Canon EOS RP review: Cheap full-frame mirrorless camera is hard to recommend

Canon EOS RP is the Japanese camera manufacturer’s cheapest full-frame mirrorless camera (Image: Canon • Express Newspapers)

CANON EOS RP REVIEW

  • FOR – ‘Affordable’ full-frame mirrorless camera • 4K video capture • User interface
  • AGAINST – Expensive lenses • Poor dynamic range • No in-body image stabilisation

The camera can record in 4K 25-frames-per-second (fps) and its larger sensor size allows decent low light performance, in a diminutive form factor. Canon is pitching this small full-frame mirrorless camera at the ‘advanced amateurs’ market, who want to take a ‘step up.’

The EOS RP is Canon’s smallest, lightest full-frame digital interchangeable lens camera to date and is the cheapest and lightest full-frame on the market currently.

Express.co.uk was lent the camera to test for a few weeks and this is what we made of it.

 

Build

The design, build and feel of this camera is really solid and also familiar, if you’ve used Canon before. Despite its smaller size it feels comfortable and robust in your hand, allowing you to get a really comfortable grip when shooting photos and video.

It feels better in the hand than some of its Sony counterparts, mainly due to the chunky grip, making it very usable. It’s constructed with a polycarbonate body, similar to its 700D series cameras and has grip material on the handhold area and other, often used areas.

Overall, it’s hard to knock the build quality of this camera at all and it’s ultimately very well made.

Canon EOS RP review

The EOS RP is Canon’s smallest, lightest full-frame digital interchangeable lens camera (Image: Canon)

Canon EOS RP review

The design, build and feel of this camera is really solid and also familiar (Image: Canon)

Canon EOS RP review

Electronic viewfinders (EVF) are fine, they do the job but still aren’t a patch on optical (Image: Canon)

User interface

While Canon may lack in some areas its competitors thrive, its user interface (UI) is by far the best on the market. It’s the most intuitive system we have used to date and can all be controlled using the touchscreen, which flips out to the side, meaning you can keep an eye on what you’re shooting even from various angles.

The power of being able to edit settings on the fly with a few taps of the touchscreen makes it an extremely easy camera to get to grips with and you should have no issues leveraging its awesome features.

The screen is fairly bright, so it’s very usable in most scenarios. However, in particularly bright light you may have some issues seeing the screen, but this is not something that’s typical of just this camera.

Canon EOS RP review

Canon EOS RP image sample (Image: Express Newspapers)

Canon EOS RP review

Canon EOS RP image sample (Image: Express Newspapers)

Canon EOS RP review

Canon EOS RP image sample (Image: Express Newspapers)

Electronic viewfinder

Electronic viewfinders (EVF) are fine, they do the job but still aren’t a patch on optical. During our testing, the biggest gripe we had with the EVF was with the sensor which triggers it.

Due to its positioning if you’re reaching over to modify settings and brush past it, then the screen will go blank.

While this is absolutely fine when you’re shooting photographs, it can be frustrating when shooting video and need to alter a setting (such as boosting the ISO). In addition to this issue, the EVF isn’t the highest resolution, but this is something fairly common on cameras with an EVF.

Canon EOS RP review

Canon EOS RP image sample (Image: Express Newspapers)

Canon EOS RP review

Canon EOS RP image sample (Image: Express Newspapers)

Photography

Picture quality is inconsistent. The camera’s high dynamic range (HDR) processing is unusual and tends to really blow out highlights. Pushing shadows is also problematic in the camera as it creates a lot of noise in photographs.

Scenes with bright highlights and dark shadows see the RP struggle and its rivals surpass it. At lower ISO the camera is not as strong as some of its rivals either but it does handle low light well due to the larger sensor. This is handy given the fact the camera doesn’t have in-body stabilisation, meaning you have to crank up the shutter speed to around 1/125 and ISO to compensate.

In low light, however, due to its good ISO performance (Auto 100-40000), you can still get the shot when a scene is pretty dark. However, the biggest caveat here is the fact there’s no in-body stabilisation, making it a lot harder to get a good low-light shot without too much noise (a bi-product or ramping up the ISO).

While picture quality is usable if you nail your settings, we found the camera to be inconsistent overall. It’s perhaps not a great camera for sports as the maximum approximate 5 fps speed continuous shooting isn’t among the best in class. That said, we still managed to get some good shots of skateboarders in action, but there is less power there than some of its Sony counterparts.

The best bet for the RP (in terms of stills) is to make sure they look great in the camera because you really don’t want to mess with it too much in post because that’s when significant amounts of grain tend to flood in. Using the raw processing software in photoshop you can really see where the camera’s drawback are and they are mainly its ability to boost shadows.

Canon EOS RP review

Canon EOS RP image sample (Image: Express Newspapers)

Canon EOS RP review

Canon EOS RP image sample (Image: Express Newspapers)

Video

It’s a brighter story for video as there are a range of fps options and even 4K on its full-from sensor. During a particularly tricky shoot, it handled low-light really well. One thing to note is that it has a crop factor when in 4K and you can only record up to 25 fps, meaning you can’t get that lovely slow-motion B-roll. However, if this is not something you’re after or you’re not too fussed about 4K then they have 50 fps options for 1080p. There is a fairly substantial issue of rolling shutter, which can occasionally make clips completely unusable. If it’s mounted to a tripod there isn’t so much of an issue but in sport, or where you’re moving a lot it can cause you some issues.

We found the RP most useful as a secondary B-camera, supplementing our main shooter. As a B-video camera, it works a treat, especially if you have a different focal length lens mounted. There were occasionally some issues with skin tones, mainly in the highlights as it seemed to blow them out a little in certain lighting scenarios, so it’s certainly not a perfect video camera.

For example, would use a wide-angle with the main camera and then the 24-105mm F4 kit lenses or an EF 24-70mm f2.8 with an adapter to get the details. This works as a nice pairing but obviously is not something available to all videographers.

Canon EOS RP review

Canon EOS RP image sample (Image: Express Newspapers)

Canon EOS RP review

Canon EOS RP image sample (Image: Express Newspapers)

Canon EOS RP review

Canon EOS RP image sample (Image: Express Newspapers)

Lenses and price

You shouldn’t really focus on the body cost for this camera. Yes it’s affordable, but as soon as you add a lens to the mix, that tantalising price tag is vanquished. A lot of the native lenses created for the camera are almost as expensive, if not more than the camera body itself, and while this is fairly common it does mean you could rack up a £2,500 camera.

Canon only recently entered the full-frame mirrorless space with the EOS R, which launched last year, before the EOS RP was released this year. Due to it being relatively new territory for the Japanese camera maker, the lens choice is limited – something mirrorless shooters will only know too well.

The cheapest lens you can currently buy for the EOS RP is the RF 35mm f1.8 IS Macro STM Lens which cost £519.99. So not cheap at all.

Lens prices (as per Canon’s website at the time of writing) cost between £519.99 to £3,049.99 which means the ‘affordable’ full-frame mirrorless, shoots up in price quite significantly. For example, if you buy the body, lens adapter and 24-105mm kit Len then it’ll cost you £2,329.99.

However, if you have EF lenses then you only really need to buy the adapter meaning the body itself is still relatively affordable if you want to enter the mirrorless space.

Canon EOS RP review

Canon EOS RP image sample (Image: Express Newspapers)

Canon EOS RP review

Canon EOS RP image sample (Image: Express Newspapers)

Focus

The RP’s autofocus is really good. When we were shooting at a skate park the camera did a commendable job of capturing a number of usable frames, especially in burst mode. Canon has a number of autofocusing options including the phase-difference detection system with image sensor (Dual Pixel CMOS AF), Face+tracking + Eye AF as well as 1-point AF and the manual focusing options. On the whole, the autofocus does a good job and will nail it the majority of the time.

Canon EOS RP review

Canon EOS RP image sample (Image: Express Newspapers)

Canon EOS RP review

Canon EOS RP image sample (Image: Express Newspapers)

Everything else

Canon’s mirrorless camera doesn’t have a built-in flash but it does have a hot shoe mount so you can add your own on or use this feature to add additional audio or lighting equipment too. There is also a number of different camera profiles to choose from including Scene Intelligent Auto, Special Scene, Portrait, Group Photo, Landscape, Sports, Kids, Panning, Close-up, Food, Night Portrait and more. With that said, we only used the manual and auto settings during our testing, so it’s hard to comment on the prowess of the various options baked into the camera.

Ultimately, there are many cut corners with the RP as it lacks in-body stabilisation, like the larger EOS R. There are other missing features too.

Verdict

Despite its various shortcomings, this is a very likeable camera and one we were sad to say goodbye to. When you embrace its issues and figure out how to maximise the performance of this camera, then you can get some great shots and video.

It isn’t the budget full-frame beast everyone was hoping for but it’s a really good option for an amateur or enthusiast who wants a full-frame camera that can capture some nice looking images and video, or for those looking for a decent all-rounder to travel with.

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