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Tech · Canon · 2019

Canon EOS RP

The lightest way into full frame. Canon colors and easy menus, held back by battery life and video.

Used mirrorless bodies that still earn their keep — #4

Overall

7.8

out of 10

Axis scores

Strongest on Value (8.4), weakest on Performance (7.2), a 1.2-point spread. The 7.8 overall is the plain average of all 5 Tech axes, with no weighting.

Canon EOS RP — axis scores out of 10Horizontal bar chart of editorial scores out of 10 across 5 axes. Bars run from a shared zero baseline; longer is better. Canon EOS RP: Performance 7.2, Value 8.4, Durability 7.4, Ease of use 8.2, Design 7.8.PerformanceCanon EOS RP — Performance 7.2 out of 107.2ValueCanon EOS RP — Value 8.4 out of 108.4DurabilityCanon EOS RP — Durability 7.4 out of 107.4Ease of useCanon EOS RP — Ease of use 8.2 out of 108.2DesignCanon EOS RP — Design 7.8 out of 107.8Editorial score out of 10 — higher is better
  • Performance — How well it does the core job
  • Value — What the same money buys elsewhere
  • Durability — Failure and fade reports past the one-year mark
  • Ease of use — Setup, daily operation, cleaning, maintenance
  • Design — Build quality and how it sits in a room

Specs

Sensor
26.2MP full-frame CMOS
Stabilization
None in body
Burst
Up to 5 fps
Video
4K up to 24p (1.6x crop)
Card slots
Single SD UHS-II
Battery
LP-E17, about 250 shots (CIPA)
Mount
Canon RF

As published by the manufacturer. We didn't measure these ourselves.

Is it for you

Buy it if

  • You have Canon EF lenses and want full frame without changing systems
  • Weight decides whether the camera comes along at all
  • You're coming from a phone or a Canon Rebel and want menus that make sense

Skip it if

  • You shoot video, since 4K carries a heavy crop and loses Dual Pixel autofocus
  • You'd go through a battery before lunch and hate carrying spares

The RP is a full-frame camera built around the parts of Canon’s entry-level line, and it shows. The battery is the small LP-E17 from the Rebels, rated around 250 shots, and owners treat two spares as part of the purchase. Burst tops out at 5 frames a second.

In exchange it is light, and it handles as well as any body here for beginners. The fully articulating screen flips forward, which nothing else on this list does except the a6400’s flip-up screen. Canon’s touch menus are the most approachable of the group.

EF lenses mount through Canon’s adapter with no loss in autofocus. That makes the RP a sensible upgrade for a Canon DSLR owner with lenses already in the bag, more than a way to start from nothing.

Without in-body stabilization, slow shutter speeds rely on stabilized lenses. With older unstabilized EF primes, keep the shutter speed up.

Used RPs often come with the EF-EOS R adapter. That’s worth more than it looks if you own EF lenses, so search eos rp adapter before buying the two separately.

Last updated . The scoring method is on how we rank.