Photography: EOS R

I took one of the most amazing + longest trips ever in October-November 2018 to the States. It's always been a dream to see the country of pop culture with my very own eyes. Our route over the course of 4 weeks was through Chicago, Michigan, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. There were so many inspiring sights and I'm finally able to reflect and unpack all of the adventures! This trip was extra epic because for one, I was shooting some on-the-go vlogs for a mini travel series for Koya TV. And two, from my wildest dreams, I got to test out the Canon EOS R on this trip!

Introductions first - the Canon EOS R is the first full-frame mirrorless camera that's just launched this year. It's a pretty huge deal because it's a game changer for the brand's line of products. The technical specs and features are available from numerous reviews online, so I'll share my personal experience on how I found it to be (with my humble knowledge of photography) and some highlights here :D Photo outtakes from the EOS R are available at the end of the post.

Took this babe out to shoot the sunset at Glen Canyon.

Before anything, I love this camera because of it's weight. Normal full-frame DSLRs, with lenses, can get pretty heavy and tiring to carry, especially when I'm travelling and moving around a lot. I rarely use a proper camera bag too, but the EOS R fits nicely in my satchel and wasn't bulky. It was comforting to know that I had a camera capable of taking good shots at such size and weight. The matte finish on the body is sumpah beautiful, and the solid grip makes it really easy to hold.

One of the few things I needed to get used to was that the camera switch was on the right, but the shutter button and command dial was on the left side (I'm so used to using my 600d where everything could be conveniently acted in one hand). Also, there's no quick control dial that you can just rotate with your thumb, instead, there's a touch-sensitive control bar near the viewfinder to adjust customised settings. This will take a bit of time to set up and configure (I had to spend some time going through and familiarising myself with the interface), but once you've got this function bar down, the EOS R really shines through - it's a camera that's meant to be customised by yourself, a camera that's smart enough and needs to be set up by you.

Sexy camera body with a good grip, this one.

And on the customisation - I only have praises. There's room for three sets (C1, C2, C3) though throughout the month I only locked in C1 for quick nighttime set ups. Aside from manoeuvring via the touch bar, the RF lenses also has a control ring that can be fixed to adjust various functions. Personally I found so much delight and convenience with the R's EVF and touch screen display. Setting focus points by touch-and-drag around this display was so useful! The focus lock on this camera is one of its standouts. The interface is top notch, and most of the functional and customisable set ups are done on the screen (which is flippable btw, so I'm happy enough to take varying angles and selfies hehe). The only downside to this is that it can be draining for the camera battery, though this wasn't such a big problem for me throughout the trip.

Capturing landscapes on-the-go and adjusting programs without taking my eyes off the EVF is hands down one of the most convenient experiences while shooting. Especially when I was at busy areas (ie Times Square!) and I can drag my finger around the display for focusing, switch between ISO, shutter and aperture via the bar, or scroll through previous photos. The fact that you can also see the display, review, and change settings on the viewfinder itself was super exciting for me hehe. The fast shutter is a blast too.

The thing about the EOS R is that there's no internal image stabiliser (IBIS), which technically means it can get tricky to shoot dynamic footages. But the RF lenses, which are meant for the R, has an in-built stabiliser, so it compromises for that within a reasonable margin. I brought the RF 24-105mm lens with me on this trip, but mostly used the EF 8-15mm (Fisheye) and EF 16-35mm (Wide) with the adapter mount. So shooting videos with the last two lenses wasn't the most optimum in terms of stability. I'm also a pretty carefree videographer (not so cinematic and power lah, basically), and didn't feel like carrying a gimbal with me, so an in-built stabiliser would've been useful.

Sights & Sounds, USA 2018.

Clips from the EOS R. Credits to Sayyid Fadhil for helping me stitch this together.

This is pretty expe(R)imental collab between the both of us, with him living in Singapore.

A standout performance for the EOS R was it's lowlight capabilities. I took it out to shoot the night sky in Arizona, and some shots of the night skyline in Manhattan and was so impressed at the shots that came out (unedited!) that it's by far one of the best cameras I've ever used for this. The ISO performance is impressive and doesn't get too ridiculously grainy even pushed up to the 10,000s+. A slightly tricky part for me was balancing the light when the conditions were contrasting (ie, underlit landscapes/backlight) but recovering the range during post process was fine enough. Personally I myself still have a long way to go in terms of learning photography but using the R was a dream!

Overall, and I say this with blunt honesty, the EOS R is one of the best cameras I've used for travelling and for taking landscape and architectural photos. I've set my sights on the 6D Mark II for a while now but the EOS R's performance in low light, its size and weight, the customisable set ups gives it way more plus points for me (plus the control rings, and customizable touch bar!). Despite the fact that it's a whole different system compared to the DSLR. The shots I got from the R were epic enough that I'd seriously use it as a primary camera for my photography. (Really wasn't paid to say this, I'd love this camera in my arsenal, reverting back to try a 6D after the R felt a bit kekok (awkward) already hehehe)