Review, Tutorial • • Leave a Comment

Canon EOS R10 + RF 100-400mm Lens Review (How to Choose your First Camera)

Hi everyone! Since I recently bought the Canon EOS R10 camera + the RF 100-400mm lens, I thought I’d write a short review of the set along with some tips on how to choose your first camera for wildlife photography!

Canon EOS R10 + 100-400mm Lens Review

Camera Overview

The Canon EOS R10 is a mirrorless (not DSLR) camera which I got for around $1300 AUD. I first heard about the camera when scouting Google for an upgrade from my Canon Powershot SX740 HS.

My options were narrowed down by the fact I wanted to stick with Canon products. Around this time, I also learnt about the distinction between Mirrorless cameras and DSLR cameras – and decided to go with mirrorless. I’ll get into the reasons why near the end of the post.

With that, I was left with two options: the Canon R10 and the Canon R7. I ultimately chose R10 because it was less expensive, and the features of the R7 weren’t worth the extra money, especially since I just do photography for fun right now.

I started off with the RF-S 18-45mm lens (an extra $500 AUD or so) before upgrading to the RF 100-400mm (~$900 AUD) because I needed better zoom. The 100-400 lens came up a lot when I was looking at photos taken with the R10 online, and knew those were the kinds of photos I wanted to take.

Below, I’ve created a list of what I was looking for in a camera and then I’ll explain how well the Canon R10/100-400mm suited me.

  • Zoom was a big priority since my favourite things to photograph are animals, planes and other things I can’t normally see close-up.
  • I usually take photos during the day or sunset at latest.
  • Good image quality was important because I like using my photos as wallpapers, collages, etc. and sharing them with others.
  • Had to be compact/travel-friendly. I’m more of an “opportunistic” photographer (walking around with the camera in my bag in case I see a good photo opportunity) rather than having dedicated photography sessions.
  • Price had to be within or under $2500 for the full set.

If you identify with the above, I think anything more expensive than the R10 or R7 would be overdoing it. With that being said, this is how I would rate the Canon R10/100-400mm on these points:

Zoom

So far, the 100-400mm zoom has been just right for me. While it’s not a “superzoom” like my previous camera (Powershot), it’s guaranteed to get you close up to birds, planes, the moon, and even insects! Just make sure you’re prepared to handle a really long lens.

Note: before I got the 100-400mm, I started off with the 18-45mm. While that lens definitely didn’t fit my zoom needs, I still use it for landscape and portrait shots. So unless you know you’ll only be doing zoom, I think it’s handy to have a regular lens around for those wider shots.

Lighting conditions

I mostly take photos during the day so I don’t have too much experience with low light, but if you spend some time playing around with the settings, the R10 can be decent at it. However, it’s not the main focus of the camera and it wouldn’t be my first recommendation to somebody who specialises in night photography.

It still takes some pretty amazing photos of the moon though, which is always a plus for me.

Image Quality

Image quality was a big reason why I decided to upgrade from the Powershot. While the photos it took were far from low-quality, I was looking to take crisp, detailed renders of the subject, with a creamy blur in the background. The Canon R10 definitely gave me that option as you can see here!

Of course, image sharpness depends on many factors, like the lighting conditions, whether the subject is static or moving, the settings, the skill of the photographer, and post-processing/editing afterwards. But this camera has the potential for very detailed shots.

Compactness/size

The body of the R10 itself is perfectly compact and travel-sized. It’s also intuitive and easy to hold, with a fairly beginner-friendly interface.

Paired with the 100-400mm lens, like most optical zoom lenses, it’s not going to fit in a handbag; but it’s still pretty convenient compared to other cameras. Most of the hassle just comes from having to change the lenses, screw on the caps after using, etc.

Keep in mind you will likely have to purchase a proper bag to go with the camera, so that will factor into the price as well.

Final rating

In summary, the 100-400mm zoom is perfect for photographing animals, the R10 body is compact and travel-friendly, the images it produces are clean, and though it works best in daylight, it has nighttime shot potential.

Overall, I’ve had no regrets buying the Canon EOS R10 + RF 100-400mm lens and I rate the full kit a 9/10! I would absolutely recommend it to anyone getting into wildlife photography.

But remember, the only thing that matters more than the camera and the lens is the photographer themselves. And I’ve still got tons to learn 🙂

Tips to Decide on a Camera/lens (for beginner/hobbyist wildlife photographers)

If you’re thinking about buying a camera, these are just a few things I would have liked to know when I was first starting!

Firstly, note that the total price of an interchangeable-lens camera is made up of two separate parts: 1. The body/the part you actually hold, and 2. The lens/the part that captures the photo.

While the actual camera body is important, the lens has more influence overall, determining how sharp the images are, how far you can zoom in, how well it takes photos in different lighting conditions, etc.

To decide on a lens, base your purchase around the kind of photos you take/want to take. If you already have some experience with photography, look back on some of your shots. Do you take mostly landscape photos? Do you zoom up on birds a lot? Take portraits? Do you take photos at night or during the day?

Then you can research cameras that meet those requirements, and start to consider what kind of focal length (AKA the zoom) your lens should have.

For example, 18-45mm is low zoom, good for landscape or portrait shots; 100-400mm has much better zoom, ideal for capturing birds and other wildlife during the day; and any more than that is extremely good zoom, able to capture far off subjects in better detail than the naked eye.

Before you buy a camera or a lens, I highly recommend visiting a camera shop to test out the gear you’re considering. There you can get a feel for the weight, the handling, the size, the interface, form an idea of the kind of photos you’ll be able to take, and overall gain lots more confidence in your decision!

DSLR vs Mirrorless?

Having tried DSLR cameras a few times, I love the way they look and feel, but I ultimately chose to go with mirrorless for these primary reasons:

  • Mirrorless cameras are typically smaller in size
  • Have a faster shooting speed
  • Have a more accurate viewfinder (so what you see on the screen is more accurate to how the real photo will look)
  • Are more modern than DSLRs in general. From what I know, Canon has stopped producing DSLRs and moved to mirrorless entirely

A common con of mirrorless cameras is the shorter battery life. This hasn’t been a big deal for me personally, but if you can see yourself spending entire days taking photos, that might be something to consider.

DSLRs are also usually cheaper than mirrorless cameras, especially if you get them second-hand.

If you’re still having trouble deciding, here’s a few links from other people that helped me tell the difference between DSLR & mirrorless cameras and decide which one was right for me:
– Mirrorless VS DSLR – Pros and Cons for Photo and Video
– Mirrorless vs DSLR Cameras: Which is Right for You?
– DSLR to Mirrorless – A year’s review

Final thoughts

Those are my thoughts on getting into wildlife photography and specifically why the Canon R10 camera + 100-400mm lens has been a great fit for me! Expect to see some cool new photos in the photo gallery very soon. 🙂

Hope this was useful to you & thanks so much for reading!

Canon EOS R10 + RF 100-400mm Lens Review (How to Choose your First Camera) Read More »

Language Learning, Tutorial • • Leave a Comment

How to Learn a Language on Your Own (Part 2)

Welcome back to this short and sweet 2 Part series where I discuss how to learn foreign languages. I recommend reading Part 1 first, but as a quick summary, input and continuous exposure is key. Having already delved into how languages are acquired, I’m now going to turn that information into some practical advice on how to learn a language on your own! 

As always, these posts are based on my own experiences with language learning, particularly as someone whose goal is to achieve fluency. This guide just goes over the basics and is not meant to be comprehensive.

Step 1. Familiarisation

Familiarisation is a key step that people tend to overlook. Although we’re tempted to throw ourselves into learning “hello, how are you”, that information won’t be easily retained if we haven’t taken time to soak in the language first. 

At this stage, our goal isn’t to learn even a single word; we’re just getting our brains used to the melody, sound and look of the new language so that when we do start learning it, it won’t feel as foreign to us and will be easier to decipher later on.

Start by spending 10 minutes with the language every day. You can choose any material you like, whether it’s a movie, a podcast, a book, or something else. Appreciate the new sounds, what the words look like, or simply use it as background noise while doing other tasks.

If you think you’d recognise the language if you heard it out in the wild, you’re ready for the next step! 

Note: For languages with different writing systems (Japanese, Greek), I’d suggest learning the basics of that as soon as possible. I may go into more detail about how to do this in a future post, but some ideas would be flashcards and practice sheets. It’s mostly just a matter of memorisation and practice.

Step 2. Listening

Now we’re going to differentiate between two types of listening:

Passive listening: listening to something while doing something else, or reading something without worrying about understanding it. (This is what you were doing in the familiarisation phase.)

Active listening: being consciously immersed in what you’re listening to, and trying your best to understand it. 

Most of the time, you should focus on passive listening. But once or twice a week, sit down for an active listening session and see how much it boosts your comprehension and retention!

Of course, if you’re just starting out, you’re not going to understand anything. So how do you start understanding things as a complete beginner? Learn the most common words first. You can look up lists of them online, but a more natural way to do this is by studying the content you’re already listening to.

Pick a small piece of media, e.g. a chapter in a kid’s audiobook. After a few active listens, you should catch a recurring word or two. Translate those and give them a visual association in your head. Then, the next time you listen to it, pay close attention to see if those words pop up again. Every time you hear them, visualise their meaning.

By doing this, you’re not only learning new words but tuning your ear to these nuances in the language and training you to identify patterns in it. This will come in super handy when you start inventing your own sentences.

Just to be clear, it’s completely fine–essential even–to use a translator to learn new words and phrases as a beginner. The important part is how you retain them afterwards. 

Instead of associating a word with its translation, associate it with an image or gesture. This can be tricky with words like “the” and “is”. For those, just try to see them within the context of a full sentence rather than on their own.

From there, just keep listening and filling in gaps in your knowledge. Make it your goal to understand something simple, like a short story or even a short sentence, and take little steps towards that everyday. As you expand your knowledge, increase the difficulty of the content so it’s just above your skill level. This way, you’re guaranteed to keep making progress.

Step 3. Speaking

You shouldn’t worry about speaking too early on – at least not until you’ve built solid foundations in the language, and that comes by listening. That’s not to say speaking will suddenly click for you after you’ve spent X amount of hours listening to the language… but the more time you spend listening, the less time it’ll take to learn how to speak.

That being said, it’s important to develop good pronunciation habits early on. The key to doing that is exaggeration.

Every language uses different sounds, and thus different muscles in the face. To unlock these sounds, it may help to get a video of someone speaking and imitating the way their mouth is moving. If you feel your face getting tired, you’re on the right track!

When it comes to actually communicating, learning things by heart is a very powerful method. In the last post, I encouraged you to say the French word “pomme” every time you see a 🍎. Well, we can take this a step further and learn a full sentence. Every time you brush your teeth, say “Je me brosse les dents”. This helps you internalise the sentence structure, making it more intuitive to use.

Remember that at the core of all this is communication. Don’t just memorise a sentence and repeat it over and over; wholeheartedly try to convey a message while you speak. This forms connections between the words and their essence, so that when you find yourself in a context where that sentence fits, it’ll pop into your head automatically due to that emotional/visual association.

So what about inventing your own sentences?

Inventing sentences is different from learning how to listen and read, in that it involves more trial and error, ironing out your mistakes, and reinforcing corrections. But if you’ve already familiarised yourself with the language, you’ll have an ear for what sounds right and what doesn’t, which speeds up the process tremendously. 

Remember that you can’t force language acquisition to happen; it’s a subliminal process, and we can only encourage it through continuous exposure and practice.

Closing Thoughts

This series was a real exercise in keeping things concise, because there’s just SO much I could say on this topic. I will highly consider writing more language-related posts in the future where I can dive into the details I left out in this rough guide!

I hope this was useful to you and thank you so much for reading.

Mavionne

How to Learn a Language on Your Own (Part 2) Read More »