Life is full of twist and turns, and quite often, they come at you when you least expect it.
Case in point, for a few weeks or so, I have had my eye on a beautiful Canon Elan 7NE at the local downtown pawn shop. At first, they wanted 400 Canadian for it. I know it is a fairly top end 35mm camera, but I noticed the lens did not match the camera as there was severe vignetting whenever I looked through the viewfinder. The lens that came with it was a lens designed for a crop sensor camera. I noticed last week, they dropped it down to 299 Canadian. Yesterday I decided to buy it after work if it was still there. I have no need for a 35mm camera, despite my wanting one very bad in the early 2000s. At that time, it was out of my price reach. I did google the lens, and people were selling it for about the same price as what the pawn shop wanted for the whole thing. The Elan 7NE was discontinued in 2018, so it is not an old antiquated camera at all. It is just 35mm. I am fairly certain it would cost me to send the film out of town for developing. At worst, I would have one of my dream camera's of old sitting on a shelf for me to admire.
I got there two days ago, ready to pull the trigger because I notice the camera is still there. I ask to see it again (being my 4th visit for the camera) and he goes, did you see this one? He pulls out a box containing a Canon R100. Now, I know very little about the R series of Canon cameras. What I know is that back around 2018, Canon discontinued their DSLR family of cameras and lenses. DSLRs are those cameras that use a pivoting mirror inside to shunt light to the viewfinder or the sensor. They also stopped producing their lenses for these cameras. The Canon EF and EF-s (from crop sensor cameras). This means no m0re new development on these cameras or lenses. I really do not care as I have pretty much all the gear I need. It did make me feel a bit sad however as it is the changing tide of an Era. I had read that Canon was putting all their eggs into the new R system of cameras and lenses. Probably why I was able to get a good deal on a Canon 5D mark II last summer.
Well, when the employee showed me a camera from the new system, and the price was 200 Canadian, I did one of those pivots, and decided to buy that instead. It was a Canon R100. I know from Canon's naming conventions that this was a "beginner camera". I was puzzled however at all the "higher up" features on the mode dial on-top of the camera. I took the lens cap off and the attendant explained to me that I had to twist the lens barrel to the start position to get the camera to work, I thought, what an ingenious way to make the lens very compact for carry. I was also not prepared for how much smaller the R100 is compared to all my other cameras.
When I looked into the camera and focused on something, the whole screen turned into green focus squares. What the hay! They bill this as their starter camera, and yet, it has a focus matrix better than my Canon EOS 1 Mark II N. I am so used to looking at 9 focusing points for many DSLRs, that this focus system blew me out of the water. It was lightning quick as well. I bought it for 200 dollars and started to research the camera online once I got home. I educated myself on the whole R range of cameras. Now, I was one of the first adopters of mirrorless cameras and they never could replace my DSLRs. I am happy to note I stayed away from the now discontinued Canon M series of cameras and lenses. Those are no longer being manufactured. The R range does have plenty going for it. I am just happy I got in on the very cheap. I found that in Canada, the little R100 retails for 800 to 900 Canadian, and it was first introduced in 2023. It is the cheapest and very user friendly of the series as the screen interface explains all the functions (I was happy to be able to turn this off and get the usual Canon camera menu system).
I read a lot of online reviews, and it reminded me of how snobby the photography world is. A fair number of reviewers stated that the camera was a let down simply because it was aimed at the cell phone crowd wanting to upgrade their photos, and that the LCD was a major let down because it is not a touch screen. With that said, I must have missed the bus because for a "starter" camera, this thing features a lot of advanced user controls, which puzzles me to no end when I read about reviewers claiming that you should stay away from it as "you will quickly outgrown the camera". The camera features all the priority modes including manual. A bulb feature is even found here, albeit in a menu. There are all the metering modes including spot. There is extensive photo aspect option as well. On top of that, there are 2 RAW formats on tap. The image sensor is the same 24 megapixel sensor as the higher end cameras, meaning the image will mostly be the same with the same lens...and let's be honest here, the image is everything when it comes to cameras.
Because this is a "beginner" camera, a lot of the options are hidden inside the very extensive menus. That is always a drawback with the lower tiered cameras. You pay for quick access to camera functions. Also, you only get 1 scroll wheel and no little back joystick. That stuff can and is important. However, I found that the center button of the directional button array pulls up all the most used camera functions into one screen. Yes, you still have to scroll up and down that page, but at least it isn't buried 5 screens down.
Pros:
- Size and weight.
- The 18-45mm EF-S kit lens is compact.
- This "beginner entry level camera" has some serious top end features like many autofocus points, meter evaluations, photo function modes, etc...
- Tiny built in flash that is manual only pop up...thank you, I hate those that automatically pop up depending on which mode you are in.
Cons:
- If you want video mode, the 4K option is cropped and not that good. I never use a camera for video, so for me, this is not an issue. I am told that 1080 video is good here.
- Possibly too small for my big hands. No official power grip, but there is a third party making one currently
- Many functions are buried deep in the extensive menu system, with few dedicated buttons that higher end photographers like and demand. The R100 compromises with the center button that has most of what you need for somewhat quick access.
- No top LCD info panel. Because this is a mirrorless camera, there is no optical viewfinder. It is an LCD. That LCD contains all of your information.
- No optical viewfinder. On the plus side, the electronic viewfinder does give you 100% of what the sensor sees.
- The rear LCD does not pivot. Most of my cameras, are fixed to the back like this one. However, when I had a Canon G5 that featured a pivoting rear LCD, it made taking photos in weird positions very easy.
So far, I have already bought and Canon EOS RF to EOS EF adaptor. This will allow me to use all of my Canon glass on the new system (those big sized lenses will only make the camera look and feel all that much smaller). I also bought a lens hood for the kit lens, a protective UV filter for the lens. A hand grip strap as I cannot abide with the neck strap. Neck straps get in the way and for that reason, I have hand grips on all of my cameras. I also bought a set of batteries and charger to keep me going out in the field. I am thinking long and hard about that battery grip. I am going to take the little camera out for a few photo trips to assess if I need more hand real-estate. All my cameras tend to get the same extra features: Eye extender because I wear glasses (Because this is an electronic viewfinder, I am certain they do not make one for this camera), hand grip, and battery grip for better hand holding with bigger lenses as well as the extra power. The fact that I am being cautious on that third party battery grip is surprising even to me. Possibly I might like a small capable camera that I can quickly take with me, and making the camera bigger might be detrimental with that.
Time for some photos.
20250419_082618A by
Chako, on Flickr
20250419_082627A by
Chako, on Flickr
20250419_082638A by
Chako, on Flickr
20250419_082644A by
Chako, on Flickr
Canon 5D mark II meet Canon R100. The 5D is a prosumer/Pro camera that gives the photographer a lot of functionality at their fingertips. Note the joystick, secondary wheel, and all the extra buttons. The R100 is very simplistic in this regard. The R100 also has mode that explains everything and what it does via a small paragraph and related image. Thankfully, I was able to turn this off and have a normal user interface that I am used to. The 5D does not hand hold you like that, but since I was able to turn that off on the R100, it is a non issue. It is there if you need it. Not there when you don't.
20250419_082843A by
Chako, on Flickr
The R100 is very small compared to a DSLR.
20250419_082917A by
Chako, on Flickr
For a starter camera, it has most of the modes out there. Just look at the mode dial and compare it to the 5D. When folks say that you will outgrow this camera, I will have to disagree.
20250419_083020A by
Chako, on Flickr
I found this ridiculous hot shoe protector in the shape of a game joystick off of Amazon a while back. It actually fits nicely as the camera is so small, it makes the R100 look like a toy.
20250419_083201A by
Chako, on Flickr
In conclusion, I got a great deal that now allows me into the new Canon R world. I can see that I have missed out somewhat in the past couple years in regards to what Canon is doing with their mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras. I am very impressed with the R100 compared to what DSLRs have to offer. It is an amazing little camera, and I cannot imagine how much better the camera bodies get as you climb the R camera hierarchy.
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