Mirrorless Camera News

Some photographers may think that every camera is only capable of making the exact same sound when the shutter is pressed (to capture a single shot or a rapid burst of images): that familiar soft metallic click. While that may seem to be true, in reality nearly every make and model of camera has a shutter sound that is quite unique.

The weirdest camera at the show, the GFAE, wasn’t even recognizable as a camera, not least because it was a view camera with the bellows left out in order to show its construction more clearly. We’ll come back to it later, but first, let’s look at some more conventional offerings.

You’d be hard-pressed to come up with three digital cameras more different from one another than the Canon EOS M5, the Fujifilm GFX 50S, and the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. The first is an affordable, compact mirrorless camera, the second is a 50MP medium format mirrorless model, and the third is a big and powerful pro DSLR.

The Canon EOS M10 is Canon's new entry-level mirrorless camera and features an 18MP APS-C sensor (22.3 x 14.9 mm). The new EOS M mount lens Canon offers with the new camera, the Canon EF-M 15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM, is very compact. Including this new lens, Canon now offers five lenses in the EOS M series line; the Mount Adapter EF-EOS M adapter allows use of their EF lenses as well.

The new Canon EOS M5 is Canon’s first M-system with an integrated EVF. The new EVF of the EOS M5 is based on OLED technology and offers a bright and brilliant image. With a frame rate of 120 Hertz it can refresh rapidly enough to cover even very fast moving objects. The resolution of 2.36 million RGB dots corresponds to the viewfinder resolution of professional mirrorless cameras like the Sony A7R II. The new Canon also offers helpful EVF functions for manual focusing like “focus peaking” and “magnifier” function.

While some mirrorless cameras might be mistaken for a small APS-C DSLR, albeit minus the pentaprism bulge, Canon’s EOS M6 is more akin to a compact camera that can take interchangeable lenses, either the growing list of dedicated EF-M lenses, or EF and EF-S lenses with an optional adapter. (My tests were with the EF-M 18-55mm IS STM lens, f/3.5-22 at wide and f/5.6-32 at tele, with an equivalent focal length of about 28-88mm.) 

The last Canon mirrorless camera I reviewed was the EOS RP, which at the time of introduction was billed as the world’s least expensive full-frame mirrorless model.  The subject of today’s review, the 45MP Canon EOS R5, is a totally different animal that also makes a preemptive claim as Canon’s "most advanced full-frame mirrorless camera ever."