That’s pretty much it. The Canon EOS RP is designed purely to be an entry-level camera with a 35mm sensor at an entry-level price. Canon’s game so far with the EOS R is to rid themselves of APS-C sensors in their EF and RF lineups. The RF mount bodies will never have an APS-C sensor as an all 35mm lineup will maximize the value of both their existing EF lens lineup and the new RF. EF-S only muddies the water for their users. From here on out, the EF-S mount is dead.
The pricing should be a dead giveaway.
Instead of an 80D or 6D, Canon is positioning this not just as their entry into full-frame, but is intended to be their first step in creating an all 35mm lineup. If you have existing EF lenses, get the adapter. If you don’t, start investing in the native RF mount lenses. If you require video, get an EF-M based EOS M with APS-C sensors with faster readout. Canon is reducing their previous EF, EF-S and EF-M lineup by replacing the EF with RF, aiming EF-M squarely at hybrid shooters, and axing EF-S bodies.
In case this isn’t clear enough for you: EF-S APS-C is dead to Canon, now replaced with the 35mm EOS RP.
Oh, you’re an “enthusiast,” “professional,” or talking face on YouTube? This camera wasn’t designed for you. It was designed for the audience you spew your crap opinions at, like, “pros only shoot full frame and just because you don’t get paid doesn’t mean you’re not a pro-level shooter. You need full frame if you want to be a pro.” Well, now all of your viewers who have no technical reason to shoot with a 35mm camera now have a 35mm option with the price and features commensurate with an entry-level product.
Slamming a product clearly not intended for you, simply because it’s not intended for you, is just petty and childish. It’s obviously an entry-level camera at an entry-level price aimed at the sort of enthusiast who misguidedly believes they “need” a 35mm size sensor to excel.
Again, the Canon EOS RP is not for you, YouTube face-clapper. It’s for your viewers; the ones you’ve programmed to treat APS-C as amateur and 35mm being for pros, even if the 35mm camera option offers worse quality output than similarly priced APS-C bodies and even if they don’t know what a “pro” is since you’ve managed to dilute the definition to encompassing everyone through ego-stroking and misrepresentation for likes, thumbs, follows and subscribes.
Still not clear enough? Pretend the “R” in EOS R stands for “Rebel,” while the RP is “Rebel Petite.” maybe that will help you make sense of it. Because that’s what these first two RF mount cameras are designed to do: replace the Canon Rebel lineup. Obviously it won’t remain this way, but it works for now.
Eventually, Canon will release bodies aimed at real, working professionals that will fully exploit their new RF lenses. I’m guessing they’ll be called the EOS R1, to sell alongside the 1DX for now, and the EOS R5, to sell alongside the 5D and replace the 5DS.
Canon has decades of EF mount lenses that many, many devotees have managed to collect over the years. Most cannot be easily reformulated for the RF mount while maintaining their character and charm. The dSLR mirrorbox design forces wide-angle lenses to bend the light unnaturally from a wide field of view to a narrow one so the image can fill the imaging plane after being channeled through the mirrorbox. The RF mount resolves this issue: both the larger mount throat and shallower depth to the imaging plane allows for wide-angle lenses with less aberrations and potential for larger aperture lenses with better corner-to-corner sharpness and less vignetting. Some designs may even allow omission of specialized glass or require less glass overall, reducing both mass and price. But in return, these new lenses may lose some of the character that made a few of these older lenses legendary. Plus, it will take time for the lenses to be reformulated as it’s not as simple as slapping a new mount on it, calibrating focus and shipping it out. Because of this, Canon chose to make high performance adapters to use their EF lenses on RF bodies. Need proof? Check out Canon’s RF 28-70mm ƒ/2L or the performance of their RF 50mm ƒ/1.2L compared to the EF mount version.
Which would you prefer: A crop sensor or smaller, lighter telephoto lenses that are both brighter and sharper than their predecessors? Compare the RF 70-200mm ƒ/2.8L design to their EF 70-200mm ƒ/2.8L USM and tell me you wouldn’t convert from the 7D to an RF mount body for shooting wildlife.
More importantly, their huge lineup of lenses is mostly designed for 35mm applications and Canon is clearly aiming to consolidate their lineup. I predict they’ll only use 35mm sized sensors in EOS R bodies to ensure consistency with lenses both past and present. If they can make an entry-level EOS R with an entry level price and 35mm sized sensor, why would they bother continuing to make APS-C bodies with EF-S mount? EF-S is dead… In the near future, if you want a Canon with an APS-C sensor, you’ll have either the EOS M series with EF-M mount for hybrid shooting or the 7D II with EF mount for sports and wildlife (where the crop benefits some shooters via increased range). Eventually, even the 7D will fall by the wayside as RF lens selection diversifies.
The APS-C crop advantage will be mostly overshadowed by the advantage of reduced size and weight of super-telephoto lenses for RF mount. What you won’t see is an APS-C sensor in an RF mount body.
JetCity Ninja 
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