Canon Finally Fixed the R8's Biggest Complaints
Canon's EOS R8 Mark II adds in-body stabilisation and an AF joystick, the two features photographers kept asking for, in a week that also brought new super-telephoto glass from Sony.
Canon has fixed the two complaints that followed the original EOS R8 everywhere it went. The EOS R8 Mark II adds in-body image stabilisation and an autofocus joystick, the two features photographers kept asking for and Canon kept leaving out.
The original R8 launched in 2023 as a genuinely well-specced, affordable full-frame body, but reviewers and buyers alike flagged the same two omissions in almost every writeup: no in-body stabilisation to compensate for the lack of a joystick meant slower, less precise focus point changes than rival bodies from Sony and Nikon at a similar price. Canon's decision to fix both in a single generation, rather than spreading the improvements across two updates, suggests the complaints landed harder internally than the marketing around the original R8 ever let on.
What Changed
Both additions sound small on paper but change how the camera actually feels to shoot with day to day. IBIS means steadier handheld shots and video without reaching for a gimbal, and the joystick gives faster, more precise autofocus point selection than swiping across the touchscreen ever did. The rest of the formula stays familiar: a full-frame sensor on Canon's RF mount, in a body that's still built to be the lightweight option in the R-series lineup.
Early hands-on impressions suggest the stabilisation system delivers somewhere in the vicinity of seven stops of shake correction when paired with Canon's newer RF lenses, putting it roughly in line with the flagship R5 II rather than a cut-down entry-level implementation. That's a meaningful jump for a body positioned as Canon's more affordable full-frame option, and it narrows the gap between the R8 II and cameras costing considerably more.
A Big Week for Glass Too
The R8 II wasn't the only announcement. Sony added two super-telephoto primes to its GM lineup: the FE 400mm F4.5 GM OSS at $2,698 and the FE 600mm F6.3 GM OSS at $3,698, both aimed at making long-lens wildlife and sports photography more accessible than the roughly $10,000 flagship options in the same focal lengths. Panasonic, meanwhile, added a compact L-mount wide-angle in the Lumix S 20mm F2.5, small enough that reviewers have nicknamed it the "cupcake" lens.
Sony's move to bring genuine flagship-quality glass down to a lower price point mirrors a broader trend across the camera industry this year, with manufacturers increasingly competing on accessible versions of their most specialised lenses rather than only chasing incremental gains at the very top of the range. For anyone shooting wildlife or sports on a budget, both new Sony primes represent a meaningfully lower barrier to entry than what's been available until now.
Worth Mentioning
Fujifilm rounded out the week with a redesigned Instax Pal 2, a $170 pocket camera that leans into a vintage 110-film look, alongside an updated Instax Link Wide printer.
Taken together, the week's announcements reflect a camera industry that's increasingly filling in the gaps of its existing lineups rather than chasing headline-grabbing firsts, whether that's Canon closing out long-standing feature requests, Sony extending flagship glass down-market, or Fujifilm doubling down on the instant-camera nostalgia that's driven much of its recent growth.
Verdict: If the missing IBIS and joystick were the only things keeping you off the original R8, that excuse is gone now.
