The EOS RP feels solid and well built. That will need to be tested in the long run obviously, and I can’t really avoid mentioning that I had the same feeling when first had in my hands the Fuji X-Pro1 first, and the XT2 later.
I’d probably need to mention the reasons why I felt the build quality of the Fujis wasn’t very good, which was the main reason to look for an alternative:
- on/off dial on the X-Pro1 stopped working properly, meaning that it would require jiggling it to turn on or off the camera
- rear dial on the XT2 would not always engage, esp. in cold conditions or with (thin) gloves on; similar feeling to 1, i.e like these dials were not really thoroughly tested (never had any of these issues with the dials and physical switches of any of the Nikons I’ve had: FM2, F70, D70s, D7000, D600, D810)
- lens bayonet on the XT2 loosening a tiny bit with time, so that the lens itself would not lock in place or lose the electrical connection with the body; the fix was to tighten the tiny screws holding the metal ring.
- very poor weather/cold resistance (during a trip to Svalbard I had various random and weird issues, not even mentioning the incredibly poor battery life which could have been probably related to the poor quaity of the non-oem batteries I was using at the time)
So you see, when reviewers complain about no weather sealing, plasticky build, economical and utilitarian look of the EOS RP I really don’t trust them at all, since I’ve also seen the same kind of people praising the Fuji for being tough little “pro” cameras… Given my past experience with Nikon, I hope that Canon builds its cameras in a similar way; they may not be flashy and good looking but they are reliable workhorse: even the way this RP handles makes me happy, you hold the small grip and you just know it won’t slip (can’t say the same for the Fuji bodies).
Until I knew that a cheap 50mm was on its way however, I didn’t consider the RP at all. I was however captivated by the lenses that Canon was releasing; a 600mm with fixed aperture for just €700? a tiny 70-200 f4 with similar dimensions and weight as my Nikon 24-120? On the other hand, Nikon Z had a lot of quality primes, which are the lenses that I tend to gravitate to because of size, dimensions and price. Plus, I already have lots of Nikon lenses…
Then the RF50mm f/1.8 came out, I realized I could’ve bought it for much less money than the equivalent Nikon Z lens, and most importantly – Z6 bodies are still above the €1k mark while the EOS RP looks like nobody wants it → plenty of used bodies available that could be had for very little money.
Anyway, I got the camera about 2 weeks ago, spent a little time working my way through the menus and the really enormous customization options and settled on a few settings that allow me to operate this camera real quick; one button to switch from af-s to af-c (ops, that’s nikon jargon; in Canonland “we” say one-shot AF to servo-AF), the lens ring to change ISO, main dial for aperture, back ring for exposure compensation (I normally use Aperture priority); the other couple of small buttons to the front (m-fn) and the back allow me to change metering mode and single vs continuous shooting. I mean, it’s a bit cumbersome compared to how easy it is to change things on a Nikon D810 for example, or the straightforward, old-school way that the Fuji XT2 is operated, with physical dials, all clearly labeled – that’s the main thing I truly miss from the XT2.
A small lcd would be better on the EOS RP, just to know what are the current settings without having to look at the EVF or LCD.
The rear LCD: again, the tilty mechanism of the XT2 is in theory better for me as I don’t do vlogging or selfies or other absurdities, but what I do appreciate of the flippy screen is that I can turn it back on itself and protect it when I stuff the camera in the backpack close to ski poles, skins, and other random things. Also, I feel like it’s very quick to flip it out and use it for low-level shooting etc, while the tilty lcd of the XT2 had some sort of locking mech or it was simply harder to move it around so I never used it much.
I will not comment on AF yet because I haven’t had time to test it properly; I have the impression is faster and more positive than the XT2 but that is to be expected given that the RP is much newer. Face and eye-lock, I’m not sure, I tend to use single/spot AF and follow the subject; it is surprisingly effective to move the AF point by sliding the thumb on the rear screen, I think it is genius – I don’t know how much I’ll use it though given my preference to have the screen flipped back on itself (see above). I’ve recently listened to a bird photographer on the B&H podcast, he said that the eye-focusing with the new EOS R5 is truly amazing and almost “magical”; I’m not sure if the RP is up to this level but it is surely better than the XT2.
Here’s a final thought about the camera, once again trying to contradict what everybody else says – that this is not an “action” camera. It probably depends on what do you actually mean for action camera; no, it does not do 20fps, and the AF may be slow. But I need a camera that I can take it with me when I do action sports… snowboarding, mountain biking, motorbiking, hiking etc… and I need to have the smallest camera that I can, and a small 50mm lens is perhaps all that I need to document things from the inside. Consider these two photos (both taken with other cameras, but it is just to make a point), the first shot with a 28mm-equivalent, the second with a 50m. This is what I need the EOS RP for:
Obviously you need a 200mm lens to do this instead:
…so that’s why I’m on the fence about getting something longer for the RP – I’m pretty sure that the 4fps won’t stop me from getting similar pictures. For now however, 50mm rulez!
I will post a few files as play raws; I still hesitate in making 1:1 comparison with the fuji files as I’m using ART to process these Canon raws but I use darktable for everything else.
edit check these out → Canon EOS RP sample raws
