R8 or R6? Partner has R5

[yuresh]

My partner is much more into photography than I am and currently uses an R5. I'm considering buying a similar camera that doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but will be able to utilize the same lenses. I would be taking pictures primarily outdoors, and I mostly enjoy landscapes and wildlife. I wouldn't be doing any video at all, as I don't have any interest in that. Current lenses we own: RF 24-105mm F4L IS USM RF 100-500mm IS USM RF 100m F2.8L IS USM Macro What are your thoughts? I don't want to spend as much as the R5, but I also don't want to take a huge step down where I won't get the full benefit of the lenses we have (does that even make sense?). I am sort of leaning towards the R8 to save some on the cost, but I'm open to be persuaded to anything in the R lineup. Thanks

[rs-eos]

What is your budget? Remember that it would be good to get at least one extra battery and you'd also need media cards.  For the latter, full-sized cards only from reputable brands.

The EOS R6 has dual card slots (as does the R5).  So it's basically an immediate backup for your images before you import them to your computer.  But would such a feature be really beneficial to you? Maybe; maybe not.

Both are full frame cameras.  So it will really come down to if there's any feature on the R6 that you'd absolutely want.

Oh, are you speaking about the original R6 or the R6 Mark II? If you're speaking about the original, I think I would lean towards the EOS R8.  But do check out the R6 Mark II in case there are features you could really leverage.

[Tronhard]

Hi and welcome to the forum:
As my respected colleague Ricky said, it would be helpful to have a budget value, but given your line-up of lenses, I suspect you can afford to invest in the following:
I would personally suggest getting either the R6 or R6MkII, both are full-frame cameras, like your your partner and would make use of the lenses you indicate.  The R6 series is a step down in some respects to the R5 but the critical elements are retained - but not in the R8:
*  In-body Image stabilization that functions with the RF lenses to provide even more stability
*  Superior focus and tracking algorithms, similar to those of the R5
*  The same batteries as the R5, so can share those.
*  Dual SD card slots (as Ricky mentioned offer reliability) SD cards are much cheaper than CF Express cards BTW.
*  Superior build and weather protection
*  The R6MkII shares the same sensor with the R8

Depending on what you intend to produce, you should find the 20MP of the R6 or 24MP of the R6MkII to be more than satisfactory for all but the most demanding output on large, detailed prints.
For reference, there are numerous example images posted here using both of those bodies:
Search - Canon Community

[Aurora4233]

GRAB AN R8!

My wife and I went through the same thing with me upgrading from 20+ years of EF bodies and lenses to an R7 and all new RF lenses.  Without EF lenses we gave away her 70D to one of our kids and she went on the hunt to get into an R body.  I’ve also always gone with APS-C because I shoot long range aviation and sailing so tacking an extra 1.6 crop factor onto an RF100-500 is a gift.  She's primarily a street, indoor, low light, and leaning to way wider angle lenses than me.  When we walk around I typically have the R7 with an RF 70-200 f2.8 while she rolls with the R8 and an RF 24-105 f4.

The R8 rounded out our shared kit because it was full frame and had the same remarkable sensor and brain as the R6mII.  I’d recommended the R6mII to an event photographer friend moving up to mirrorless and she’s been thrilled but for a LOT LESS money we get the same incredible pictures with the trades everyone has described in other posts here.  If you're leaning toward pro event work R6mII for sure but if you're leaning toward a fun lightweight insanely capable body to share your RF lenses than an R8 is an easy choice.

I can honestly tell you the smaller battery hasn’t been an issue ever.  We take bazillions of pictures and at most I’ve only gone through two in a day and we bought three total.  That smaller battery also buys you a considerably smaller, lighter, and very comfortable body that will more than impress you with its portability.  I would love to have the auto-leveling of my other body and what you have in the R5 or another R6mII but for the money, size, and weight it is a completely fair trade that you’ll barely notice.

Bottom line the R8 gives you a top performance sensor and remarkable performance in a petit package (with a couple worthwhile trades) at a price that will let you buy a few more stellar lenses.  Pop an RF 28mm pancake, RF 50mm f1.8, or the fun RF 35mm macro on the front have you have a lightweight unimposing low light performer for a painless investment.

** To make you really confident I’m adding pictures we took with the R8 and the RF 24-105 f4 you have (my wife’s favorite lens).  These were extremely low light in a distillery but the results were fantastic.  They’re JPG right out of the camera mostly taken in Tv 1/320, silent electronic shutter and the only setting I played with was my pointer finger playing the eV till I saw what I liked in the viewfinder (typically -1 to -2eV).  Super easy, the 1/320 locked the motion and the completely usable ISO 51200 did the heavy lifting (some I did at 1/60 for fun blur). 

If you get an R8 you’ll LOVE it for what it is and since there’s already an R5 in the family you can bring out the big boy if the missing tricks are ever necessary (which will be less often that you’d intuitively think).  Happy shopping!!

[Tronhard]

Aurora4233 brings up some interesting points, and within his genre of photography where he uses a FF camera, I can see why he chose the R8 - a small, light body that works well with a compact lens suitable for enclosed spaces and darkness, and the price differential is quite compelling. However, from that you have indicated, I understand that you are shooting wildlife (using a 100-500) and landscape, which could use that same lens and/or the 24-105 you have indicated and that is quite a different application.   

For using a long lens, I prefer a heavier body to balance the weight of the telephoto zoom and I actually prefer to be able to mount a optional battery grip for two reasons to do with long lenses. The 100-500 uses fast, dual nano-USM motors and that imposes more drain on the battery capacity, so the larger capacity batteries work for me.  Each of the LP-E6NH batteries in the R6MkII offers about twice the capacity of the LP-17 of the R8.  While the R6 series use the same BG-R10 grip common between the R5 and R6 (so you can swap them) Canon offer no battery grip for the R8.   The battery grip brings the CofG back toward the body, as one tends to hold the weight of the whole system under the lens fairly close to the body because of the control layout of the lens.   I like the ability to use the portrait controls on the battery grip for work with wildlife when I want to shoot in that mode, something I am not likely to do when shooting aviation images.  Not having to curl one's arm around one's head to use the camera controls is awkward, especially with heavier glass, and creates more risk of camera shake.

If tracking is something that is significant, the R6 has 4897 focus points vs the R8 1053.  As I said, the R6 series does offer 8 stops of IBIS in conjunction with your RF lenses, which is something I personally really value for shooting hand-held with long, heavy telephotos, the R8 does not.  Absolutely, that should not unduly impact someone shooting with fast, shorter focal length lenses that are typical of the sample images he provides.  Again, you are shooting quite different subjects.

The R6 series have a full mechanical shutter system while the R8 uses first curtain or full electronic.  For that reason, if one opens the camera up to change lenses there is no shutter to  protect the sensor from ingress of dust, moisture or other elements that will impact the sensor and require cleaning.  Yes, one can (as should normally) point the camera down when changing lenses to reduce the risk, but for a wildlife shooter in often less than ideal conditions, that is worth considering.

The EVF on the R6 has a 3.6 dot resolution vs the 2.6 of the R8. I would expect that a wildlife shooter will be using the EVF consistently for the third point of contact it provides to give stabilization when hand-holding, so it is worth considering if the difference in resolution is significant for you.

Another thing you have to consider is if the extra controls of the R6 compared to the R8, are to your benefit.  For me, they are, as I can customize the camera to operate like my own R5 unit. I prefer the joystick and the rear control ring which are both missing from the R8.  Then there is the superior weather protection.

The R6 buffer has a higher capacity, consistently allowing about 27% more images than the R6, but will also continue to clear images (allowing slower shooting) for well past that to over twice the number of images before shooting stops so a total of about 100 vs 52 on a UHS90 SD card.

I do not recommend gear based purely on what I shoot, I focus as precisely as possible on what I understand is the inquirer's genre and equipment needs - in other words I look at benefits not just features. 

I have shot with both cameras and my experience confirmed my preference for both wildlife and landscape. The features outlined for the R8 will offer benefits to someone shooting close up subjects, with light lenses in poor light, but the features of the R6 MkII are, IMHO more inclined to provide benefits for the wildlife photographer.

Again, that depends on your resources, priorities and style of shooting. Aurora4233 has ably demonstrated the excellent performance of his R8 in a more intimate environment.  BOTH are excellent cameras, so it's really down to price, what you shoot, in what conditions, and with what lenses.

There is a rather good comparison video going through the features, FWIW:
Camera Comparison : Canon R6 Mark II vs Canon R8 (youtube.com)

[Aurora4233]

I’m going to earn my R8 sales commission with this last hard push so here goes with what Trevor just made me think of as he mentioned size, weight, balance, battery pack grips, and use cases.  

I was assuming you’d be doing wide angle landscape although you know what they say about assumptions.  I also threw on some more landscape-ish pics my wife took this fall at a spa in a nearby canyon we motorcycled to so you can see what she does with her beloved RF 24-105 f4 on the R8 outdoors.  I tried to pick pictures at the 24m and 105mm ends of the lens for the landscapes to help you decide if you that met your intentions.

• There is a battery grip for the R8, B&H part number BH# VEBGC18.  We have it and I use it occasionally although as I mentioned before I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the single battery capacity and I just don’t put the RF 100-500 on it because that lens does much more of what I need on the R7’s crop sensor body along with Trevor’s accurate point that it wouldn’t balance as well as with the smaller R8 body (but you can add the grip if you want, it’s great).
• If cost isn’t a major factor then it truly comes down to use case and I’m thrilled that having the R8 in the family gives us both ends of the use spectrum while sharing all the pricey RF glass.
  • Wide angle zoom/prime lens work, easy travel, smaller hands, stellar low light full frame sensor, painlessly inexpensive – R8
  • Primarily larger zooms, larger hands, IBIS/leveling, same stellar low light full frame sensor, moderately more expensive but worth it – R6mkII

The R8 wouldn’t be my only camera but for our use case it is amazing and appreciated and you can share that glass with the beast of R5 goodness!  Can’t go wrong with an R6mkII or higher but I wanted to make you completely comfortable with an R8 as a compact, classy, very capable and super fun option!

Chris & Tammy

[ebiggs1]

If this is a good friend or even more I would save up a bit more and also buy the R5.