The Canon EOS R8 Mark II is the latest model in Canon’s entry-level line of full-frame mirrorless cameras. As an update to the EOS R8 from 2023, it slots into the firm’s line-up between its predecessor and the more advanced EOS R6-series models. But don’t let that ‘Mark II’ label fool you into thinking this is a relatively minor upgrade. In fact, it gains some very significant additions, which promise to make it the best Canon camera yet for those buying into full-frame for the first time.

　　Canon EOS R8 Mark II at a glance: £1729.99 body-only £2119.99 with 24-105mm F4-7.1kit zoom 24MP full-frame sensor ISO 100-102,400 Up to 40fps shooting 4K 60p video recording 0.7x, 2.36m-dot viewfinder 3in, 1.62m-dot touchscreen Firstly, though, let’s address the most immediately visible change. Canon has stepped aside from its signature curvy design language and adopted a striking angular look, that apparently references its manual-focus 35mm SLRs from the 1970s and ‘80s. However, the EOS R8 Mark II isn’t really ‘retro’ in any meaningful way; it doesn’t particularly look like an old film camera, and it still works in essentially the same fashion as before. Indeed, I suspect many observers will be struck more by its undeniable resemblance to Sony’s Alpha 7-series cameras.

　　Look beyond the restyling, and unsurprisingly, the EOS R8 Mark II has a lot in common with the original EOS R8, in terms of both specifications and control layout. But it gains a couple of genuinely significant upgrades, alongside a number of smaller updates and additional features.

　　Canon EOS R8 Mark II: Major updates In-body stabilisation: In a major update over its predecessor, the Mark II gains in-body image stabilisation AF joystick: There’s now a joystick on the back to reposition the autofocus point SD card: The card slot sits on the side behind its own door, rather than in the base beside the battery At £1729.99 body-only, and £2119.99 with the RF 24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM kit zoom, the EOS R8 Mark II is up against some tough competition from the likes of the excellent Nikon Z5II and the Panasonic Lumix S5II. Its also not far off the street price of the three-year-old Canon EOS R6 Mark II, which may have older tech, but is a much more advanced design. So what does Canons latest model have to offer?

　　Features Unsurprisingly, the Mark II re-uses many of the same proven components as its predecessor. This includes the same sensor, shutter, viewfinder, and rear screen (although unfortunately, you also get the same small battery). But we’re told it has an updated, specifically designed processor.

　　Most of the major specifications remain the same, though. The 24.2MP full-frame sensor is the same as that used by both the EOS R8, and the EOS R6 Mark II. It provides a sensitivity range of ISO 100-102,400, with extended settings covering ISO 50-204,800.

　　The shutter employs an electronic first curtain and offers speeds as fast as 1/4000sec, along with continuous shooting up to 6 frames per second. Engage the silent electronic shutter, and it’ll go as fast as 1/16000sec, while shooting bursts at up to 40fps. Video recording is available in 4K at 60fps using the full sensor width, or Full HD at 180fps.

　　So what’s actually new? Internally, the biggest upgrade is the addition of in-body-image stabilisation (IBIS). This promises up to 7.5 stops of shake reduction (7.0 stops at the periphery of the frame) and works together with optically stabilised lenses. As the R8 and the older EOS RP it was based upon were the only mainstream full-frame models lacking IBIS, this counts as a much-needed, and welcome update. I cant stress strongly enough how important IBIS is quite simply it delivers consistently sharp images across a much wider range of lighting conditions. However, it does result in a thicker and heavier body.

　　Autofocus now works in even lower light levels, down to -7.5EV from -6.5EV on the R8. As before, subject detection can recognise people, animals and vehicles, but Canon says the tracking performance has been improved. It’s also added Registered People Priority, which allows you to record faces for the camera to concentrate its attention on (up to 100, in 10 groups of 10). This feature was originally designed for sports, but it could also be useful for family photography.

　　In what’s becomes the latest ‘must have’ feature, pre-capture mode is now on board for photographing unpredictable subjects. Here, the camera can continuously buffer 20 frames (representing half a second’s action), and then record them when the shutter button is fully depressed. This can be especially useful for wildlife photographers. The continuous shooting buffer depth has also been increased, to 190 JPEG images or 73 raws.

　　On this note, Canon appears to have fixed an annoying operational quirk I noted with the EOS R6 Mark III. To use pre-capture, you first had to select the fastest H+ shooting speed, which itself requires delving into the menu to enable the electronic shutter. Now, even if youre using the conventional electronic first-curtain shutter, simply selecting H+ in the drive menu switches to the electronic shutter, and you can enable/disable pre-capture using a function button. That should make pre-capture much easier to use.

　　Updated video features include a tally lamp on the front that indicates when the camera is recording, and 4-channel audio recording via the multi-function shoe. There’s also an interesting-sounding new feature for adding controlled defocus transitions to the start or end of clips, with control over the speed of defocusing and the degree of blur.

　　Another intriguing new feature is that the EOS R8 Mark IIs JPEG files will include a depth map thats derived using the unique properties of the Dual-Pixel CMOS sensor. This is designed for use with Canons new Dual Pixel 3D Converter application, which will also work with raw files from other cameras with Dual Pixel sensors. The idea is that youll be able to create realistic and detailed 3D models from a single photograph. Ill be interested to see how this works in practice, and what you can actually do with it.

　　Canon EOS R8 Mark II: Key features Connectors: The camera sports 3.5mm stereo microphone and headphone sockets, plus Canons long-standing 2.5mm socket for the RS-60E3 wired remote release (and its countless third-party clones). Theres also USB-C for battery charging and data transfer, and a micro-HDMI port for video out. Multi-function shoe: This can accept both external flash units and digital audio accessories, enabling 4-channel audio recording Storage: Files are recorded to a single SD card, with its own compartment on the side of the camera. Battery: Canon has used the same small LP-E17 battery as in the EOS R8 and RP. It’s one of the camera’s weakest points, giving just 220 shots per charge with the viewfinder or 340 with the LCD. RF mount: Canon now offers a wide range of RF lenses, including relatively compact and affordable options that are well-suited to the EOS R8 Mark II (such as the 15-30mm F4.5-6.3 ultra-wide zoom and 100-400mm F5.6-8 telezoom). However, no RF-mount third-party lenses are available. EF-mount SLR lenses: The EOS R8 Mark II works seamlessly with EF-mount SLR lenses via the Canon Mount Adapter EF-EOS R, with absolutely no loss of functionality. Build and Handling In control terms, the EOS R8 Mark II retains almost all the same buttons and dials as before. That means the new model retains the same essential simplicity and approachability of the R8 / RP design, which stands in contrast to the much more complex, enthusiast-focused EOS R6 series.

　　You get a large mode dial on top, and twin electronic dials under your finger and thumb for changing the main exposure settings. Pressing the small M-Fn button beside the shutter release cycles through assigning pairs of different functions to the dials (white balance/metering, drive/AF mode, Flash Exposure Compensation/ISO, filter/AF area). I find this provides unusually quick access to the most important camera settings, without overloading the user with external controls.

　　There’s one big update though, which is the addition of a joystick on the back. Not only does this dramatically speed up setting the focus point, it also frees up the four directional buttons on the d-pad to give direct access to other functions. This actually makes the EOS R8 Mark II look much like a full-frame version of the APS-C EOS R10 in terms of its control setup, which is a camera I enjoyed using a great deal more than the R8.

　　Unlike on the EOS R10, Canon doesn’t do much with the d-pad buttons in the default setup. Theyre used in the firms clever Flexible Program (Fv) mode to reset exposure settings to Auto, but dont do anything in the other exposure modes. However, you can customise them to access a vast range of other settings, including such things as AF tracking, subject type selection, ISO, Depth-Of-Field preview, drive mode, or pre-capture shooting (and plenty more besides). This should make the camera’s more advanced features much easier to use.

　　Canon has also combined the R8’s on/off and photo/video controls to a single switch, thats placed on the top of the body within easy reach of your right thumb. This is a small change, but to me it counts as a genuine improvement in usability. It means all the key shooting controls are operated by your right hand, so you only have to shift your left hand from supporting the lens when accessing the menus.

　　EG-E2 Extension Grip To go with the EOS R8 Mark II, Canon is offering an optional EG-E2 extension grip. As its name implies, this bolts onto the bottom of the camera body to give a taller grip. This should provide a more secure hold for those with larger hands. Personally, I rather liked the extra heft it provided to the camera.

　　Its possible to change the camera battery without removing the grip, via a hinged folding section. This is a more sensible design than the EG-E1 for the EOS R8 / RP, which required you to remove (and probably lose) the cameras own battery door. The EG-E2 extension grip will cost £89.99 but if you think this is ridiculously expensive, its unlikely to be long before enterprising third-party accessories makers produce their own, cheaper clones.

　　Compared to the EOS R8 Flick though the image gallery below, and you can see exactly how the EOS R8 Mark II compares to the original R8 (on the right). Size-wise, the Mark II is slightly narrower but a little taller, and substantially deeper front-to-back to accommodate the in-body stabilisation. Obviously, it has a much more angular design. Which you perfer in terms of looks will be entirely down to personal preference I must admit that personally, Im more a fan of the curvier look.

　　On the back, the biggest change is the addition of the joystick, with the AF-ON button shifted across slightly so you dont have to move your thumb too far between the various controls. Looking at the two top-plates, there are detail changes to the options available on the mode dial, and the new model has consolidated the power and stills/video switches into a single control. Overall, though, despite the restyling, the two cameras are much more similar than they are different.

　　Viewfinder and Screen You get essentially the same spec viewfinder as on the EOS R8 (and the RP before it), a 2.36m-dot OLED that offers 0.7x magnification. However it now protrudes further from the back, which I found makes it easier to see. It’s not quite as nice as the 3.69m-dot unit used by the EOS R6 Mark II, but it still does its job perfectly well. You can display all the expected shooting aids, including gridlines, an electronic level, focus peaking, and a live histogram (in a choice of luminance or RGB).

　　Canon previews exposure and colour processing by default, but not depth-of-field; instead the camera normally holds the aperture wide open all the time. But you can either assign this to a function button, or set the ‘Display simulation’ menu setting to Exposure+DOF (which I used all the time on the R8). The firms somewhat opaquely-named OVF sim. view adjust feature is also available, which aims to mimic the experience of using an optical viewfinder, rather than preview the final image.

　　Below it, the 3in, 1.62m-dot touchscreen employs the same vari-angle articulation as Canon has been using for decades. This allows it to be placed at almost any angle, which aids with shooting from high or low angles, in either landscape or portrait orientation. Theres a perception in some quarters that this kind of screen is designed for video, but I think its every bit as useful for stills photography.

　　Canon EOS R8 Mark II: First Impressions When I reviewed the original EOS R8, I was impressed by its autofocus and image quality, but lamented its over-simplified controls and lack of IBIS. Canon has now addressed these frustrations head on. So on paper, we get a camera that should retain of the same strong points, but be much nicer to use. Indeed after a couple of hours with the EOS R8 Mark II prior to its launch, to me it feels just that much more grown-up, and a serious competitor to the likes of the Nikon Z5II and Panasonic S5II.

　　This is still, like the R8, very much designed to be a camera thats relatively simple to use. So more advanced users would be better served by the EOS R6 Mark II, despite its 3-year-old tech. Unfortunately, on the day I saw the camera it was pouring with rain, which precluded trying it out to any great extent, or getting any sample photos. So I’m really looking forward to putting it through its paces when I get my hands on it again for a proper review.

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　　Best Canon RF mount lenses: top mirrorless lenses for photo and video Canon EOS R8 in-depth review – full-frame enigma Canon EOS R6 Mark II review – a powerful Canon Do you want to win some great prizes for your photography? Enter your photos in our International Amateur Photographer of the Year competition. Free entry for photographers aged 13-21.

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