The contest to build the best full-frame mirrorless camera has become a heated one amongst the big camera makers, yet despite all the competition these highly-coveted snappers are still, by and large, expensive, and it’s rare to find one that won’t set you back at least a few thousand dollars. Canon, however, has bucked that trend with its new EOS RP, which has everything a budding photographer needs at a price that’s far friendlier.
The new EOS RP is a full-frame mirrorless that’s compact, lightweight and costs less than $2,000. Don’t let that fool you into thinking this isn’t a highly-capable device, however. Despite its affordability, the EOS RP is feature packed, with a sensor resolution of 26.2MP backed up by a 5fps burst speed, Canon’s fast and reliable Dual Pixel autofocus setup with 4,779 selectable points, both a 0.39-inch viewfinder with a 2.36 million-dot OLED panel and a 3-inch LCD with 1.04 million dots – which even spins around to face forward – and an impressive top shutter speed of 1/4000th of a second.
And while those specs already look good on paper, it’s really when you get the camera in your hands and start shooting with it that you begin to truly appreciate its top-notch performance. Not only is it a great enthusiast-level shooter, it’s also perfect for anyone ready to step up from smartphone photography into the realm of more serious creativity.
Ready for anything
The EOS RP low-light performance won’t disappoint either, thanks to its ability to focus down to -5EV in lowlight – even at high ISO settings. Coupled with Canon’s latest DIGIC 8 processor, and the ability to take the shutter speed beyond the usual 30 seconds via the Bulb mode, the EOS RP is capable of producing outstanding results even at night.
Moreover, Canon’s colour reproduction has always been beyond reproach and the EOS RP is no exception.
The 5fps continuous shooting speed is a great way to capture fast-moving action, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at just how well this camera can maintain this speed.
Use a high-quality memory card and your EOS RP’s buffer will allow that speed to be maintained for as many JPEGs or RAW files as you need. If you like the flexibility of shooting both RAW and JPEGs simultaneously, then this little snapper will be able to deal with up to 170 C-Raw and Large JPEGs at the same time.
Marrying the old with the new
Like its older sibling, the EOS RP is built around Canon’s new RF lens mount, which provides some significant advantages over the EF mount the company’s been using since 1987.
The RF mount has the same 54mm diameter, but has a smaller flange focal distance (the distance between the glass of the lens and the sensor) of 44mm thanks to the lack of a mirror. That’s 20mm shorter than the EF/EF-S mount on Canon’s DSLRs, allowing for a much more compact and lightweight camera body.
The new mount also boasts 12 electrical contacts – four more than its predecessor – which provides faster communication between camera and lens… and therefore less missed shots.
With four native RF lenses already available, one more arriving this month and five more due before the end of 2019, there will be a formidable range to choose from.
However, what’s perhaps even more impressive is that you don’t have to use any of the new RF lenses if you don’t want to. Existing Canon users will be thrilled to know that the EOS RP has three mount adapters to choose from – a regular adaptor that lets you attach existing EF lenses, the Control Ring adaptor that adds a customisable ring around the barrel (to control elements like aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings), and finally the Drop-In Filter adaptor. The latter’s a handy little device that has the ability to use drop-in filters between the lens and the body to control the amount of light hitting the sensor. There are three filters to choose from – a clear (CL) filter, a circular polariser (CPL) and a variable neutral density (V-ND) filter. They sit on the side of the adaptor and, as the name suggests, can be rapidly ‘dropped in’ and out as desired.
With so many features packed into its 485g body – and at a very affordable price tag – the Canon EOS RP has everything you need to guarantee great results with every shot.
For more information on the EOS RP’s features, performance and availability, please visit the official Canon Australia website.
