Man, this took a long time, but I actually got here too, eh?

Well, actually, you might be surprised to learn that I started working on this article close to 3 months ago and, at the time, it was about why I had no intention to leave Canon, regardless of the few good reasons I had to at least consider the possibility. Because despite the love I have for my Canon gear, for some years now I’ve been growing increasingly dissatisfied with their choices and products, to the point that I did think of switching a couple times.

But I had always resolved against it, until now.

What were the issues?

Well, I felt that with Canon everything was becoming a compromise, from the range of lenses, which I find limited, disappointing and overpriced – the APS-C lineup is especially telling, as they haven’t made anything for it besides variable-aperture kit options, and after years of nothing they ultimately gave up the space to third parties altogether – to the camera bodies fading up features instead of trailing them down – I.E. they removed many features from prosumer models in favor of the top tier ones to push people to buy those, opposite to the usual way of introducing new features in the expensive models at first and including them in lower tier models in the following generations.

Perfect examples of this are the R6 lacking the ability to quickly switch between photo and video mode or to save custom video shooting modes, features the earlier EOS R had; or the R6II completely lacking the ability to record video in ALL-I format despite the 2000€ price tag, another feature the old EOS R had.

And this is not just me, this behavior is such a well known and agreed upon thing, as to have its own name as Canon’s ‘cripple hammer’, and it’s been a sad joke in the industry forever, while I’ve never seen any of the competitors even try something like it.

So I don’t think I’m being too harsh when I say that I have a hard time trusting the brand.

Why didn’t I switch before, then?

As I said, I did like the gear that I had and some of its features, as well as the results it got me, and I was emotionally attached to my cameras and lenses. I also sincerely hoped Canon would read the room and turn around at some point and give me something worth staying for.

At the same time I was intimidated by the prospect of having to learn a whole new system, and adjust to a possibly different workflow, not to mention the amount of money I would lose in the process.

So I wanted to like Canon.

But the more I worked on the article, the more obvious this became: I was trying to make excuses for them and coming up short.

And I’m not saying their products suck and you shouldn’t get them, nor that they are worse than the competition’s. What I’m saying is: what they offer doesn’t meet my demands anymore. Not when it comes to value (as in price/features), not when it comes to options, nor when it comes to quality, for the most part.

What does any of this have to do with the R6V?

The R6V is just the unfortunate passerby, crossing the road right at the time of this crash, I guess. Its fault is that of being Canon’s latest release, and as such, a good meter to gauge the direction where they are headed.

And it’s still the same, and I still don’t like it.

It’s another camera for which not only there was no particular need, but there could’ve been if only they didn’t compromise on many things relevant to its expected use cases. And the same applies to their new lens, the 20-50mm f4, in my opinion.

So, what now?

Well, actually: I have moved on, switched to another brand – you will be able to see the results for yourself in my new pieces of work, and I intend to follow up on this article with one detailing my process in choosing a new system, and my experience with it compared to Canon – but I can already tell you that it did, in fact, solve many of my issues and that, as days pass, I’m only feeling better and better with my choice.

But I’d like to hear about you! Have you ever switched systems? Why or why not? And how was your experience?

Tell me all about it right in the space below!