Spec check please

[Whoop]

Hi all,

I have been asked by work to double check the request from our design team on a new camera for taking photos and videos of products in the studio and also in live action demonstrations. I'll do my research but I'm not a camera person really, so I wondered if I get could get a more skilled opinion in here.

The proposed camera is this:

Canon EOS R Body and Mount Adapter EF-EOS R (Canon #3075C061)

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM Lens (Canon #3554B005) - Close up/Macro work

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Lens (Canon #2515A012) - Low light/Action work

Along with associated daylight/protection filters and storage pouches.

Thanks for any advice you can give me.

 

[Donnie Fisher]

Cameras are, like PC's, something where people generally align to a brand and sit with rose tinted specs as to why their brand suits more than others. Someone will suggest Sony's. some Nikons etc etc ...

EOS R - Will take great pictures. If you want to lose yourself in the details of dynamic range, stabilisation ... blah blah blah ... fine. But at the end of the day, it'll take a good picture. Video wise - again at 1080p ... great looking video. Where the EOS R comes into criticism though is for 4K footagebecause to shoot 4K it crops down the field of view ... by quite a lot. So 4K will narrow your viewing angle noticeably. 1080p wont. that being said, there are number of people who have happily upscaled the 1080p footage to 4K and its still been perfectly acceptable quality. I suppose it depends on your target audience and platform.

And yes - you want the EF adapter mount. It opens up considerably more lens options.


Speaking of lenses:

Prime lens are fine if your distance from the subject is going to remain the same. Which for static product photography, it will. Great. But you say you'll be doing live demonstrations, which implies that you may need to move around , zoom in/out. In those cases, you may well find prime lens restrictive for that, and a zoom lens may be of benefit.

Which is why getting the adapter helps. There is an absolute ton of lenses out there for the canons, and they can be had cheaply second hand. So you would easily be able to expand the range of lenses you have for not crazy money.

Speaking of action work:

The focus on the canon is good. It'll find lock, and track onto objects well for video ... but that comes at a price of sound. If you are only using the built in mic to record the sound, then that mic will also internally pick up and hear the focus motor moving about when its locking focus. This is why you see so many vloggers etc with a little separate mic on the top of the camera ... it makes all the difference. Something worth considering.

The other stuff:

Spare batteries - They'll chew batteries if the screen is on for long periods.
Mains adapter - you can buy a usb / mains adapter thing which plugs into the battery space of the camera, so that it wont run out of battery. For product photos , that may be of help.

 

[Whoop]

Cameras are, like PC's, something where people generally align to a brand and sit with rose tinted specs as to why their brand suits more than others. Someone will suggest Sony's. some Nikons etc etc ...

EOS R - Will take great pictures. If you want to lose yourself in the details of dynamic range, stabilisation ... blah blah blah ... fine. But at the end of the day, it'll take a good picture. Video wise - again at 1080p ... great looking video. Where the EOS R comes into criticism though is for 4K footagebecause to shoot 4K it crops down the field of view ... by quite a lot. So 4K will narrow your viewing angle noticeably. 1080p wont. that being said, there are number of people who have happily upscaled the 1080p footage to 4K and its still been perfectly acceptable quality. I suppose it depends on your target audience and platform.

And yes - you want the EF adapter mount. It opens up considerably more lens options.


Speaking of lenses:

Prime lens are fine if your distance from the subject is going to remain the same. Which for static product photography, it will. Great. But you say you'll be doing live demonstrations, which implies that you may need to move around , zoom in/out. In those cases, you may well find prime lens restrictive for that, and a zoom lens may be of benefit.

Which is why getting the adapter helps. There is an absolute ton of lenses out there for the canons, and they can be had cheaply second hand. So you would easily be able to expand the range of lenses you have for not crazy money.

Speaking of action work:

The focus on the canon is good. It'll find lock, and track onto objects well for video ... but that comes at a price of sound. If you are only using the built in mic to record the sound, then that mic will also internally pick up and hear the focus motor moving about when its locking focus. This is why you see so many vloggers etc with a little separate mic on the top of the camera ... it makes all the difference. Something worth considering.

The other stuff:

Spare batteries - They'll chew batteries if the screen is on for long periods.
Mains adapter - you can buy a usb / mains adapter thing which plugs into the battery space of the camera, so that it wont run out of battery. For product photos , that may be of help.

Thanks Donnie, that's some really useful information and I imagine the microphone hasn't been factored in at all.

I know what you mean on brands, another member of the team has come back with his choice of cameras which are either the Sony Alpha 7R 4 or the Nikon Z711 so I knew it was going to be subjective.

I'll also take a look at how many batteries they plan to use.

 

[Donnie Fisher]

Yeah, thought that would be the case.

As I say, most cameras.above a certain price point will produce good pictures.

I'm a bit of a full frame fan personally now. I had a full frame 6d, loved it, went to crop 80D, never got on with it just couldn't get the images I expected and used to get from the 6d (using the same lenses etc), went back to Eos rp and it's just lush. The image is just soooo much cleaner all round.

So I would say that's my main recommendation.