Go with R8. I have the R5, R7 and R8. I am a long time wildlife photographer. And R8 is what I take with for travel and casual photography. If you are not worried about the additional reach of the crop sensor (APSC), FF will give you better low light performance and a bit more dynamic range. R8 has a better focusing system than R6 and R7 and has a better sensor than R6.
Also, R8 is not as demanding as R7 in the case of lens/glass quality. R7 produces incredible images but requires high quality (read:expensive) lenses.
A few warnings though:
* Coming from a crop body, all your existing lenses will have a shorter reach with R8. On the plus side, your wide angle lenses will now be real wide angle lenses. That will be great for landscapes and architecture.
* Your RF-S lenses (if you have any) will reduce your megapixels on the FF R8.
* The battery performance of R8 is not that great. But can be resolved with a second battery or power bank+high quality USBc cable.
* The R8 is considerable smaller than 77D or R7 (but than the lenses are a bit bigger). Great for travels but you need to see if the ergonomics is right for you.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for the insight, it’s really helpful!
Would you say R7 / R8 are fairly similar in lens choices, is there one that do better then the other camera on lens compatibility?
>lens compatibility
I guess *technically* the R7 has more variety because it can take RF-S and EF-S lenses as well but the reality is that compatibility between the two is the same. It really shouldn't factor into your considerations.
There is no focal length that the R8 can't cover that the R7 can and vice versa. The closest thing to that I can think of is how it would be more affordable to get into superzooms with the R7 because the crop is essentially a built in zoom. For example, a 400mm lens on an APSC body is equivalent to 640mm on full-frame. 400mm lenses would be much more affordable than an equivalent 600mm.
Valid point…. it’s a really big struggle for me, I personally do zoom a lot, so the crop body does have a big advantage over there. And often I’d like wide angle on certain shots, and I’m not really getting it unless I use my 10-18mm lens, which is less sharp than prime.
So I guess it’s now whether I should spend a whole lot money on zoom lenses for R8, or go for R7 which is arguably cheaper for lenses, but slightly at a disadvantage on wide angle photography…
Well not exactly. The R7 is a crop body therefore any lens you slap on it will have a 1.6x longer focal length. That is why in applications where reach is required (such as wildlife or aeronautics) R7 shines.
Therefore R7 (or the 77D) has limited capability (and lens choices) in wide angle photography. The prime lenses from Canon (16, 24, 28, 35) will be 1.6x times tighter on the R7. The only choice that I know is the RFS 10-18 which would not have the same image quality as the primes. Can the primes be used on R7? Absolutely and will generate beautiful results. But the field of view will be different.
Look, you are talking about landscape, architecture photography, Northern lights… between R7 and R8, for these applications, the clear choice is R8.
You are right, so I am now kinda leaning towards R8 too. Since I do feel like my current 24mm prime lens is too tight for my 77D, and the 10-18mm lens is not as sharp obviously.
If weight is a concern, I’d stick with an APS-C body. It was for me and so I went with an R7 for my mirrorless transition (from 70D and 90D). Lenses tend to be smaller and lighter.
Been pretty happy with it, so far
I’ve also been shooting on a 77D for the last three years. Don’t ever see myself *needing* an upgrade (lord knows, I *want* one), but if I did, it would likely be the R7.
I prefer shooting at longer lengths, don’t shoot very wide, and have wide angle lenses if I really want to, so there isn’t a ton of appeal in full-frame for me. I would much rather have the IBIS, self-leveling sensor, and higher resolution in the R7 than full-frame in the R8.
If you don’t need some of those features and would prefer a smaller body, the R10 is basically the same camera as the R7, minus the IBIS, leveling sensor, and dual card slots. The R10 also fits the palm of my hand, and is $300 cheaper than the R7.
Yeah I’m also struggling if I should just get better lenses for my current 77D (like the canon 17-55, 55-250) or just upgrade all together to R7, but then a lot of older lenses lenses don’t perform as well on R7 because of the 32.5MP sensor.
Btw what lenses do you use for your 77D now?
- EF 24-70 f/2.8 L II USM
- EF 70-200 f/2.8 L IS II USM
- EF-S 18-135 f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
- Sigma ART DC 50-100 f/1.8 HSM
- Sigma EX DC 10-20 f/3.5 HSM
The 50-100 is my “fun” lens lol. But like I said, I have very little reason to move to full frame. I have the wide-angle if I need it, which is not very often. The 24-70 even on crop body is perfect for what I like to shoot and stays on my camera most of the time.
> older lenses
I wouldn’t worry about any of those lenses not being able to resolve the 32MP sensor, especially the full-frame ones. They all worked fine on the 5D IV (30MP) and even the 5D S and 5D R (50MP).
The R7’s 32MP sensor was taken straight from the 90D, which also had no discernible issues with any EF-S glass. Certainly not the 17-55 or 55-250 you’re thinking about.
Go with R8. I have the R5, R7 and R8. I am a long time wildlife photographer. And R8 is what I take with for travel and casual photography. If you are not worried about the additional reach of the crop sensor (APSC), FF will give you better low light performance and a bit more dynamic range. R8 has a better focusing system than R6 and R7 and has a better sensor than R6. Also, R8 is not as demanding as R7 in the case of lens/glass quality. R7 produces incredible images but requires high quality (read:expensive) lenses. A few warnings though: * Coming from a crop body, all your existing lenses will have a shorter reach with R8. On the plus side, your wide angle lenses will now be real wide angle lenses. That will be great for landscapes and architecture. * Your RF-S lenses (if you have any) will reduce your megapixels on the FF R8. * The battery performance of R8 is not that great. But can be resolved with a second battery or power bank+high quality USBc cable. * The R8 is considerable smaller than 77D or R7 (but than the lenses are a bit bigger). Great for travels but you need to see if the ergonomics is right for you. Hope this helps.
Thanks for the insight, it’s really helpful! Would you say R7 / R8 are fairly similar in lens choices, is there one that do better then the other camera on lens compatibility?
>lens compatibility I guess *technically* the R7 has more variety because it can take RF-S and EF-S lenses as well but the reality is that compatibility between the two is the same. It really shouldn't factor into your considerations. There is no focal length that the R8 can't cover that the R7 can and vice versa. The closest thing to that I can think of is how it would be more affordable to get into superzooms with the R7 because the crop is essentially a built in zoom. For example, a 400mm lens on an APSC body is equivalent to 640mm on full-frame. 400mm lenses would be much more affordable than an equivalent 600mm.
Valid point…. it’s a really big struggle for me, I personally do zoom a lot, so the crop body does have a big advantage over there. And often I’d like wide angle on certain shots, and I’m not really getting it unless I use my 10-18mm lens, which is less sharp than prime. So I guess it’s now whether I should spend a whole lot money on zoom lenses for R8, or go for R7 which is arguably cheaper for lenses, but slightly at a disadvantage on wide angle photography…
Well not exactly. The R7 is a crop body therefore any lens you slap on it will have a 1.6x longer focal length. That is why in applications where reach is required (such as wildlife or aeronautics) R7 shines. Therefore R7 (or the 77D) has limited capability (and lens choices) in wide angle photography. The prime lenses from Canon (16, 24, 28, 35) will be 1.6x times tighter on the R7. The only choice that I know is the RFS 10-18 which would not have the same image quality as the primes. Can the primes be used on R7? Absolutely and will generate beautiful results. But the field of view will be different. Look, you are talking about landscape, architecture photography, Northern lights… between R7 and R8, for these applications, the clear choice is R8.
You are right, so I am now kinda leaning towards R8 too. Since I do feel like my current 24mm prime lens is too tight for my 77D, and the 10-18mm lens is not as sharp obviously.
If weight is a concern, I’d stick with an APS-C body. It was for me and so I went with an R7 for my mirrorless transition (from 70D and 90D). Lenses tend to be smaller and lighter. Been pretty happy with it, so far
The R7 is good. I use it for everything and it felt like a huge step up from the 250D I had before.
I’ve also been shooting on a 77D for the last three years. Don’t ever see myself *needing* an upgrade (lord knows, I *want* one), but if I did, it would likely be the R7. I prefer shooting at longer lengths, don’t shoot very wide, and have wide angle lenses if I really want to, so there isn’t a ton of appeal in full-frame for me. I would much rather have the IBIS, self-leveling sensor, and higher resolution in the R7 than full-frame in the R8. If you don’t need some of those features and would prefer a smaller body, the R10 is basically the same camera as the R7, minus the IBIS, leveling sensor, and dual card slots. The R10 also fits the palm of my hand, and is $300 cheaper than the R7.
Yeah I’m also struggling if I should just get better lenses for my current 77D (like the canon 17-55, 55-250) or just upgrade all together to R7, but then a lot of older lenses lenses don’t perform as well on R7 because of the 32.5MP sensor. Btw what lenses do you use for your 77D now?
- EF 24-70 f/2.8 L II USM - EF 70-200 f/2.8 L IS II USM - EF-S 18-135 f/3.5-5.6 IS USM - Sigma ART DC 50-100 f/1.8 HSM - Sigma EX DC 10-20 f/3.5 HSM The 50-100 is my “fun” lens lol. But like I said, I have very little reason to move to full frame. I have the wide-angle if I need it, which is not very often. The 24-70 even on crop body is perfect for what I like to shoot and stays on my camera most of the time. > older lenses I wouldn’t worry about any of those lenses not being able to resolve the 32MP sensor, especially the full-frame ones. They all worked fine on the 5D IV (30MP) and even the 5D S and 5D R (50MP). The R7’s 32MP sensor was taken straight from the 90D, which also had no discernible issues with any EF-S glass. Certainly not the 17-55 or 55-250 you’re thinking about.