P1100 bridge camera and the Canon EOS R50 mirrorless DSLR. After careful consideration, we chose the Canon. The choice was determined by two factors. #1. The Nikon had a smaller sensor with lower picture quality, has less low light capability, is heavy and was also not immediately available at any local stores and, #2. The Canon was cheaper, has a bigger sensor for better picture quality and is much, much lighter and we could have it right away. The Nikon has 16MP sensor and an impressive 125x optical zoom, equivalent to 24-3000mm and ease of use with no lens changes to worry about. However, the Nikon has a lot of glass and mechanical stuff in that lens casing and is heavy at 1.5kg. That's a lot of weight to carry all the time. The Canon on the other hand has 24MP sensor, it is much lighter than the Nikon. The body alone weighs only 380g and only 529g with the 18-45mm lens attached. It has a bigger APS-C sensor which is over 11x larger than the sensor in the P1100 and with much better low light capability than the Nikon. The Canon came as a 2 lens bundle with 18-45mm (152g) and 55-210mm (310g) lenses. For super long distance shots, I purchased an f11 600mm (940g) prime lens to go with it. Having the interchangeable lenses is a bit of a pfaff when you want to change focal length quickly but it also means that the camera is not heavy all the time. The EOS R50 with the 'huge' 600mm prime weighs 1.3kg vs 1.5kg for the Nikon. With the Canon, we need a carry bag with enough storage space for the camera body and the lenses. This makes the bag a bit bulky. The Nikon is much more compact and has a much smaller bag. I can't comment on the Nikon performance because we haven't used it, so I shan't; but after owning the Canon for a few months now, we have explored most of the many features and functions. Having owned a few "instamatic" and bridge cameras before, this one leaves the others in it's wake. It's by no means the 'Rolls Royce' of cameras, in fact it is a Canon 'entry level' camera. It is a mirrorless camera meaning that unlike an SLR camera, there's no mechanical gizmo to flip a mirror out of the way each time you press the shutter button. This makes it less complicated and lighter too with a longer life due to less mechanical gubbins' to wear out or go wrong. The view finder image is an LCD image from the sensor and not an optical path through the lens but it is still excellent. THE GOOD STUFF: This camera with all it's functions and quality is IMHO best bang-for-buck. It's perfect for a beginner or budget conscious person but with most of the features the more professional cameras have to offer rolled up in a compact package. It has some other nifty feature too, like the wireless connection to your phone or computer to download images. You can also control the camera hands-free from your phone. The image quality is very good and the lenses are easy to change. There is a viewfinder and a fully articulated 'touch screen' LCD display. There is a built-in flash and a 'hot foot' too. I have tried the time lapse function to video the summer storms rolling in and they look amazing. The camera has many cool functions to play with. You can leave it as a point-and-shoot camera set in "auto" mode, or fiddle around with ISO, F stop, shutter speeds and other settings to your heart's content to get the optimal shot. Being a newbie to the world of photography I am impressed with the abilities it gives me. Battery life is better than expected too. THE NOT-SO-GOOD STUFF: My only complaint about this camera is the button layout. All the buttons to change modes and do other functions are located on the right hand side (handle) of the body around where your right hand goes. This is convenient for operation but it means that they are susceptible to accidental pushing of the buttons just by holding the camera. It's just a minor 'first world' problem and something to get used to I guess. The EOS R50, like most DSLR cameras is susceptible to weather. There is no weather sealing so be careful to not get it wet. LENSES: Our camera came as a bundle with two lenses included. The lens hoods are not included but are available separately. The 18-45mm is perfect for family snaps, general photography and close-up's. The 55-210mm is best for sports and wildlife photography. The lenses are of the (12 contact) RF-S family and the RF mount is not compatible with the older (8 contact) EF lenses. However, there is an accessory adaptor ring available to allow EF lenses to be used on the RF mount. So, if you've got an old Canon, you can use the old lenses on the new camera but you need to purchase the adaptor. There is a wide variety of lenses from canon and other manufacturers like Sigma and Tamron available for this camera that can suite all needs. The EOS R50 camera body does not have image stabilisation. However, the RF-S (S for Stabilisation) lenses do carry that feature. CONCLUSION: I'm very pleased and impressed with our Canon. If you want a good all round but budget camera with all the bells and whistles, you can't go past the Canon EOS R50. It has all the tricks and trappings of expensive cameras at a fraction of the cost. It's light and compact and perfect for beginners and anyone wanting a good quality DSLR without spending a fortune.

Excellent – Bought the canon after reading many articles, and asking salespeople to recommend a camera, I had a Fuji which had a very difficult menu system that… Read more

put me off photography, but thus menu on the canon is intuitive, (but like the apple computer over Microsoft) everything seems so straightforward there are terms and settings I still don’t understand, but the shop said to pop by anytime for advice. This camera exudes quality, not cheap but worth the extra. Very pleased with the quality and ease of settings and very helpful staff at camera electronics.

Just to add to this 6 months on, The colours you get from this camera are incredible, I use a Nisi polarising filter, and shoot in Raw mode, I also subscribe to Lightroom, which is a new learning curve for me, and prob need more utube hours to perfect, but I just printed a selection of my photos and I was blown away with the colours and quality, even the lady who processed the pics commented on them as I picked them up, (never had that before!) I think the full frame is a must for anyone wanting quality, it’s 24.000 mega pixels, which seems adequate, if I had money I’d definitely look at the new R5, but that’s up there price wise for a hobbyist, I only buy L series lenses, which is what you need if your a perfectionist! Although I just bout a 15mm f2.8 standard lens, less than 500$, as I want to try some astrology pics, and maybe I’ll trade up if I get into it. But was told the quality difference isn’t as noticeable with this type of photography, the fast lens is more important for now. Anyway this is my experience, years ago I had minolta 9000, film camera which I loved, and a entry model Fuji which I found complicated, apart from that I’ve never used a Nikon, which was on my list when I chose the canon because the salesmen all favoured the canon and because of the menu system, and I have no regrets!

Learning to Handle Briliance – My R5 with Canon lenses has performed better and better as I have become used to handling the features that are new to me. Tracking focus Has turned… Read more

out to be a brilliant addition to my photographic experience as I've learnt how to use it well. Battery life is shorter when tracking is always on but that is a small price to pay for the great results.