Review: Canon RF 5.2mm f/2.8L Dual Fisheye 3D VR

The real problem is that for VR video, the R5 is purely incapable of producing high quality VR180 video. 8K 30fps is useless for VR video, and 4K is available in other cheaper solutions. Hopefully they fix this issue by giving the R5c 6K at 60fps (120 fps preferable).
The R5 is capable of producing some of of the best high quality 3D VR180 video out of any camera at the body+lens price point. Sure, 30fps may be limiting, but that doesn't matter to me. I can output to 8k 60fps (a true 60fps) using R5 video. There's a special in post production trick to convert 30 to 60fps. Is it an extra annoying step? Yes. Would I rather it be done natively in camera? Yes. But again, considering the price point and quality it produces, nothing comes remotely close to this awesome setup. And FYI, I just got this lens and it is awesome.
 
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The R5 is capable of producing some of of the best high quality 3D VR180 video out of any camera at the body+lens price point. Sure, 30fps may be limiting, but that doesn't matter to me. I can output to 8k 60fps (a true 60fps) using R5 video. There's a special in post production trick to convert 30 to 60fps. Is it an extra annoying step? Yes. Would I rather it be done natively in camera? Yes. But again, considering the price point and quality it produces, nothing comes remotely close to this awesome setup. And FYI, I just got this lens and it is awesome.

Have you ever actually worked with 30fps VR video? You can't recover 60 fps in post. Even with the "tricks" you can apply, it's nowhere as good as 60fps.
 
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But many people have R5’s so the $2,000 entry price for unmatched resolution even from $20,000 competitors makes it a steal. heck even if you don’t already have an R5 it is a steal if that is the space you are working in.
I haven't looked at the reviews of this lens properly, but I'd be surprised if you get better results than the Z CAM K1. That's only $3K. It has 2 micro four thirds sensors, a higher resolution at 30fps and an option for a slightly lower resolution 60fps. 30fps in VR is all juddery.
 
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I'm probably an edge case for this lens, as I was more psyched for ease of 3d still photography and 180 degree still web images. I also already have an R5.

I can simulate 3d stills by moving a camera on a track of course. But handheld snapshot 3d pics with the R5's focusing system and other features sounded pretty great to me. Plus I like having the occasional extreme fisheye pic, even if it's effectively crop sensor and 2d.

It is weird to me that it's already almost a month late with no updates from Canon. But so it goes. Plenty of other pictures to take in the meantime. : )
 
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Bdbtoys

R5
CR Pro
Jul 16, 2020
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The EOS VR Utility is 100% free to use for photos and video clips under 2 mins in length. I just got this lens and am currently testing it out.
Yes, I mentioned that a few posts above yours... but that doesn't negate the sub at 2:01+. Also, since you might have missed my post... note you can get the first 90 days free too (w/o limit).
 
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I haven't looked at the reviews of this lens properly, but I'd be surprised if you get better results than the Z CAM K1. That's only $3K. It has 2 micro four thirds sensors, a higher resolution at 30fps and an option for a slightly lower resolution 60fps. 30fps in VR is all juddery.
Msot of the cheaper options don't offer enough resolution. If you must have higher frame rate, you could take down the r5 resolution to those competitors and still have a better image.

30 fps can be good. It's just that the source material from those cheap cameras weren't good.
 
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Have you ever actually worked with 30fps VR video? You can't recover 60 fps in post. Even with the "tricks" you can apply, it's nowhere as good as 60fps.
Yes, I have worked with 30fps 3D VR180 video. I've also worked with 25fps as well, which is even more terrible in a VR headset. lol And then I convert it up to 50 or 60fps and it looks way better. I've been shooting with an Insta360 EVO camera for almost 2 years now and do have some experience. It shoots 5.7k 30fps (or 25fps HDR). I won't claim to be a pro but I have improved with time and even have some videos I put up on my YouTube channel you can watch. And yes, they all play at 50 or 60fps https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYzJfVECzigKT7XuihzYCO5CBTNM1o777

I imagine in time Canon will update the firmware for the R3, which would allow 6k60fps 3D VR180 video, which would be a better balanced fit.
 
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I haven't looked at the reviews of this lens properly, but I'd be surprised if you get better results than the Z CAM K1. That's only $3K. It has 2 micro four thirds sensors, a higher resolution at 30fps and an option for a slightly lower resolution 60fps. 30fps in VR is all juddery.
The R5 with the 5.2mm lens pretty much beats out any competition at the $6,000 price point. The Z Cam K2 is much improved and better than the K1 but still is a touch behind the R5. Hugh Hou compares the R5, Z Cam K2, FM Duo, and Insta360 EVO all side by side. While the $20,000 FM Duo does slightly better in a couple areas, the R5 with the 5.2mm lens has better optics. You can watch the comparison on Hugh's channel. https://youtube.com/c/HughHouFilm
 
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Yes, I mentioned that a few posts above yours... but that doesn't negate the sub at 2:01+. Also, since you might have missed my post... note you can get the first 90 days free too (w/o limit).
Yeah, sorry, I saw your comment right after I posted mine.

Well, for those who, on principle, don't want to pay a subscription fee to export out clips longer than 2 minutes there is actually an alternative way to do so freely with the EOS VR Utility software. Select out 1 min 59 secs with the selection brackets and then choose export to export out a clip. Once that finishes, change the bracket selection forward to the next segment of 1 min 59 secs and export that clip out. Do so as many times as necessary until you've exported out the entire length of the video. Now bring all the clips into whatever video editing software you use and put them altogether. I did this and only had to erase one redundant frame in between two clips and then the video played back smoothly. So there you go. Unlimited video export lengths using the EOS VR Utility software for free (if you don't mind those extra steps).
 
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Still waiting for the release that was supposed to be in December, with no further update from Canon that I can find.

It's not like they owe me, just complaining about it. : )
The Canon Store is probably your best bet. They actually did have it in stock briefly like 2 1/2 weeks ago. Adorama and B&H have yet to get them in non-preorder stock. If you haven't already, pre-order it from the Canon Store and they'll ship it to you when it's available.
 
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Finally got it! :)
Now I just have to figure out how to do what I want with it : )
Takes 2 fisheye pictures on the same full frame. Good in relatively low light, as expected. Its manual focus, which makes sense I guess as it's focusing for both lens at the same time. Also of course it's got a huge depth of field, and I'll be taking pretty composed shots with it and not shapshots so that's fine.

Just to note if others dig up this lens for stills, what I'm in the process of figuring out now is how to have a quick workflow to make stereoscopic panoramas out of it. I found a Sourceforge cross-platform app called Hugin, which looks promising. Right now it looks like:
1. bring the original cr3 file with two fisheye images on it, and run a script to split and crop it into two separate images
2. output those images in a format Hugin can work with
3. define the "focus points"
4. ....
5. Profit?

:)

See how it all works out...

Oh, and the camera arrives with a suitable custom lens cap and bag. So those things don't have to be ordered separately, even though they might be listed separately on some sites.
 
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Finally got it! :)
Now I just have to figure out how to do what I want with it : )
Takes 2 fisheye pictures on the same full frame. Good in relatively low light, as expected. Its manual focus, which makes sense I guess as it's focusing for both lens at the same time. Also of course it's got a huge depth of field, and I'll be taking pretty composed shots with it and not shapshots so that's fine.

Just to note if others dig up this lens for stills, what I'm in the process of figuring out now is how to have a quick workflow to make stereoscopic panoramas out of it. I found a Sourceforge cross-platform app called Hugin, which looks promising. Right now it looks like:
1. bring the original cr3 file with two fisheye images on it, and run a script to split and crop it into two separate images
2. output those images in a format Hugin can work with
3. define the "focus points"
4. ....
5. Profit?

:)

See how it all works out...

Oh, and the camera arrives with a suitable custom lens cap and bag. So those things don't have to be ordered separately, even though they might be listed separately on some sites.
Does Hugin actually correct for the fisheye effect or are you just going to leave it as is and do an internal crop to leave as is and output them together to display a narrower field of view 3D image?

Have you tried the Canon VR software yet? It is free to use and you can export out wide 180 degree images for viewing in a Quest 2 or whatever VR headset. You will need to copy and paste Metadata from an original R5 jpeg file into your edited raw-to-jpeg file first before the Canon software can make corrections to the file (I use ExifToolGUI for that).
 
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Disclaimer: I've just started messing with the options, as I also have a day job. : )

But it seems like Hugin will correct for the fisheye effect, as it has that option. So I definitely want to try that. Will also definitely want to try the close crop method too.

I did try the Canon VR software, but was not able to get it to even open the raw .cr3 file I shot with the lens. Or an exported version that was a jpg. The files were grayed out. It seems like it may only recognize video formats?

I'll try a jpg with updated exif data to see if that changes anything.
 
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