Canon R8 Review

Name: Canon EOS R8
Brand: Canon

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Main Features

24MP - Full frame CMOS Sensor

ISO 100 - 102400( expands to 50 - 204800)

3.00" Fully Articulated Screen

2360k dot Electronic viewfinder

6.0fps (40.0fps Electronic) continuous shooting

4K at 60fps and FHD at 180fps Video Recording

10-bit Color

Built-in Wireless

461g. 133 x 86 x 70 mm

Weather Sealed Body

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Canon R8 Overview

Launched in February 2023 , Canon EOS R8 is a 24.0MP Advanced Mirrorless camera with a Full frame (36 x 24 mm ) sized CMOS sensor, weather sealed body, Fully articulated touch screen and Canon RF lens mount.

Canon R8 Review - Click for Table of Contents

Overview
Pros and Cons
Lens Mount and Lenses
Sensor and Photography Features
Physical Specs
LCD and Viewfinder
Connectivity, Storage and Battery
Video
Other Features
Photography Type Scores
Alternatives
Popular Comparisons
Frequently Asked Questions
Detailed Specifications

Canon R8 is a member of Canon's R series of cameras. Below you can see the latest models in this series and how their main specs have changed with each new version.

Canon R Series History

Model	Release Date	Sensor	Dimensions	Weight
Canon R8	2023	24.0MP - Full frame	133 x 86 x 70mm	461g
Canon R50 Compare	2023	24.0MP - APS-C	116 x 86 x 69mm	375g
Canon R6 II Compare	2022	24.0MP - Full frame	138 x 98 x 88mm	680g
Canon R10 Compare	2022	24.0MP - APS-C	123 x 88 x 83mm	426g
Canon R7 Compare	2022	33.0MP - APS-C	132 x 90 x 92mm	612g

Check the link below to compare specs of the latest cameras in this series side by side:
Canon R8 vs R50 vs R6 II vs R10 vs R7

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking through my links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Canon R8 PROs and CONs Review

Now let's get in to more details of our Canon R8 review by analysing its specs and features and listing out its pros and cons compared to average competitor cameras in its class.

PROs

Lens Breathing Correction

Unlimited Video Recording (no 30min limit)

Photo/Video Mode Switch

Built-in Wireless (Wi-fi)

Bluetooth Connectivity

Articulating Screen

4K at 60fps and FHD at 180fps Video Recording

No crop on 4K Videos

10-bit Color

Touch Screen

Electronic Built-in Viewfinder

Face Detection Focusing

24.0MP - High Resolution Sensor

102.400 Max ISO

1053 Focus Points

1.620k dots LCD Resolution

1/16000s Electronic Shutter Speed

Digital video stabilization

40.0fps Max Continuous Shooting Speed

461g Light Body

External Microphone Port

External Headphone Port

Environmental Sealing

Timelapse Recording

2360kdot Viewfinder Resolution

0.76x magnification - Large Viewfinder

Panorama Shooting

180fps High Speed Video

Wide AE Bracketing Range: ±5 EV

Flash Sync Port

Selfie & Vlogger Friendly LCD Screen

Remote control with a smartphone

High Video bit rate of 340mbps

Real time Animal Eye AF

Compatible with fast UHS-II cards

Webcam Functionality

USB Charging

USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 GBit/sec)

Vehicle Tracking AF Mode

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Buy Canon R8 from AMAZON or B&H PHOTO

CONs

No Sensor shift Image Stabilization

Low Battery Life: 290 shots

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Canon R8 Physical Specs

Canon R8 weighs 461 g (1.02 lb / 16.26 oz) and has external dimensions of 133 x 86 x 70 mm (5.24 x 3.39 x 2.76″). Considering that the average weight of Mirrorless type cameras is 466g, its weight is about average in its class. With a thickness of 70mm, it is large, 16mm thicker than the average of its class.

Weight Comparison

Mirrorless Cameras

Canon R8

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Thickness Comparison

Mirrorless Cameras

Canon R8

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Here is the front and top view image of Canon R8 with the dimensions:

Front and Top View External Dimensions and Size of Canon R8 Camera Body

In order to give you a better idea about the real life size of Canon R8, we have added an image of how it looks next to a credit card and an AA type battery.

Physical size of the Canon R8 Body Compared to a Credit Card and an AA Battery

Below you can find the comparison of the weight and thickness of Canon R8 with its main competitors:

Canon R8 Size Compared to Main Competitors

Model	Weight	vs R8	Thickness	vs R8
Canon R7 Compare	612g	151g heavier	92mm	22mm thicker
Canon R6 II Compare	680g	219g heavier	88mm	18mm thicker
Canon R6 Compare	680g	219g heavier	88mm	18mm thicker
Canon RP Compare	485g	24g heavier	70mm	equal thickness
Canon R10 Compare	426g	35g lighter	83mm	13mm thicker
Canon R Compare	660g	199g heavier	84mm	14mm thicker
Canon R5 C Compare	770g	309g heavier	111mm	41mm thicker
Sony A7c Compare	509g	48g heavier	60mm	10mm thinner

Weather Sealing

Canon R8 has environmental sealings on its body which makes it a weather resistant camera, providing resistance against the water and dust getting in to the camera. If you like outdoors photography and want to be able to use your camera in extreme conditions, Canon R8 will serve you well. If you attach one of these Canon R8 weather Sealed lenses to your camera, you will have a great all weather kit.

Canon R8 Lens Mount and Lenses

Canon R8 has a Canon RF lens mount and currently there are 37 native lenses available for this mount. Canon's new RF mount features a 54mm diameter and short 20mm flange-back distance, which makes it possible to design lenses that are faster and smaller than their EF mount equivalents. RF mount also provides a 12-pin electronic contact system for advanced autofocus and image stabilization capabilities, making it compatible to existing EF and EF-S-mount lenses via an optional EF-EOS R Mount Adapter.

Canon R8 doesn't have a sensor based image stabilization system but 23 of these lenses already comes with Optical Image Stabilization.

Lens Breathing Correction

One of the most impressive feature that will make the videographers very happy with the Canon EOS R8 is the Lens Breathing Correction The R8 camera corrects the Lens breathing effect (for supported lenses) where the angle of view thus your framing changes undesirably when the lens focus plane switches between close and far objects. This makes the Canon R8 one of only 6 Cameras to have a Lens Breathing Correction.

Weather Sealed Lenses for Canon R8

There are 20 lenses with weather sealing for Canon R8 that you can couple with its weather sealed body.

Here are some of the most popular Canon R8 Lenses on Camera Decision:

Popular Canon RF Mount Lenses for Canon R8

Model	Focal Length equiv.	Coverage	Weight	Focusing	Street Price
Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1L IS USM	100-500mm	35mm FF	1365gr	AF	Amazon B&H Photo
Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8L IS USM	24-70mm	35mm FF	900gr	AF	Amazon B&H Photo
Canon RF 85mm F2 Macro IS STM	85mm	35mm FF	500gr	AF	Amazon B&H Photo
Canon RF 24-105mm F4L IS USM	24-105mm	35mm FF	700gr	AF	Amazon B&H Photo
Canon RF 1200mm F8L IS USM	1200mm	35mm FF	3340gr	AF	Amazon B&H Photo
Canon RF 800mm F5.6L IS USM	800mm	35mm FF	3140gr	AF	Amazon B&H Photo
Canon RF 50mm F1.2L USM	50mm	35mm FF	950gr	AF	Amazon B&H Photo
Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8L IS USM	15-35mm	35mm FF	840gr	AF	Amazon B&H Photo

Here you can find the lenses that are compatible with R8 classified by suitability to certain photography types:

Check our Canon R8 Lenses page for more detailed lens search.

Canon R8 Sensor and Photography Features

Canon R8 has a 24.0MP Full frame (36 x 24 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Digic X processor. You can shoot at maximum resolution of 6000 x 4000 pixels with aspect ratios of 1:1, 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9. R8 has a native ISO range of 100 - 102400 which can be boosted to 50 - 204800 and it can save files in RAW format which gives you a wider room for post processing.

Canon R8 is not the highest resolution Full frame camera. Sony A7R V with its 61.0MP sensor is leading in this class. Check the comparison of Canon R8 vs Sony A7R V or take a look at Highest resolution Mirrorless cameras list.

Let's look at how the size of the Canon R8's Full frame sensor compares with other standard sensor sizes.

Comparison image of Canon R8 Sensor Size with other standard sensors

Canon R8 LCD and Viewfinder

Canon R8 has a Fully Articulated 3.00-inch LCD screen with a resolution of 1,620k dots. Articulated screens are more video oriented compared to only tilting or fixed screens. On the other hand, photography oriented users generally prefer tilting screens. Both the screen size and the screen resolution is up to the standards of this class.

LCD is Touch screen type, so you can change the settings and set the focus point with your fingertips.

For those of you who loves shooting selfies, self or group photos, Canon R8 will make your life easier with its Selfie friendly screen. Another group of users who will take advantage of R8's LCD screen are Vloggers and any video creators who are working in a single-person setup.

R8 has a built-in Electronic viewfinder, making it easier to shoot in direct sunlight and in other situations where it might be difficult to view the LCD monitor. The viewfinder has a resolution of 2,360kdots and coverage of 100%. The Viewfinder Eye Point distance is 22mm . 100% coverage ensures that what you see in the viewfinder while shooting matches exactly what you will get later in your image, helping accurate framing your shots and minimizes the need for cropping images later. The magnification ratio of the viewfinder is 0.76x (35mm equivalent).

Canon R8 Connectivity, Storage and Battery

Canon R8 features built-in wireless (Wi-Fi) connectivity ( 802.11b/g/n + Bluetooth) which lets you transfer your photos directly to compatible devices without any physical connection. Canon R8's Bluetooth connectivity feature comes handy for connecting other devices that supports it. One other feature that we like is the ability to use our smartphone as a remote to control our R8. You can change camera settings, release shutter, view LCD screen and tranfer files using remote control app.

You can connect R8 to compatible devices via its HDMI port or USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 GBit/sec) port.

Canon R8 also features USB charging capability which let's you charge your camera via a usb cable without removing the battery.

Canon R8 Battery

Canon R8 is powered by LP-E17 battery which provides a battery life of 290 shots according to CIPA standards. Considering that the average battery life of Mirrorless type cameras is 382 shots, Canon R8 has a short battery life for its class so we strongly recommend R8 owners to invest in some extra batteries.

Battery Life Comparison in Advanced Mirrorless Cameras

Canon R8

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Sony A6600 with its 810shots is the model with longest battery life among Advanced Mirrorless cameras. Check the comparison of Canon R8 vs Sony A6600 or take a look at Longest Battery Life Mirrorless cameras list.

Bottom View of Canon R8 - Tripod Mount and Battery Door

Canon R8 Features Compared to Main Competitors

Model	Max Video	Battery Life	Wi-fi	Bluetooth	NFC
Canon R7 Compare	3840 x 2160	660shots	Yes	Yes	No
Canon R6 II Compare	3840 x 2160	580shots	Yes	Yes	No
Canon R6 Compare	3840 x 2160	360shots	Yes	Yes	No
Canon RP Compare	3840 x 2160	250shots	Yes	Yes	No
Canon R10 Compare	3840 x 2160	450shots	Yes	Yes	No
Canon R Compare	3840 x 2160	370shots	Yes	Yes	No
Canon R5 C Compare	8192 x 4320	320shots	Yes	Yes	No
Sony A7c Compare	3840 x 2160	740shots	Yes	Yes	Yes

Canon R8 Video Features

With Canon R8, you can record your videos at a highest resolution of 3840 x 2160 at 60p,30p,24p fps with bit rates up to 340 mbps and save in MPEG-4, H.264 and H.265 formats. Canon R8's 4K is the common standard resolution in consumer video world.

A great advantage of Canon R8 while shooting video at resolution of 4K is that there is no crop factor so you can use your lens at its actual focal length.

No Video Recording Limit

Canon EOS R8 doesn't have the 30 minutes max video recording limitation that many cameras have, so you can keep recording non-stop until either your storage is full or battery is depleted or the camera over-heats.

Photo/Video Mode Switch

Canon EOS R8 has a dedicated Photo/Vide Mode Switch which lets the user switch between these two modes quickly.The menus and the settings of the camera are adjusted according to the chosen mode. This makes the . Canon EOS R8 an ideal camera for hybrid use in the field.

High-Speed Video

R8 features a high speed mode where it captures videos at 180fps which helps to create slow motion videos. If you shoot a video at a frame rate of 180fps and play it back at 24fps, the video will be 7.5x slower and longer than normal.

Microphones, Speaker and Headphone Connections

Canon EOS R8 has a built-in Stereo microphone and a Mono speaker. Canon R8 also has a port for an external microphone and a headphone port for connecting external headphones which make Canon R8 a very suitable camera high quality videography.

If you are getting into videography and want to know what are the must-have video accessories for your camera, read our article:
Essential Videography / Filmmaking Accessories for your Camera

Electronic Video Stabilization

Canon R8 also features an Digital Video Stabilization mode where videos are stabilized in-camera while you are shooting. Keep in mind that this effect may crop your videos a little bit and doesn't help stabilizing still images. This kind of video stabilization effect can be replicated by using some of the advanced video editing softwares in your PC.

Canon R8 Other Features

Max Shutter speed

Canon R8 can shoot continuously at max speed of 6.0 fps and has max shutter speed of 1/4000 sec. R8 also has an electronic shutter which can shoot silently at max speed of 1/16000s. One thing to keep in mind is that electronic shutter may cause rolling shutter / jello effects, and also banding issues under artificial light on your images.

Flash

Unfortunately R8 doesn't have a built-in flash but it has a flash shoe for mounting external flashes.

Focusing

Canon R8 features both Contrast Detection and Phase Detection autofocus (AF) systems which ensures speed and accuracy of focusing in most situations. The AF system has 1053 points to choose from.

Canon R8 also features Face detection AF where it intelligently detects the faces in the frame and locks the focus automatically. In addition to the face detect AF, R8 has a more sophisticated feature called Eye Tracking AF which detects and locks focus to the selected eye of the person in the frame accurately and tracks as the subject moves. Eye tracking AF of Canon R8 is a perfect feature for shooting portraits and is especially useful when fast lenses are used and the depth of field is very narrow.

What is in the box?

Here are the items that are included inside the box of Canon R8:

Canon EOS R8 Mirrorless Camera

Canon LP-E17 Lithium-Ion Battery Pack

Canon LC-E17 Charger for LP-E17 Battery Pack

Canon R-F-5 Camera Cover

Camera Strap

Shoe Cover

Limited 1-Year Manufacturer Warranty

What's in the box of Canon R8

What type of Photography is Canon R8 Good for?

In this section, we review and score Canon R8 in 5 different photography areas.

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Canon R8 Alternatives

In this section, we analyse how Canon R8 compares with other Mirrorless cameras within a similar price range.

Read a more detailed analysis of Canon R8 alternatives.

Popular Comparisons of Canon R8

Here is the eight most popular comparisons of Canon R8 amongst Camera Decision readers.

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Canon R8 Alternatives in DSLR Cameras

It would also be interesting to compare Canon R8 with DSLR Cameras. Below we have listed 4 highest ranked DSLR cameras in Canon R8's price range.

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Canon R8 Conclusion and Scores

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Frequently Asked Questions about Canon R8

Does the Canon R8 have Image Stabilization?
Does the Canon R8 have RAW support?
Does the Canon R8 have Weather Sealing?
Does the Canon R8 have built-in GPS?
What is the Max ISO of Canon R8?
What is the Sensor Size of Canon R8?
is the Canon R8 a Full Frame (FF) camera?
Does the Canon R8 have Touch Screen?
Does the Canon R8 have built-in Wireless?
What is the Max Continuous Shooting Speed (fps) of Canon R8?
What is the Weight of Canon R8?
What are the Dimensions of Canon R8?

Canon EOS R8 Detailed Specifications

General
Brand	Canon
Model	Canon EOS R8
Announced	2023-02-08
Body Type	SLR-style mirrorless
Lens
Manual Focus
Lens Mount	Canon RF
Number of Lenses	37
Focal Length Multiplier	1×
Macro Focus Range	n/a
Screen
Screen Type	Fully Articulated
Screen Size	3.00"
Screen Resolution	1,620k dots
Live View
Touch Screen
Viewfinder
Viewfinder	Electronic
Viewfinder Resolution	2,360k dots
Viewfinder Coverage	100%
Viewfinder Magnification	0.76x
Photography Features
Min Shutter Speed	30s
Max Mechanical Shutter Speed	1/4000s
Max Electronic Shutter Speed	1/16000s
Max Continuous Shooting (Mechanical Shutter)	6.0 fps
Max Continuous Shooting (Electronic Shutter)	40.0 fps
Shutter Priority
Aperture Priority
Manual Exposure Mode
Exposure Compensation	Yes
Custom White Balance
Image Stabilization
Built-in Flash
Flash Range	no built-in flash
Max Flash Sync	1/250s
Flash Modes	no built-in flash
External Flash
AE Bracketing
WB Bracketing
Exposure Modes
Multi-Segment
Average
Spot
Partial
AF-Area
Center Weighted
DxO Sensor Scores
DxO Overall Score	not tested
DxO Color Depth	not tested
DxO Dynamic Range	not tested
DxO Low Light ISO	not tested
	Report a correction

Sensor
Sensor Type	CMOS
Sensor Size	Full frame
Sensor Dimensions	36 x 24 mm
Sensor Area	864.00mm²
Sensor Resolution	24 megapixels
Max Image Resolution	6000 x 4000
Max Native ISO	102,400
Max Boosted ISO	204800
Min Native ISO	100
Min Boosted ISO	50
RAW Support
Autofocus
AF Touch
AF Continuous
AF Single
AF Tracking
AF Selective
AF Center
AF Multi Area
AF Live View
AF Face Detection
AF Contrast Detection
AF Phase Detection
Number of Focus Points	1053
Number of Cross Focus Points	Unknown
Video Features
Video Resolutions	3840 x 2160 @ 60p / 230 Mbps, MOV, H.264, Linear PCM3840 x 2160 @ 30p / 120 Mbps, MOV, H.264, Linear PCM3840 x 2160 @ 23.98p / 120 Mbps, MOV, H.264, Linear PCM1920 x 1080 @ 120p / 120 Mbps, MOV, H.264, Linear PCM1920 x 1080 @ 60p / 60 Mbps, MOV, H.264, Linear PCM1920 x 1080 @ 30p / 30 Mbps, MOV, H.264, Linear PCM1920 x 1080 @ 23.98p / 30 Mbps, MOV, H.264, Linear PCM
Max Video Resolution	3840 x 2160
Video Formats	MPEG-4, H.264, H.265
Microphone Port
Headphone Port
Connectivity
Wireless Connectivity	Built-In
HDMI
USB	USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 GBit/sec)
Physical
Environmental Sealing
Water Proof
Dust Proof
Shock Proof
Crush Proof
Freeze Proof
Weight	461g
Physical Dimensions	133 x 86 x 70mm
Battery Life	290 shots
Battery Type	Battery Pack
Battery Model	LP-E17
Other Features
Self Timer	Yes
Timelapse Recording
GPS	None
Storage Type	Single UHS-II SD card slot
Storage Slots	1

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