Upgrade from EOS 80D to Mirrorless

[avalanchis]

I'm an amateur/hobbyist photographer and I'm interested in upgrading from my EOS 80D to a Canon mirrorless.

I use the camera mostly for landscape photography and travel, with some occasional portraits.

I don't shoot action sports very often, but I am interested in wildlife photography and the animal eye tracking feature is interesting.

I have a collection of EF L glass lenses and a couple of EFS lenses (EFS 10-22 for wide angle with the APS-C sensor).

I'm thinking now might be the right time to change to a full frame sensor and get the EF adapter so I can use my existing lenses and upgrade them to RF lenses over time.

I'm looking for a camera that will take noticeably better pictures than my 80D.

Which bodies should I be considering?

[Tronhard]

Hi and welcome to the forum:
As always, much depends upon your budget.  I myself shoot landscape and wildlife and so will look at the issues to do with those areas.

After budget and subject type, another critical issue is what you are going to produce: by that I mean will you be outputting for social media, digital devices, small-medium prints or large detailed prints?  This has significant implications for sensor capacity.  You can get away with a much lower MP count for the first choices compared to the latter one in particular.

If you are going full-frame you should also note that while your EF-S lenses can be made to work via a Canon EF-RF adapter, they will automatically send any of the R-series FF sensors into APS-C crop mode.  That is significant, as that reduces the capacity of the sensor by a factor of 2.56.  

Given you want eye tracking, your two main choices are the EOS R5 and the R6 and there is a significant difference in price.

The R5 is a 45MP unit and has essentially the same tracking features as the R6 for wildlife.  The high capacity makes it attractive for cropping in and for detailed prints, but it has about 1 EV less dynamic range than the 20MP sensor on the R6, thus that is better for hand-held work in low light.

A comparison of the specs is available from THIS LINK.  I shoot with both bodies and find them both excellent units, so likely much will come down to your finances and output. 

The following links show reviews of the EOS R6 and R5 

You might want to consider what to do about the EF-S lenses. The EF-S 10-22 is a good lens (I have one) for a DSLR, but I think it will struggle with the R-series bodies. If you keep the 80D as a back-up body, you can continue to use the EF-S lenses with that.  If you want a good wide-angle lens designed for an R-series FF body, I recommend looking at the following review by CAMERALABS 

So, you have a bit to review and digest.  If you have other questions just respond or send me a personal message.

[deebatman316]

Hi OP, Do you have a budget that you need to stay within. Are you looking for a kit or body only. Canon offers many RF mount bodies. What are you looking for in a new body. If you usually shoot wildlife the R7 would be better but it has an APS-C sensor. Also with FF the angle of view your lenses will be shorter compared to your current 80D. Also note that when an EF-S (APS-C) lens is used the camera applies a 1.6x crop reducing megapixels. For instance the R5 has 45 megapixels in FF mode but only 17.3 megapixels in APS-C mode. Here are some great RF Mount bodies.

• R5 (Full Frame 45 megapixels)
• R6 (Full Frame 20 megapixels)
• R7 (APS-C 32.5 megapixels)
• RP (Full Frame 26.2 megapixels)
• R (Full Frame 30.3 megapixels)

-Demetrius

40D, 5D IV, EF 16-35mm F/2.8L III, EF 24-70mm F/2.8L II, EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM, EF 50 F/1.8 STM

430EX III-RT & 600EX II-RT

[avalanchis]

I was leaning towards the R6 but I'm starting to look at the R7.

Even though it is still APS-C like my 80D, it seems like it should offer a substantial image quality improvement.

[deebatman316]

Do you have a budget in mind for your new camera. I've tested out the R6 and it is a great successor to the 6D Mark II. 

-Demetrius

40D, 5D IV, EF 16-35mm F/2.8L III, EF 24-70mm F/2.8L II, EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM, EF 50 F/1.8 STM

430EX III-RT & 600EX II-RT

[avalanchis]

R6 would be stretching it, but I could probably afford it.  Can't really justify the R5 or above.

[deebatman316]

Are you looking for other things like new RF lenses, speedlites, battery grips etc. If you look at the R7 it doesn't support a battery grip.

-Demetrius

40D, 5D IV, EF 16-35mm F/2.8L III, EF 24-70mm F/2.8L II, EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM, EF 50 F/1.8 STM

430EX III-RT & 600EX II-RT

[avalanchis]

I've never owned a battery grip, so that doesn't really bother me.

I'm usually shooting outdoors in good lighting so I don't need a flash very often.

I'm thinking I will most likely buy one RF lens to start with and use my existing EF collection for the time being and upgrade the EF lenses to RF over time.

I like the idea of getting a FF sensor, but I'm not sure the $1000 price difference between the R6 and R7 is worthwhile for me.

[avalanchis]

I also like that the R7 does not have a 30 minute limit on video and seems to be less prone to overheating according to the reviews I've seen.

[deebatman316]

The only bad thing I've heard with the R7 was that it has IBIS problems with certain lenses. I hope this camera is a worthy successor to the 7D Mark II. I have not tested out the R7. I've tested the R, RP, R5 and R6. I haven't tested the R3, R7, R10 or the RA (Astro version of the EOS R).

-Demetrius

40D, 5D IV, EF 16-35mm F/2.8L III, EF 24-70mm F/2.8L II, EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM, EF 50 F/1.8 STM

430EX III-RT & 600EX II-RT