UPDATE + PRICING: If the Canon EOS R100 sounds tasty, you can expect to pay R16,500 for the base model, plus a RF-S18-45 lens, when it launches here in South Africa towards the end of June. A more complete kit, which also includes a bag and SD card, will retail for R17,600. Finally, a Canon EOS R100, plus the RF-S 18-45 and an RF-S 55-210 telephoto lens, will set you back R21,500.
We’ve asked if there will be a body-only version of the EOS R100, for those who already have a stash of lenses on hand. Stay tuned.
ORIGINAL STORY: If you like mirrorless cameras, but enjoy being able to buy food and keep the lights on (only occasionally) then Canon’s newest edition to the R-series, the EOS R100 (calm down, that’s not the price) is the cheapest mirrorless device that Canon’s ever made. It’s not cheap, mind you, but it’s a far cry from Canon’s next best thing.
This is a camera “designed for new, first-time mirrorless camera or existing interchangeable camera users who previously enjoyed EOS Rebel or EOS M cameras,” according to Canon (they would say that). It will cost $480 which roughly translates to R10,000 – even in South Africa’s not-so-hot economic climate. We’ve contacted Canon locally for an actual price and will let you know when they get back to us.
Get the camera!
Let’s start with the basics: inside you’ll find some entry-level specs, including a 24.2-megapixel APS-C sensor (snatched from the EOS M50 Mark 2), burst speeds of 6.5 fps (what, do we have all day?), dual-pixel autofocus and some rudimentary face and eye detection. Canon’s implementation of a non-touch, non-articulate display asks the all-important question – who would win; an unstoppable force or an immovable object?
In this case, we’d have to hand it to the unstoppable force.
Get as many dirty fingerprints as you’d like on the display, but it won’t do a damn thing. At least Canon has kept the tech behind the unmoving screen decent, with a 2.36 million dot OLED EVF with a 3in display in front of it. The trouble is that you’ll be fat-fingering the tiny D-Pad to set your focus and navigate the menus.
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Video, at least, hasn’t been entirely compromised. You can still shoot 4K video at 24fps though if you’re looking for the gold standard of 60fps, you’ll be subjected to shooting in 1080p. Shooting in 1080p means you can still use the Dual Pixel autofocus system which is something like a consolation.
Besides the tech inside, the EOS R100 supports a single SD-UHS memory card, microphone, Micro HDMI inputs, and of course, Bluetooth and WiFi. It’s not the Stone Age, even if the non-moving display tells you otherwise.
Still, it’s a start for beginners which is exactly what Canon is going for. If you’d like something a little more advanced, Canon will sell the EOS R100 in bundles, the first of which includes the RF-S18-45mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM lens and going for $600 (R11,500) and another that adds the RF-S55-210mm f/5-7.1 IS STM for $800 (R15,000). We should see the EOS R100 turn up in July, though we’re still waiting on official South African details. We might see a delay of a couple of weeks, or it might turn up right on time. We’ll let you know.