Canon EOS R8 Review
Released in April of 2023, the Canon EOS R8 Mirrorless camera is what I like to call the EOS R6 Mark II’s baby brother. The R8 has many features of a high-end professional camera at a truly affordable price point. The R8 shines when it comes to capturing stellar photos and video, especially in low-light scenarios. But, it’s missing a few important “pro” features I’ve grown accustomed to over the years…
So, let’s explore into the pros & cons, and figure out who this camera is truly made for… Maybe it’s exactly the upgrade that you’ve been looking for. I haven’t tested a new Canon camera body in quite awhile, so I think this will be a fun ride.
Quick EOS R8 Tech Specs
The tech specs for this camera can be found almost anywhere, so in my review of the Canon EOS R8, I’ll just be highlighting what I believe is most critical. The R8 is a hybrid camera that shoot photos and video, and we’ll dive deeper into those features in the Pros and Cons below. As I mentioned earlier, the sensor, processor and autofocus system are borrowed from Canon’s higher-end EOS R6 Mark II.
- 24.2 Megapixel Full-Frame Sensor (R6 MKII)
- Dual Pixel CMOS AF II (R6 MKII)
- 1053 AF Points
- Video: 4K 24, 30, 60 fps that is over sampled from 6K
- Full-HD 180 FPS
- Max movie record time of 2 hours
- 2.36 million dots OLED EVF
- 3.0” LCD touchscreen
- Light-weight – 1lb. (414g)
- 6FPS continuous shooting
- Weather Sealed
- $1300 MSRP
R8 Pros
To be brief: I’m highly impressed by the R8’s autofocus. Borrowed from the R6 MKII, the autofocus is fast. for both photo and video. The subject tracking worked quite well, and even managed to stay locked on while it was snowing. Additionally, I love light-weight gear. The camera body is compact (but not too small) making it a great travel companion. This will make any run and gun photographer happy!
Personally, I like the simplicity of Canon’s menu system. Usability of a camera, including using its menus, is quite important to me. Photographers don’t have to be digging through 3 or 4 layers of sub-menus to find a specific setting or feature while on the run. Also, the articulating 3″ LCD makes this a great camera for vlogging.
As I’ve mentioned, the R8 has the same Digic X processor and back side illuminated sensor as R6 Mark 2, so the low-light performance is pretty stunning. It eats any light you give it, and spits out a pretty low-noise photograph. Overall, there’s a ton of goodness packed into the EOS R8’s small frame.
R8 Cons:
Now we’re at the part we’ve all been dreading; everything has gone so well thus far. So, what’s wrong with the R8?
Something that I didn’t mention in the video is that I think the R8’s live viewfinder is too cluttered. The whole LVF is encircled with too many numbers and information which I don’t consider critical to image making. As a professional photographer, I find it overwhelming, I can only imagine how a beginner could feel with a screen cluttered in settings, picture-styles, frame counter, filters, gps, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth — 46 total display settings crammed onto a 3″ screen. It’s even worse when you use the optical electronic viewfinder. You can see an example on Canon’s site here.
What are some other limiting factors of the Canon R8? The most important being: where is my AF control joystick? I don’t want to bring my camera down from my eye to make focus point adjustments. I prefer a tactile joystick, but that’s just me.
Another feature is In-Body Image Stabilization or IBIS. I’ve really grown accustomed to camera produced after 2016 having IBIS, which apparently I took for granted. The lack of sensor stabilization will make hand-held videos more shaky. You’ll also need to turn up that shutter speed just a little more to get tack-sharp photos.
We’ll wrap-up the R8 Cons list with my last two gripes about this other-wise killer camera. With the small form factor comes a small battery…like really small. On a good day, you can get about 60 minutes of video recording OR around 200 photos on a single charge. My advice is to stock up on LP-E17 Batteries! Unfortunately, size and capacity don’t translate to the price, which is still $60 USD each… ouch.
Finally, when recording 4K video on the Canon R8, you’ll be utilizing the full sensor. However, it’s actually downsampled from 6K. Now, I didn’t notice anything specifically from my test footage, but down sampling can lead to strange artifacts when capturing patterns or lines.
Canon EOS R8 Review: My Final Thoughts
Overall, I dig this camera. The Canon EOS R8 is fun tool that does a little bit of everything. I may not shoot on Canons often since my 5D Mark II, but they’ve come a long way. The battery life wasn’t the best and it seems to be missing come critical features that I want, but it’s coming in at a very affordable price point. As I’ve said before in this Canon EOS R8 review, you’re getting a lot of features from the Canon’s R6 Mark II but, not all of them obviously.
So who is this camera for? It’s a great camera for intermediate photographers or videographers. It would be a great addition to a run and gun kit, especially for travel photographers or vloggers. And, while this camera may lack some features that I need, it may be perfect for you and your needs!
Thank you to Lewis Carlyle Photography for letting me borrow his Canon R8 while I was in Colorado! Be sure to checkout his landscape work! Also don’t forget to subscribe to the blog (below) for more Photography Tips, Tricks and of course, gear reviews. Thanks for reading my Canon EOS R8 review!
Until next time, get out and go shoot!
