How to Review a Camera (Ryan Mense on The Canon R7)

First, I hasten to say that I have not a clue what kind of person Ryan Mense might be. For all I know, he could be a passionate backer of Alex Jones for President and go around on the street surreptitiously tripping little old ladies. We're not acquainted. And I don't often read PetaPixel, which sorta I consider to be the site that superseded TOP...it just does everything I once aspired for TOP to do, but better. So, naturally, I hate them. Just kidding. Sort of. Well, yes, kidding.

However, I was impressed with Ryan Mense's trenchant review of the Canon EOS R7 ($1,500), the higher-spec'ed of the two new Canon APS-C mirrorless models. It's called "Canon EOS R7 Review: One of the Best Cameras Canon Makes." He tells us what the camera is like to hold, what the camera is like to control, and how he likes the results, with, thank you, some conclusiveness at the end, which I've always believed people like. The review mentions competitor models and makes specific appraisals of value. It downplays features, only mentioning them where it's appropriate to make a point about operability (I've always said reviews shouldn't repeat everything you can get from the manufacturer's brochures-slash-data-sheets unless it's commenting on those things). And it doesn't go on and on...he gets in, does his thing, and gets out again. Plus, the illustrations don't have the look-'n'-feel to me of "test pictures," a genre I have to say I am thoroughly sick of—no criticism implied, we all have to make 'em. Being a trifle distractable about bokeh, I especially like the picture of the black-headed bird. And all of this from someone who is evidently familiar with Canon and other Canons. It all ends up as pretty much a model of how I believe camera reviews ought to be. 

From the look of him, I might have been writing camera reviews for longer than he's been alive. My first one was in 1987. As for Canons, Canon gave me a lot of assistance and inside scoop when I wrote one of the first big articles about the then-new EOS system in 1991, "The EOS Revolution," an article the company reprinted and distributed for several years thereafter. But I'm not familiar with Canon now, having not owned one since the very interesting EOS RT of 1989, which I knew a great deal about at the time, mainly from those same people who helped me with the EOS article, Dave Metz, and Chuck Westfall and a couple of others. That's been, ahem, a tad too long to claim anything like familiarity.

I've always tried not to use negative examples here, in the same way that on a personal level I'm striving these days to not complain. But I see a lot of bad bad bad reviews hither and yon online, in print and as maundering, turgid videos (which as you know I love not), some of which make me roll my eyes. Or reviewers who get one big thing wrong. And then there's sometimes professional jealousy to contend with, too, if I'm honest, which shortens the list of the Good Guys further (I'm thinking of one particular dude I shall not name who probably makes ten times what I do. You know him). It's not my business to tell anyone what to do, and I don't like the idea of ever holding anyone up to ridicule.

So it's always nice to mention a review or a reviewer I happen to run across that I like. For instance, the unfortunately late David Thorpe, who made charming little videos (yes) about Micro 4/3. David's passing was a loss for our pastime.

Subject to further review, no pun intended, I think Ryan Mense should be added to the short list. His R7 review is excellent. I feel like I know what's up with the R7 now, which was more than I could say before I happened across the review. Check it out and see what you think. And notice I'm not piggybacking on him by including an affiliate link the R7 in this post. (I never charged Canon for that reprint, either, although they offered me $1,000 I sorely needed—$2,175 in today's money. I felt it was a conflict of interest.)

Here's Ryan's author page at Petapixel and his personal website.

Mike

Book o' the Week

Home Fires Volume II: The Present. There is of course a Volume I: The Past.  TOP reader Bruce Haley has produced documentary work relating to conflict, humanitarian crises and environmental/industrial/land use issues for 30 years. He received the Robert Capa Gold Medal for his coverage of the ethnic civil war in Burma.

These book links are a portal to Amazon.

Today at B&H Photo

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Grant: "David Thorpe's videos were gems. Informative and presented in a very relaxed manner. Another video blogger that I find informative is Maarten Heilbron. Disclaimer: Maarten's son and one of my sons have been good friends for many years. I found Maarten's videos gave me a good grounding in the menu features and the resulting outcomes when I started using Micro 4/3. Mike, you might find Maarten's featured video, 'Are Phones Better Than Cameras? (in a canoe)' of interest."

robert e: "Thank you for this. I'm not shopping, but I like to sort of keep up. Unfortunately there are probably many dozen reviews of this camera out there, let alone the current lineup, and it's not worth the time and energy to even vet them just to 'sort of keep up.' So it's nice to be pointed to one that concentrates on the fundamentals, and with great economy. His critique of the UI cuts straight to the chase, e.g., and lets us know about a quirk common across the brand. I agree about the pictures. From reading a few of Mense's articles, I gather that they reflect his actual photographic work and passion, and as a result I think they tell me more about a camera's capabilities than would more typical disinterested 'test shots.' I'm not sure what bokeh tells us about a camera body, unless it, too, speaks to broader capabilities? Perhaps of the system as a whole? Mense seems to share your apathy to video, Mike, but I'm glad he at least mentioned the top spec. If I were shopping, I'd look for another review that goes into that. Finally, I too appreciate conclusiveness."

Mike replies: I just liked the picture is all—I didn't mean to imply that the bokeh tells us anything about the camera. It's just a nice shot. 

Comments

[Rob de Loe]

Home Fires II is terrific. Bruce Haley is a superb photographer with a very clear sense of what he's about. I'm glad you featured it as your Book o' the Week.

[Tom Burke]

The big problem with Canon's R mount APS-C cameras is the lens choice - it's very restricted, and what there is doesn't seem to be very good optically. Yes, of course any RF lens could be used, but as with their APS-C DSLRs, the focal lengths are all wrong (until you get into truly long lens territory, where a combination of the 90D + 100-400 EF has been a strong package for wildlife photographers). For example, the 24-70 is effectively a 38-112 on APS-C, which is a tad too long. At least in EF APS-C there are other suppliers, Sigma especially - one of their 17-70 f2.8-4 lenses has been my walk-around lens of choice on my recent Canons. But Sigma have made no announcement about producing RF versions of this or any of their other APS-C lenses, so that solution no longer exists.

In fact (and apropos of other recent conversations) I've just sold my Canon equipment, which was all APS-C. Over the last couple of years I've hardly touched it - the iPhone has become my go-to camera. I took the 90D to Dubai earlier this year but it never left the hotel room - the iPhone sufficed. I don't know if this is because I've decided (subconsciously) that it's just too much hassle carrying a separate camera bag around, or because I'm (uncritically) happy enough with iPhone images. We'll see: in the next few weeks my equipment sales will have completed, the next iPhone will have been announced, and I shall decide between a new iPhone or something like Fujifilm X or even Micro43. One thing I'm pretty sure about: I won't be buying a Canon R7 (or the cheaper R10); still too big, and restricted lens choice.

[Kye Wood]

You like micro four thirds, don't you Mike?

The LEICA DG SUMMILUX 15mm / F1.7 ASPH. (H-X015E) Micro Four Thirds Lens is... a revelation. Please please please, get one in. Try it yourself.

It's the only favour I'll ever ask of you.

[Stan B.]

Sorry, I don't see how Petapixel in any way compares (let alone competes) with TOP, it's basically little more than a click bait compilation of: photo industry news, commercial endorsements and commentary often bordering on racist and/or misogynist.* It's a fairly competent resource for the latest industry news, other than that...

PS- Big fan of Bruce Haley's Home Fires, Vol.1.

*Full disclosure- I was banned from their site for repeatedly pointing out and criticizing the latter.

[Jim Arthur]

Thanks for the link. I’ve been pondering the R7 since its announcement due to its much longer reach over my 6D/100-400 II combo. The R7’s APS-C sensor and ability to autofocus at f/8 with a 1.4 teleconverter would give me an extra 500mm of reach which is nothing to sneeze at. I’ve been wondering about its high ISO performance which is the one thing I value more than reach and it’s nice to hear I can go as high as ISO 1600.

I hate to admit it but I could also use some help with my tracking skills and the R7’s autofocus tracking and in-body image stabilization would have been a big help this past week. I just returned from a family reunion of my own and my favorite sequence had a low hit rate due to my creaky skills and old camera. My sisters went for a walk in the neighborhood and as they returned I stepped out into the street with my non-stabilized EF 135mm f/2 set to 1/500 sec at f/2 and fired away. When they noticed me they joined hands, picked up their pace, and walked right at me. A few shots didn’t work because they were talking and laughing and their mouth shape is not right and in others shots they were out of the focal plane. I would have loved it if every shot in that sequence was sharp.

[Stephen S.]

Your mention of PetaPixel made me realize that although I've read their articles directly because of links, I've never gone to their home page. So I did. I had a hard time spotting the articles separately from the ads, and the articles I had not yet seen from the articles that had already been displayed in a thumbnail-only format. Thank goodness TOP didn't turn into that - I'll stick with reading your clean, intelligible site, thank you.