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Home โ†’ Reviews โ†’ Cameras and Lenses โ†’ Canon EOS R Review

Canon EOS R Review

By Dvir Barkay 24 Comments
Last Updated On January 30, 2024

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Canon EOS R vs Nikon Z6

Since all cameras perform very similarly at low ISOs, we will skip those over. Let’s take a look at how the Canon ESO R compares to the Nikon Z6 at ISO 1600 and above.

EOS-R-ISO1600 NIKON-Z6-ISO1600

As expected, both cameras perform very similarly at ISO 1600.

EOS-R-ISO3200 NIKON-Z6-ISO3200

The same thing can be said about ISO 3200.

EOS-R-ISO6400 NIKON-Z6-ISO6400

At ISO 6400, one could argue that the Nikon Z6 seems to contain slightly more color noise, but to be honest, the differences are too small to matter.

EOS-R-ISO12800 NIKON-Z6-ISO12800

Both cameras start to look bad at ISO 12800, but the noise performance is still very similar.

EOS-R-ISO25600 NIKON-Z6-ISO25600

At ISO 25600, the Nikon Z6 seems to retain detail a little better.

EOS-R-ISO51200 NIKON-Z6-ISO51200

With ISO 51200 still showing very similar performance in slight favor of the Nikon Z6.

EOS-R-ISO102400 NIKON-Z6-ISO102400

While ISO 102400 looks unusable for both cameras, the Nikon Z6 shows clearly better results, especially in terms of retaining details.

Canon EOS R vs Sony A7 III

Let’s now take a look at how the Canon EOS R compares to the Sony A7 III at the same ISO levels of 1600 and above:

EOS-R-ISO1600 A7III-ISO1600

Just like with the Nikon Z6, the Sony A7 III produces very little noise at ISO 1600, making it look quite similar to the Canon EOS R.

EOS-R-ISO3200 A7III-ISO3200

The same behavior occurs at ISO 3200, with both cameras looking about the same.

EOS-R-ISO6400 A7III-ISO6400

And, as expected, ISO 6400 also looks remarkably similar.

EOS-R-ISO12800 A7III-ISO12800

Noise and detail level remains similar at ISO 12800 between the two cameras.

EOS-R-ISO25600 A7III-ISO25600

As ISO is pushed towards 25600, both cameras produce quite a bit of noise and it is hard to say which one looks better.

EOS-R-ISO51200 A7III-ISO51200

The Sony A7 III sample we used for this test (brand new) produced quite a bit of hot pixels at ISO 51200, but the noise levels are again somewhat similar to those of the EOS R.

EOS-R-ISO102400 A7III-ISO102400

Both cameras look terrible at ISO 102400, but the Sony A7 III seems to retain a bit more detail in comparison.

Dynamic Range Comparison

The dynamic range of the EOS R is highly reminiscent of the EOS 5D Mark IV which comes as no surprise as the two cameras have a very similar sensor. The dynamic range captured by the camera is about as good as you’ll get on a Canon camera and it offers plenty of flexibility for recovering shadows and making tonal adjustments in Photoshop. However, like the Canon 5D Mark IV, the EOS R’s dynamic range falls short against competing cameras from Nikon and Sony.

Here is a comparison taken at three stops of overexposure with highlight recovery. First, the Canon EOS R:

3OVER-CANON-EOS-R
Canon EOS R + RF24-105mm F4 L IS USM @ 61mm, ISO 100, 1/4, f/7.1

Followed by the Sony A7 III, Nikon Z6, and Nikon Z7:

3OVER-SONY-A7III
ILCE-7M3 + FE 28-70mm F3.5-5.6 OSS @ 59mm, ISO 100, 1/4, f/7.1
3OVER-NIKON-Z6
NIKON Z 6 + 24-70mm f/4 @ 59mm, ISO 100, 1/4, f/7.1
3OVER-NIKON-Z7
NIKON Z 7 + 24-70mm f/4 @ 58mm, ISO 64, 4/10, f/7.1

All the cameras struggle to recover full highlight details at three stops of overexposure, but the EOS R is still worse than its peers. Note the discoloration in various regions of the photo, especially the yellow swatches. Whether or not this matters in practice depends on how much extreme highlight recovery you do, but the result is that the Canon is not going to perform quite as well for the most extreme recovery.

Now let’s take a look at shadow recovery at an excessive (though instructive) six stops of underexposure. First, the Canon EOS R:

EOSR-ISO100-6UNDER
Canon EOS R + RF24-105mm F4 L IS USM @ 58mm, ISO 100, 1/160, f/8.0

Now the Sony A7 III, Nikon Z6, and Nikon Z7:

A7III-ISO100-6UNDER
ILCE-7M3 + FE 28-70mm F3.5-5.6 OSS @ 55mm, ISO 100, 1/160, f/8.0
NIKON-Z6-ISO100-6UNDER
NIKON Z 6 + 24-120mm f/4 @ 58mm, ISO 100, 1/160, f/8.0
NIKON-Z7-ISO64-6UNDER
NIKON Z 7 + 24-120mm f/4 @ 58mm, ISO 64, 1/100, f/8.0

The Canon has noticeably more shadow banding than the other cameras in this test. It also exhibits more noise than the others, especially compared to the Nikon Z7, which has a lower base ISO of 64. Again, remember that these cameras were tested at an excessive 6 stops of underexposure. Nevertheless, it is clear that the Sony and Nikon cameras are preferable if you are dealing with high-contrast scenes, especially when pushing your files to the limit in post-processing. Whether or not the differences matter to you is a different story. For most photographers, they will not; these are very special case characteristics. But if your style of photography relies on heavy shadow and highlight pulls, the EOS R doesn’t quite measure up to the performance of its full-frame mirrorless competitors.

Also, note that one of our copies of the EOS R had even further shadow banding when updated to the 1.1.0 firmware version released by Canon in February 2019. We have already written about this phenomenon extensively here.

Table of Contents

  • Overview and Specifications
  • Build Quality and Handling
  • Autofocus Performance and Buffer
  • Image Quality
  • Camera Comparisons
  • Summary
  • More Image Samples
  • Reader Comments
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