Introduction
Despite what you might read elsewhere, the Canon EOS R series cameras are not the first mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras Canon has offered. That distinction belongs to the company’s Canon EOS M product line, a series of consumer-oriented cameras which continues to be offered, but was never meant to be a tool for advanced or professional photographers. Your Canon EOS R was carefully designed to fully meet the needs of a much different group: dedicated photo enthusiasts, semi-professionals, and professional photographers.
With the EOS R, you’re not giving up much, other than a mirror and a pentaprism/pentamirror optical viewfinder, 12 ounces of weight, and quite a bit of bulk—compared to the Canon 5D Mark IV which is Canon’s closest traditional dSLR in terms of resolution and features. Indeed, the EOS R is Canon’s high-end mirrorless “do-everything” camera. It has enough resolution—at 30 MP—guaranteed to please the most discerning landscape and fine-art photographers who demand amazing detail. It can capture action at up to 8 frames per second and has a 1.6X “crop” mode that make it an excellent machine for sports photographers. (Although, frankly, the EOS R could use a larger buffer to capture longer sequences). Its 4K movie-shooting capabilities include a Canon Log gamma curve option will make this camera prized by those assembling and editing serious video productions.
You may be asking yourself—how do I use this thing? Canon’s full manual, which must be downloaded in PDF form, is mind-numbingly dense, and online YouTube tutorials can’t cover all these features in depth. Who wants to learn how to use a camera by sitting in front of a television or computer screen? Do you want to watch a movie or click on HTML links, or do you want to go out and take photos with your camera?
The PDF manual is thick and filled with information, but there’s really very little about why you should use particular settings or features. Its organization makes it difficult to find what you need. Multiple cross-references send you searching back and forth between two or three sections of the book to find what you want to know. The basic manual is also hobbled by black-and-white line drawings and tiny monochrome pictures that aren’t very good examples of what you can do.
I’ve tried to make David Busch’s Canon EOS R Guide to Digital Photography different from your other EOS R learn-up options. The roadmap sections use larger, color pictures to show you where all the buttons and dials are, and the explanations of what they do are longer and more comprehensive. I’ve tried to avoid overly general advice, including the two-page checklists on how to take a “sports picture” or a “portrait picture” or a “travel picture.” You won’t find half the content of this book taken up by generic chapters that tell you how to shoot landscapes, portraits, or product photographs. Instead, you’ll find tips and techniques for using all the features of your Canon EOS R to take any kind of picture you want. If you want to know where you should stand to take a picture of a quarterback dropping back to unleash a pass, there are plenty of books that will tell you that. This one concentrates on teaching you how to select the best autofocus mode, shutter speed, f/stop, or flash capability to take, say, a great sports picture under any conditions.
This book is not a lame rewriting of the manual that came with the camera. Some folks spend five minutes with a book like this one, spot some information that also appears in the original manual, and decide “Rehash!” without really understanding the differences. Yes, you’ll find information here that is also in the owner’s manual, such as the parameters you can enter when changing your EOS R’s operation in the various menus. Basic descriptions—before I dig in and start providing in-depth tips and information—may also be vaguely similar. There are only so many ways you can say, for example, “Hold the shutter release down halfway to lock in exposure.” If you need advice on when and how to use the most important functions, you’ll find the information here.
David Busch’s Canon EOS R Guide to Digital Photography is aimed at both Canon and dSLR veterans as well those who have used other mirrorless cameras and those who are total newcomers to digital or mirrorless photography. Both groups can be overwhelmed by the options the EOS R offers, while underwhelmed by the explanations they receive in their user’s manual. The manuals are great if you already know what you don’t know, and you can find an answer somewhere in a booklet arranged by menu listings and written by a camera vendor employee who last threw together instructions on how to operate a camcorder.
Family Resemblance
If you’ve owned previous models in the Canon digital camera line, and copies of my books for those cameras, you’re bound to notice a certain family resemblance. Canon has been very crafty in introducing upgraded cameras that share the best features of the models they replace, while adding new capabilities and options. You benefit in two ways. If you used a previous Canon camera prior to switching to this latest EOS R model, you’ll find that the parts that haven’t changed have a certain familiarity for you, making it easy to make the transition to the newest model. There are lots of features and menu choices of the EOS R that are exactly the same as those in the most recent models. This family resemblance will help level the learning curve for you.
Similarly, when writing books for each new model, I try to retain the easy-to-understand explanations that worked for previous books dedicated to earlier camera models, and concentrate on expanded descriptions of things readers have told me they want to know more about, a solid helping of fresh sample photos, and lots of details about the latest and greatest new features. Rest assured, this book was written expressly for you, and tailored especially for the EOS R.
Who Am I?
After spending many years as the world’s most successful unknown author, I’ve become slightly less obscure in the past few years, thanks to a horde of camera guidebooks and other photographically oriented tomes. You may have seen my photography articles in the late, lamented Popular Photography magazine. I’ve also written about 2,000 articles for magazines like Rangefinder, Professional Photographer, and dozens of other photographic publications. But, first, and foremost, I’m a photojournalist and made my living in the field until I began devoting most of my time to writing books.
Although I love writing, I’m happiest when I’m out taking pictures, which is why I photograph two to three concerts and performances a month, and many days photographing landscapes, people, close-up subjects, or traveling to events, such as Native American “powwows,” Civil War re-enactments, county fairs, ballet, and sports (baseball, basketball, football, and soccer are favorites). In recent years, I’ve spent a lot of time in Europe, strictly to shoot photographs of the people, landscapes, and monuments that I’ve grown to love. I finished this book while ensconced in my office-away-from-home in Cedar Key, Florida, to which I’ve fled three times to photograph the wildlife, wild natural settings, and wild people in the Sunshine State. I can offer you my personal advice on how to take photos under a variety of conditions because I’ve had to meet those challenges myself on an ongoing basis, using the cameras that I write about.
Like all my digital photography books, this one was written by someone with an incurable photography bug. My first Canon SLR was a Pellix back in the 1960s, and I’ve used a variety of newer models since then. Until the EOS R was introduced, my favorite totable compact camera was the EOS Rebel SL2 that I still own. I’ve worked as a sports photographer for an Ohio newspaper and for an upstate New York college. I’ve operated my own commercial studio and photo lab, cranking out product shots on demand and then printing a few hundred glossy 8 × 10s on a tight deadline for a press kit. I’ve served as a photo-posing instructor for a modeling agency. People have actually paid me to shoot their weddings and immortalize them with portraits. I even prepared press kits and articles on photography as a PR consultant for a large Rochester, NY, company, which shall remain nameless. My trials and travails with imaging and computer technology have made their way into print in book form an alarming number of times.
Some readers who visit my blog have told me that the Canon EOS R is such an advanced camera that few people really need the kind of basics that so many camera guides concentrate on. “Leave out all the basic photography information!” On the other hand, I’ve had many pleas from those who are trying to master digital photography as they learn to use their EOS R, and they’ve asked me to help them climb the steep learning curve. Rather than write a book for just one of those two audiences, I’ve tried to meet the needs of both. You veterans will find plenty of information on getting the most from the EOS R’s features, and may even learn something from an old hand’s photo secrets. I’ll bet there was a time when you needed a helping hand with some confusing photographic topic.
In closing, I’d like to ask a special favor: let me know what you think of this book. If you have any recommendations about how I can make it better, visit my website at www.canonguides.com, click on the E-Mail Me tab, and send your comments, suggestions on topics that should be explained in more detail, or, especially, any typos. (The latter will be compiled on the Errata page you’ll also find on my website.) I really value your ideas, and appreciate it when you take the time to tell me what you think! Some of the content of the book you hold in your hands came from suggestions I received from readers like yourself. If you found this book especially useful, tell others about it. Visit http://www.amazon.com/dp/168198492X and leave a positive review. Your feedback is what spurs me to make each one of these books better than the last. Thanks!