While Canon seemed to be aware of the feedback for their new digital mirrorless flagship EOS R camera, the manufacturer appeared to fast track a new - more prosumer - version to market to potentially make amends for any shortcomings of their original with the smaller, lighter and cheaper version - the Canon EOS RP.

And while they did achieve a significant price drop without losing say, 4K video recording, it doesn’t quite appear that the brand has been able to light a fire in the film and video communities against what has become a very crowded full frame mirrorless prosumer market.

Let’s take a look into this first round of hands-on reviews to get an indicator as to how well (or how not well) the Canon EOS RP is appealing to Youtube filmmakers and video creators.

No 24 FPS Full HD

One of the most intriguing, and perhaps downright odd, pieces of information so far announced about the EOS RP is actually what is should probably be considered basic functionality. Namely that the EOS RP does not currently appear to be able to record video at 24FPS in Full HD. This is so odd that Youtuber Potato Jet didn’t even bother to think to check for this in his initial review:

“That just never crossed my mind because that’s never been an issue. I can’t believe it's an issue now. I’m still hoping this is like a little glitch or typo where they just forgot to include it in the spec sheet that it’s possible to do it. But I’ve look at some of the leaked spec sheets, then I looked at a couple of reviews and websites and went to Canon’s spec sheet and all of them say you can do Full HD at 60 and 30 but no 24 - how is that possible? My phone can shoot in 24 frames per second!”

No HD for EF-S Crop Sensor Lenses

In an early review from DSLR Video Shooter we get an empathetic and impassioned plea for Canon to make some major firmware updates quick off the bat to correct another odd decision on limiting certain HD functionality.

“If you are using an EF-S crop sensor lens on the new camera, you lose HD altogether. All you have available to you is 720p and the terrible 4K. Now this is just absurd and insane. There is no technical reason to do that. The R doesn’t do that. You know they could’ve included that. And what makes things worse, I think a lot of those Youtube vlogger types are going to be using those lenses…”

On the Reduced Crop Factor

In this 4K test footage from DSI Pictures we get a nice, diverse, look of some 4K footage recorded at different lenses, ISOs, shutter speeds and with different ND stops. From the video’s write-up, and interesting argument is made for the 4K video crop factor at least being reduced:

“What got me interested on is the crop factor of this EOS-RP. This camera has reduced the crop from (1.76x EOS-R) to now 1.6x. Its almost like a Super 35mm Camera. Even though there are some specs got missing. Such as the Canon Log, Dual Pixel AF disabled in 4K, and no 10Bit colour. But for the price point. I kinda accept that.“

On Lack of Auto-Aperture

In a very hands-on review (great work once again by Lok Cheung really taking the camera through the ringer of settings and tests), we get some in-depth insights into how the camera functions using a wide range of automated functions. Cheung takes issue with a handful of issues, most notably below:

“You have to manually adjust the aperture, you can’t have auto-aperture on this camera. Unless you get it full auto. You can’t set auto-ISO, but why don’t you give me auto-aperture because the new EOS R gives you all the exposure modes you can use in video. Really weird.”

No 120 FPS at 720p

Overall, it appears that the EOS RP (like the EOS R) might be a good enough option for photography - or perhaps a hybrid shooter more interested in the photography side and only using the video capabilities sparingly - but as PhotoRec TV points out, it appears that the EOS RP has either intentionally been nerfed or just hasn’t solved all of its big issues yet.

“It’s just kinda strange. I mean wouldn’t it be nice to slo-mo your kid cannonballing into the pool? Well, you’re going to use your phone instead of this camera for that. I mean it’s just missing some pieces that it seems like the marketing department pulled to protect the EOS R.”

Canon has admitted that the prosumer camera might not be its top priority going into the future as the market continues to disseminate and could ultimately peter out. If indeed the rumors hold true, Canon might just be offering a low cost prosumer model not truly aimed to surpass its EOS R until a rumored EOS R 8K is finally ready to be the true video-friendly flagship mirrorless... but we'll see!

With all the early hands-on reviews of the Canon EOS RP swirling around, curious to know your thoughts? Would you consider it for the right video project?

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