Canon EOS R100 Mirrorless Camera With RF-S 18-45mm Lens Kit

BACKGROUND: I used to be a pretty avid photographer back in the 1970’s and 1980’s, primarily using a manual 35mm SLR camera (Minolta SR-T 101). Could develop my own B&W film and blow up numerous 8x10’s in my make shift dark room. For color, I normally shot Kodachrome slide film and owned a high-end auto-focus Carousell. No doubt I would bore anyone remotely interested with my self-taught skill set, especially those who were not actually in any of the shots.Ahhh, the good old days when the sound of a collapsing shutter/mirror was just pure music to my ears… Well life goes on, vintage film-based equipment was sold off years ago, and I have been using a high-end mobile phone for my current picture taking. Time to upgrade?R100 FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Now this is one ... MoreBACKGROUND: I used to be a pretty avid photographer back in the 1970’s and 1980’s, primarily using a manual 35mm SLR camera (Minolta SR-T 101). Could develop my own B&W film and blow up numerous 8x10’s in my make shift dark room. For color, I normally shot Kodachrome slide film and owned a high-end auto-focus Carousell. No doubt I would bore anyone remotely interested with my self-taught skill set, especially those who were not actually in any of the shots.Ahhh, the good old days when the sound of a collapsing shutter/mirror was just pure music to my ears… Well life goes on, vintage film-based equipment was sold off years ago, and I have been using a high-end mobile phone for my current picture taking. Time to upgrade?R100 FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Now this is one super lightweight, compact, fully automatic, entry level picture/photography machine. When set to Automatic Mode, it is near impossible to take a bad picture. The inclusion of an 18 to 45mm (35mm Equivalent: 29 to 72mm) zoom lens is an excellent starter lens, abet a tad slow at f/4.5 to 6.3, but very usable and a decent match with the R100 for basic photography.LOTS TO LIKE: There are so many features and picture options available, that one can get quickly overwhelmed. Like most things in life, a slow steady pace works best. Once you begin to explore the numerous photo features offered, a mere snapshot is a thing of the past, and the word “photography” becomes more in focus. I highly recommend watching a few of the online reviews; Tony Northrup’s hour-long tutorial is one of the best explaining all of the different modes, with pros and cons.WHAT I DID NOT LIKE: I get it, this is Canon’s lowest price “beginners” camera so there are features and options eliminated to be able to be competitive and still make a profit. The two most glaring omissions are, the rear screen is not a touch-screen. You must use the directional pad to manually navigate stepping through numerous menus that are complex and non-intuitive. And the USB-C port cannot charge the battery; you must remove the battery for recharging.Because the R100 is intended to be Canon’s answer to those wanting to upgrade from mobile phone photography, to a mirrorless DSLR, leaving out those two features are major turn offs, since every mobile phone has those two features embedded in their devices. Add in the limited 4K video capabilities, and you may well be better served with purchasing the EOS-R50 when on sale.BOTTOM LINE: Overall, an acceptable entry level camera that is capable of excellent photographs in automatic mode. And having the ability to choose an assortment of manual mode options, for learning and creative purposes, is commendable. If one is taking photography courses, and requires a mirrorless DSLR, then this could be a viable option, especially when on sale. Note that you may quickly outgrow it, and/or you may become frustrated with the non-touch screen menu navigation system.RATING: For my intended use, with the overall difficulty I encountered using the menu system without a touch screen, the R100 earned a 3-Star Rating.

I like a lot of things about this camera, just a couple of issues that I’ve seen so far.The R100 is lightweight and compact, a little too compact for big hands to work comfortably, smaller hands will be happier with this camera body. My other SLR is a Minolta Maxxum 5, which was considered diminutive in its day. The EOS R100 is clearly more tightly packed than that, feeling almost 1/3 smaller overall, mostly missing on the left side, but also having a too-small grip. It has a built-in basic flash and comes with a basic short zoom lens which has within its zoom range what could be considered the most important focal length, which was 50mm with film cameras and here it’s just to the right of the “28” mark on this lens.The lens is – lightweight. There is no ... MoreI like a lot of things about this camera, just a couple of issues that I’ve seen so far.The R100 is lightweight and compact, a little too compact for big hands to work comfortably, smaller hands will be happier with this camera body. My other SLR is a Minolta Maxxum 5, which was considered diminutive in its day. The EOS R100 is clearly more tightly packed than that, feeling almost 1/3 smaller overall, mostly missing on the left side, but also having a too-small grip. It has a built-in basic flash and comes with a basic short zoom lens which has within its zoom range what could be considered the most important focal length, which was 50mm with film cameras and here it’s just to the right of the “28” mark on this lens.The lens is – lightweight. There is no functional metal I can see, nor a nice soft touch ring. It feels like turning a plastic knob against more plastic, and the hollow plastic sound as you adjust the lens is no extra charge. I’m baffled by Canon selling a “starter” camera with no lens cap tether or any lens hood. Quick shots are inconvenient as I’ve got to pull the lens cap, making sure not to drop it, then turn the zoom ring to the “shooting position”, about ¼ turn, frame it, then shoot. With my Minolta, I flick off the cap with a finger and it’s instantly ready to shoot. With no included lens hood, there is plenty of lens flare, and without a filter on the front of the lens, you get to worry about touching the glass. The mount ring on this entry level (?) lens is plastic, so take what you will from that. At least I could screw a UV filter on the front and keep some dust and fingerprints off the main glass. The focus ring can act as focus or can be switched to a control ring that will take over for exposure or other functions based on your shooting mode. This lens says, “built to a price” more than “legendary Canon photography”. The camera will accept Canon RF mount lenses, but they will have no powered functions like autofocus or image stabilization in the lens.Shooting is very easy with the thumb knob and quick controls for exposure and focus mode thumb buttons you can change with the finger dial right behind the shutter button. I like this system better than my Maxxum 5, which I could operate by touch, but had less direct ways to adjust quickly while shooting.Image quality gave me fits. All of my SLR experience has been with film. I have never shot high-res digital; I have a Panasonic point-and-shoot from a very long time ago that is much lower resolution, but has a similar zoom range. I took some side-by-side shots with the two cameras, and there is a clear difference in image quality overall, the Canon shooting what would be considered a much more realistic scene with colors closer to real life. The little point-and-shoot does quite well for itself, but I can see how it seems to make colors pop a little more, perhaps some processing by the camera to give more life to the photos. I was disappointed in the quality of the backgrounds on the Canon, too much smoothing all over the place, the sensor does not seem to understand that leaves in bushes are not a backdrop to get flattened and smoothed for a portrait. Grass looks terrible as well. I was able to get many very nice shots also, it’s just not a champ in my leafy surroundings. Low light sensitivity on this Canon is just ok, there is a ridiculous amount of sensor noise in dark environments, and the slow glass doesn’t help too much. Here I ran into an issue with the physical size of the camera, as it’s awful easy to cover or obscure the AF lamp it must use in low light, and the flash is a manual affair, unlike my 2002 Minolta, which just popped it up and fired if needed. The good news is that the camera does not assume I put the flash up and will shoot with low light settings without the flash if you forget. By the way, the AF light is on the shutter side, harder to obscure, in Canon’s higher end APS-C models.If I were to buy this camera now, I would get the kit with the 2 included lenses, which, while more expensive, give you much more flexibility and will allow you to work with a vastly wider range of subject matter.This camera does a great job of making a user feel at home and is a great steppingstone into the world of real cameras from phone cameras. The biggest lesson any new photographer can learn from this setup is how to use the “leg zoom” feature that all cameras come with, but which so few users take advantage.The movies came out quite nice, with very good contrast and smooth framerates. I had some trouble initially with movies and even shooting stills until I realized I needed a fast memory card for this camera to be able to use all its functions fully. I got a Samsung Pro card on sale, and it’s made everything save waaay faster. The camera does claim to shoot 4K video, and it does, but you’d probably get better results keeping it at 1080p and shooting at 60frames rather than the 4K at only 24 frames. The 4K video is not ridiculously sharp and it seems to almost make the video seem even flatter than with the 1080 shooting. I will not pretend to understand the difference, but I just wanted to mention that. The microphone is tinny and picks up everything in the room, you’ll definitely want to get a real mic if you’re shooting video where sound matters at all.The Wi-Fi and Bluetooth features are both very easy to use and work great. The camera does not have a built in GPS receiver, so it uses a Bluetooth connection to your camera and the Canon app to feed coordinates to the camera. You can transfer pictures to your phone or PC wirelessly. Very cool. The Canon phone app has some cool features that make it worthwhile beyond just GPS tagging. Canon has software for your computer as well to transfer images, organize andThe most ridiculous thing about this camera is the lack of a webcam feature. Mind you, this connects with a USB-C cable and can transfer to and from the computer at least at USB 2 speed and can connect to Wi-Fi as well. How in the world this camera does not send a video/audio stream down the same connection is weird and feels arbitrary, especially seeing that you can do live shooting for stop-motion.The official accessories selection from Canon for the R100 is meager, with a whopping 4 lenses with this specific mount, a grip handle with remote, and compatibility with a few other Canon accessories. One purchases an SLR style camera for the massive flexibility it offers, and this guy falls short in that department. Just a battery grip would have made handling so much more comfortable, don’t bother with putting a battery in it, just make it bigger :DIn the end, I think there are better values from other manufacturers for the same or nearly the same price, I would look elsewhere.

I've been an amateur photographer for 15+ years and it's really great how much entry level cameras have improved over the years.Canon has fully fleshed out their RF mirrorless line and this camera makes a great beginner camera or secondary body/travel camera.These R series cameras use the new RF mount and new mirrorless technology as opposed to the legacy SLR cameras of the past which were slower and more primitive, especially at the entry level price point. Do yourself a favor and skip over the Rebel SLR and T series SLR's and get an R100 or R50 to get the new mirrorless tech and more future oriented system and much more user friendly photo taking experience.The photo quality out of this R100 is virtually identical to more expensive cameras. It also has many ... MoreI've been an amateur photographer for 15+ years and it's really great how much entry level cameras have improved over the years.Canon has fully fleshed out their RF mirrorless line and this camera makes a great beginner camera or secondary body/travel camera.These R series cameras use the new RF mount and new mirrorless technology as opposed to the legacy SLR cameras of the past which were slower and more primitive, especially at the entry level price point. Do yourself a favor and skip over the Rebel SLR and T series SLR's and get an R100 or R50 to get the new mirrorless tech and more future oriented system and much more user friendly photo taking experience.The photo quality out of this R100 is virtually identical to more expensive cameras. It also has many of the same advanced autofocus functions of the more expensive cameras, but the speed and controls are slimmed down for the lower price.Out of the box the menu system of the R100 is designed for beginners with friendly tutorials on various functions. You can also configure it to a more traditional canon style menu system if you'd like to skip the tutorials.The biggest leap forward of the R100 vs the entry level SLR's such as the T7 is the vastly improved autofocus for live-view and video. With this camera you are getting eye detection and object tracking as well as smooth focusing in video. The included 18-45 kit lens is also nice for the size and price. It collapses in for smaller travel as well.The OLED viewfinder is nice on this camera, similar to the (now discontinued) M50.To keep the price point down, the R100 forgoes a touch screen and a flip screen, higher speed continuous shooting as well as 4k video and more advanced physical controls on more advanced cameras. It also cannot be charged via USB-C which is unfortunate. You have to use the external battery charger. The more expensive cameras therefore may be worth considering if you're into 4k video, action shooting and want more physical controls.But for a beginner looking to learn photography the R100 is a great starting point and if you buy full frame RF lenses they would be compatible with any upgrade you might move to should you become more invested in the hobby or profession later. If you want to use EF lenses on this, just get the canon EF-RF lens adapter.