armd wrote:
While it was tempting not to reply to your soliloquy, I simply couldn't resist. You're premises are largely correct and for whatever reasons, Canon has not viewed the WL shooter as a core segment of its market. They are committed to video, sports, fashion, etc. and have produced products which perform very well for those genres. The R3 appears to be a heck of a camera for the professional sports shooter, and the R5II will likely yield excellent results for other photographers too. About a year and a half ago, I left Canon not because of the bodies - both the predecessors (R3, R5) are excellent cameras - rather the lack of newer design, long telephotos was the deciding factor. My 600 f/4 II broke and Canon wouldn't repair it, my 500 f/4 II was aging, and while I liked the 100-500 for its size and IQ, the wonky TC issue bothered me. Meanwhile, Nikon produced the 400 f/4.5, 800 PF, 180-600, 600 PF, and importantly 400 f/2.8 and 600 f/4's with built in TC's. All of these lenses are super and I simply was tired of waiting for Canon to produce anything of value for my segment. In spite of switching, it hasn't been smooth sailing and quite candidly, the Z8, while it is an excellent camera, can't match the r5's (and likely R5II) AF for WL and is a notch below with respect to eye focus for people. Sony beats Nikon in the AF department and has some pretty high octane though more traditional lenses (300 f/2.8, 600 f/4) etc. Unfortunately, one cannot use a Nikon lens on a Sony (or Canon) as it would be really cool to pair some of them on a Sony body.
Totally agree. I jumped ship when got the 400TC and now 600TC. With each firmware the Z9/ Z8 is getting better and better but Canon's AF is still a step ahead.
I've been looking over a trove of photos that I took with both my R5 and R3 vs my Z9 and Z8, and I've notice that nearly all my Canon images are pin sharp whereas that is not the case with either Z body. So I am thinking about selling my Z8, 70-200 and grabbing the R3 + 100-300mm to have along with my Z9 + 600mm.
On thing though - the R5 is a great camera for wildlife shooting and even using it with the RF 100-500 delivers some pretty damn good images (see below).
