It’s a box with another box on top. Like a Sony, but less refined. Canon’s mirrorless bodies have never been the prettiest things on the market, but they at least looked like Canon. This just looks like a more generic Sony.
Nice to see a focus joystick, though. Canon has always been good with ergonomics, but the rear looks very vertical rather than what they’ve refined over the years, so I hope it still feels natural in the hand.
John Power wrote:
The grip is too big. I think it defeats the purpose of this model.
Retro - to a point. I understand the need for the grip size, to incorporate the camera's battery. Even if it's the smaller LP-E17 (wish it were the bigger one).
The shape reminds me of something between an A1 and an EOS 650, with shades of the M-series thrown in.
I don't necessarily dislike it, but I don't really have much of a reason to buy one.
Not a fan of the design, that is not really retro, it just looks slightly ugly.
I think the success of this will highly depend on the eventual street price. For $1800 I would not want to deal with the small battery and the EVF also looks bottom spec (rather splurge on R6m3).
If eventually the street price is $1300, then it will be a hit (or other cameras like everything else will become lot more expensive).
$1,800 becomes a very hard sell, IMO, even though with these specs it would be a very nice camera. Mainly because, it is, for all intents and purposes, an R6 Mark II with a worse EVF, smaller battery and single card slot. And R6 II's are readily available used in like new / excellent condition for $1,600. New for $2,000 right now. Makes it hard to choose the R8 over the R6 II for such minimal savings new, or more money if you're willing to go slightly used. At $1,500, it would be much more compelling.
It's also a bit reminiscent of the Fujifilm GFX100:
So a mashup of this and the Sony A7. In any case it looks distinctly not Canon - and I really hope they don't make this their new design language moving forward.
• The legends on the play and trash buttons aren’t the usual Canon blue.
• Why would Canon add a nipple controller but leave the four-way wheel controller? They’d either delete the latter to save money or turn it into a wheel.
• Some of the shadows in the top view look off, especially the champfered shoulder just to the right of the viewfinder, which somehow seems to be in full light when farther along it isn’t.
I agree it’s fugly, like some amateur had cooked it up for clicks.
matejphoto wrote:
Not a fan of the design, that is not really retro, it just looks slightly ugly.
Meh -- I don't really care what the camera looks like.
I think the success of this will highly depend on the eventual street price. For $1800 I would not want to deal with the small battery and the EVF also looks bottom spec (rather splurge on R6m3).
If eventually the street price is $1300, then it will be a hit (or other cameras like everything else will become lot more expensive).
Completely agreed here. It will happen, but not for several years. At best, you might see deals of $1499 in a year or two on BF or CPW.
I also don't care too much about the looks of a camera. This one looks just like my good friend, the EOS M5, which has been with me for more than 10 years. Definitely NOT like any of the Sony. Perhaps Canon is trying to pitch the R8MII to folks upgrading from the EOS M5. I would definitely have taken up the bait if Canon had not shut out 3rd party AF lens manufacturers.
I would definitely have taken up the bait if Canon had not shut out 3rd party AF lens manufacturers.