Canon EOS R100 Review

The R100 exists to hit a price, and it hits it. Twenty four megapixels from a sensor Canon has used for years still produce clean, pleasant files with the color that makes people buy Canon in the first place, the body is genuinely tiny, and there is a real electronic viewfinder at a price where rivals hand you a screen and nothing else.

For a beginner shooting daylight stills with the kit zoom, the results look better than the specification sheet has any right to promise. The rest is where the money went. The rear screen is fixed and is not a touchscreen, which in 2023 is a decision rather than a saving, and it makes every menu slower than the phone in the same pocket.

Focus runs on the older Dual Pixel system with far coarser subject detection than any current Canon body. Video is the worst of it: 4K comes with a heavy crop and contrast based focus that hunts constantly, so 1080p is the only mode worth using. There is no stabilization, the burst rate is modest, and the lens range built for this sensor size is thin. Discounted with a kit lens it makes a kind of sense as a first camera. At full price, a used body from anyone gives you more.