Canon EOS R5 Synopsis
It’s fun to be using a full frame Camera again, a mirrorless Canon EOS R5. The R5 provides customizable settings and buttons; an LCD touch screen with flexible swivel; and sharp images right out of the 45 MP sensor. The R5 also records up to 8K video.
I did a scientific analysis of Canon, Nikon and Sony cameras and lenses, using multiple research organizations like Digital Photography Review. Only the Nikon Z9 scored higher (3%) than the Canon R5 but the Z9 costs over $2500 more. The runners-up were the Nikon Z7, Sony A7 IV and Canon R6. They scored a couple of points lower but were also less expensive. The new Sony A7 V has similar capabilities and the same price as the Canon EOS R5 but with a 60 MP sensor and better battery life. Really, 45MP is more than enough. Unfortunately, there are no ratings for the Sony A7 V yet.
A few other factors were behind my switching from Nikon to Canon. One was that my son had already switched from Nikon to Canon and his bird photos were incredibly sharp as shown in the post One Caribbean Island You Must See #3.
The second factor was how far Nikon had fallen in market share. The figures below (with % annual change in brackets) from Nikon Rumours were based on the previous year, 2021. This means that no Nikon Z9 sales were included. But the Z9 has not been generally available and, in any event, how many people are going to buy the most expensive camera.
- Canon: 45.8% (-2.1%)
- Sony: 27% (+4.9%)
- Nikon: 11.3% (-2.4%)
- Fujifilm: 5.9% (+0.3%)
- Panasonic: 4.4% (unchanged)
Third, my Nikon D7100 (and one lens) had failed on day one of our Saint Lucia trip so I had to decide if the cost of repair was worth it. It wasn’t because I wanted to go mirrorless and full frame. Since Saint Lucia, I have been using my iPhone 12 Pro to take all my photos, such as post One Caribbean Island You Must See #1.
Finally I viewed a video by professional photographer Nick Page. He spoke about the physical flaws in the Sony A7 IV camera. All the buttons were sticky. Sand got in behind the buttons. The shutter malfunctioned after only two years. The rear LCD screen no longer stays all the way into the back of the camera. He had to replace the camera but he decided to switch to Canon instead. He feels the build quality, weather sealing, and ergonomics of the Canon R5 are far superior.
So, is the R5 worth it? Read on…
Low Light, High ISO and Noise Handling
The Canon R5 camera marks a dramatic departure from the Nikon cameras I have been using since age 10. I was not happy with my last two Nikon DLSRs, which were crop frame (APS) 24 MP sensors. They did not do well in low light, including using a polarizing filter on bright sunny days. Dark blue polarized skies were full of light-colored artefacts. Photographer Aaron Reed summed it up well stating that the images are not clean and have lots of noise, especially in the shadows. My slides on our three-year Round-The-World trip using my Nikon F3 film camera were far superior.
The Canon EOS R5 is better for low light thanks to built-in image stabilization and low noise, enabling you to shoot at higher ISO and even handhold the camera in low light for as much as two seconds! This is fantastic for low light and travel photography. In fact, the low noise and very sharp images hardly need any post photo editing.
Swivel Touch Screen
One of my favourite features in the R5 is the high-resolution OLED screen that accurately depicts the final picture. It is tiltable and flippable and I actually use it in the flipped position shown in the photo above. The touch screen allows the easiest way to change settings. It can be used for live view or to see the images already taken. The camera switches to the excellent viewfinder if you put your eye close to it. Watch where you hover your fingers when selecting menu options, or it will switch to the viewfinder as well.
Customizable Buttons and Wheels
I am still learning how to use all the Canon buttons and wheels. Nearly every button on the R5 can have its function changed. However, I would recommend that you only change buttons that are not important to you. Minimizing change allows you to use the Canon R5 User Manual or on-line help without getting confused. One particular good use of a button is to toggle between still and video recording. I use the M-Fn button on the camera top for that.
Autofocus By Face or Eyes
Autofocus (AF) provides multiple methods such as spot, single point and expanded single point AF. The Canon R5 has 5940 focus areas, i.e. the whole screen. Even better, one can click on the touch screen and that will be the focus point. Instead, I have customized the multi-controller button (joystick) on the camera back to allow me to scroll to the desired focal point.
But the most impressive feature is tracking by subject, face or eyes! The subject choices are vehicles, animals or birds. A button could be set to eye focus, but I use customized mode C3 to provide a set of settings needed for action and animal photography.
However, focus by face or eyes is not easy for moving small animals or birds that do not fill the frame. You first have to acquire the small animal and then the focus by eyes will lock on. In other words, you may have to take multiple images and hopefully get a few excellent shots.
I would love to try it with my birder son’s Canon EF 100-400mm lens. BTW, both of the above images were taken with a 24-240mm zoom lenses and substantially cropped.
Canon R5 Shooting Modes
Most cameras have the typical aperture, shutter, and auto modes. In auto mode, the camera selects aperture, shutter speed, and ISO values for you. The EOS R5 has an additional mode known as Flexible value mode or “Fv”. The Fv mode allows you to modify any one of three factors and the camera selects the other two factors, For me, Fv essentially supersedes manual and auto modes. The one trick to know is that if you change a second factor, it does not change the previous one to AUTO. A simple hack is to select that factor then press the Trash Can icon to reset it to AUTO.
Modes for Saving Settings
The R5 camera is very sophisticated and customizable. It would be impractical to make manual changes via the six menus and 31 sub-menus before taking each picture. As a result, it is highly recommended that you customize and save the desired settings for your style(s) of photography in order to work seamlessly with the camera in the field. The R5 provides three memory banks for stills photography and another set for videography. The mode button and wheel on the camera top allow you to switch between settings. For instance, I use the still photography modes for the following purposes:
- C1 — for autofocus photography geared to landscapes, scenery…
- C2 — for manual photography geared to landscapes, scenery…
- C3 — for high speed and continuous focus for action, bird, and wildlife photography
Let me know if you are interested in my recommendations and I can blog about my setup in another post. In general, these settings apply to any of the Canon mirrorless cameras Canon R3, R5, R6, and R7.
Canon R5 Downsides
The R5 captures much larger RAW files that are around 44 to 50 MB in size. My previous camera created ca. 32 MB files. This means you need lots of memory cards and lots of disk space on your computer. Since I specialize in travel photography, one rule of thumb is to bring enough memory cards to last the whole trip. I am currently only using my existing SD cards.
The R5 has two card slots — one for an SD card and one for the new, higher speed CFexpress, which costs $200 or more depending on the storage size. The higher quality 4k and 8k video settings will only work with CFexpress cards. Heat buildup is an issue if you want to continually record video.
Another drawback is that all the great features described in the Is the Canon EOS R5 Camera Worth it? post, use up a lot of battery power. The EOS R5 is rated for 490 shots on a fully charged battery if you use the LCD display, which gives more shots than using the viewfinder. Since my main passion is travel photography, I always bring a second battery in case there is no time to charge one while on the road. I just bought a two-battery pack from a third-party vendor for $55 at Amazon whereas the Canon battery costs $115 at Henry’s.
The biggest downside is the cost of the Canon R5. The cost of professional cameras has increased beyond the cost of inflation. I bought my professional Nikon F3 in during our three-month Japan trip. It would cost ca. $2200 in today’s dollars, significantly less than the R5. But even semi-professional cameras today cost ca. $3000. These enthusiast cameras are usually made of mainly plastic. The professionally sealed Canon R5 chassis is made of magnesium alloy and polycarbonate. Polycarbonate is the material used for bullet-proof “glass” as well as many auto body parts.
Canon R5 Conclusions
The Canon EOS R5 is one of the best cameras on the market for image quality, autofocus, performance, and comprehensive feature set… but it will cost ca. $1800 or more than a serious enthusiast camera. You will have to decide what you want to spend.
Photo Editing
While I have always shot in RAW, my ancient Photoshop CS 6 cannot handle the Canon CR3 RAW format. Canon provides a free editor, Digital Photo Professional (DPP). On the plus side it shows the exact focus point. However, it provides very few actions and tools and is exceedingly slow. I am trying out Luminar Neo, a less expensive software than the annual subscription of Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud. A future post Luminating with Luminar Neo will provide my comments.
Canon R3, R5, R6, R7 References
- Book recommendation for new R5 user,
Canon EOS R Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review - Canon R3 Complete Photography Settings Guide, Brent Carlsen
- How to Focus in Landscape Photography (photographylife.com)
- How to Choose the Sharpest Aperture (photographylife.com)
- Shooting Landscapes with the Canon EOS R5, David Newton
