Canon EOS R5 What you NEED to know
Since watching Peter Mckinnon's Video about the Canon EOS R5 moments after it aired on YouTube, I made it a goal of mine to own a camera of that caliber. His video most certainly contains some bias towards Canon, being an affiliate of the brand but nonetheless a badass camera. Being someone who started off with a gifted point and shoot DSLR only 5 years ago and building a brand around cameras, photography, videography and media it’s a sign of achievement and perseverance to own a seriously great piece of equipment.
After many years of different cameras, such as the Nikon D3300, Nikon D5600, Canon 80D, & Canon EOS R I made the leap to the “Next Tier”of cameras with the Canon EOS R6. I had never used a camera of such high quality, a camera that shot a proper 120FPS, that I felt confident using for both photo and video. This was a huge step up for the quality of my content, confidence, price level and versatility. After a few months the Canon EOS R5 was still calling my name, “the capabilities” I would tell myself, 8k RAW, 4K 120FPS, 45mp “oh how this camera would elevate my business once again”. The R5 & R6 could be Batman and Robin, Starsky and Hutch, Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski (don’t worry I’m definitely not a Patriots fan).
I had a wedding shoot coming up in 3 days where my team and I were capturing both photo and video. I really wanted to capture 4k 120 following the ceremony for the “Bride & Groom Solos”. I made the decision that I had plenty of shoots coming up to justify the hefty price tag of this all illustrious beast, where this camera would elevate my workflow and create a higher price point in which I can charge.
I’ve made up my mind, I told myself. I’m doing it.
I called every electronics shop and camera store and all had the same answer for me “we don't have it” until ringing up Downtown Camera in Downtown Toronto, a 1.5 hour drive from my doorstep without traffic. I hopped in the car, threw on a Joey Rogan Pod and set off. After hitting traffic and making the should be 3 hour journey take upwards of 6...I had it, I had the R5.
I have now used this camera and seriously put it through its paces in a wide range of shoots such as portraits, engagements, music videos, product photography, wedding photo and video, commercials, YouTube content, Nature content, hanging out the side of a car going 100 on the highway capturing the “rollers” as we call it. I’ve used, tried and tested this beast so let's get into the nitty gritty.
Exterior
This layout is almost exactly the same as its predecessors or the R and R6..almost exactly in between them actually. The dial on the top is the same as the R with the mode button prompting you on the touch screen for switching between photo and video. I feel as though I prefer the tangible dial of the R6 but you really get used to whatever you're presently using. The only downside to the R5 and R6 not having the EXACT same button layout is just purley muscle memory when out shooting say a wedding and frequently switching between the two bodies.
The R5 features the fully articulating swivel screen, the spinning review wheel (that the EOS R was missing) and a really beefy body (not obtrusively beefy, a good beefy).
The R5 has a standard SD card slot, and a CFEXPRESS Card slot.
CFEXPRESS - I would recommend using the SONY TOUGH 1700mb/s read speed and 1480 mb/s write speed.
SD - I would recommend using the SONY TOUGH 300ms/s read speed / 299 mb/s write speed.
Both of these options are a high price item but are built to last, provide a high quality and you will have no issues with them in terms of performance.
Specs Overview
8k RAW, 4k 120, 4k 60, 45mp, up to 20 FPS shutter, eye face and body detection for people and animals, 12 bit RAW, In body image stabilization and of course the fun swivel screen.
You can obviously look the specs up on legitimately any camera stores webpage so I will not be covering EVERY spec. If you care about how many cm the body is, you unfortunately will have to look elsewhere. (I’m not sorry)
User Review
Video - This camera is very versatile, consistent and I have not experienced any issues worth noting. The overheating issue people complain about just hasn't been an issue for myself. Same as the R6 video I made the only “overheating” and I use that term loosely is when the filming time decreases even further past what the memory card would actually indicate. I only get this when shooting for a really long period of time, especially at high frame rates.
Best way to combat this issue is by:
- putting the camera down, turning it off if you can and letting it rest in between shots.
- change out the memory cards, especially if they're getting hot
- turn off the eyelet display
I really only get this issue when pressing the gas on the camera and just sending it to the moon for a long period of time. Overheating has not occurred during any photography sessions to date.
I truly love the ability to shoot 8k RAW, and 4k 120. Although I have not used the 8k on most projects, for me knowing I have the ability to use it and almost future proof myself (a little) is a huge bonus for me. I pretty much exclusively shoot in 4k 24FPS and 4K 120FPS and the footage is gorgeous. The depth, colour, usability and so forth is by far the best I’ve used.
Photo - It’s a beast. Would argue it's the best on the market currently. It's incredibly easy to use, the photos look amazing, the depth of the pixels in the RAW images is wild...truly allows for some beautiful lightroom and photoshop creations. The autofocus servo is a really underrated feature when shooting in burst mode… THAT SHIT LOCKS ON AND WON’T LET GO.
There really isn’t much to say to be honest, it's amazing.
Conclusion
Something to note is the file sizes of both images and videos are quite large. I would assume most people are using external hard-drives or some form of storage solution. It is necessary as you will burn through memory cards on shoots, so have extras and also when dumping footage allow for lots of storage room….seriously big files.
Would I say this is a good camera and would I recommend it? Of course!
Would I recommend it for everyone? No
It does have the capabilities to make you more money, shoot higher quality content, and provide a seriously professional feel. But i've said this a million time it's not about your gear to an extent..you'll know when it's time to upgrade your gear and if you're at that stage where this isn't a holy (bleep) purchase to more of a yeah I really need that purchase that's probably the right time. Master each piece of equipment you own before moving on up.
Leave a comment down below and let’s talk about all things cameras.
Kyle Poole
