Canon EOS R5 Mark II in the hands of the lucky? [CR1]

[AlanF]

For reasonable improvements it would make sense to include the following:

1) Improved AF similar to R3 / R6 Mk II
2) Improved power efficiency so high-speed ES mode does not slow down when battery gets down to ~50% charge
3) Selectable speeds with ES not just 20 fps. Would be nice to select 10 or 15 fps.
4) Ability to set the rate button to many other functions.
5) Blackout free shooting if possible, but this would likely require a stacked sensor which is likely reserved for the R1

Have I got it wrong, I thought ES doesn't slow down when battery drops but the EFCS etc do?

 

[AccipiterQ]

Amen. This is THE one aspect of the R5 that is a real problem for bird shooters.

Are you using eye-focus? I use it for birds in foliage and I can't recall it ever missing. Ever. The R7 misses constantly, which is why I rarely use it now.

 

[danfaz]

Besides, I am not sure how could you shoot a model in electronic shutter mode; how many photos a second you want to get? Just wondering.

Not trying to argue here, just relaying what I've heard, but I'm pretty sure the Nikon Z9 can shoot in single shot, and it's a 100% electronic shutter. I *think the video I saw may have been about the Z9.

 

[danfaz]

I think just R3, Z8, Z9, A9 and very few other flagship cameras can use strobes with ES.

I think the video I saw was about the Z9.

 

[SnowMiku]

My biggest desire is autofocus improvements. As good as Canon's autofocus is, I still miss the advantages that DSLRs offered under some conditions. I am so tired of spotting a bird in a tree and then having the camera focus on branches and leaves that are 10 ft in front or behind the subject. (From reading past comments on this forum, I believe it is due to the differences between phase detect and contrast detect autofocus and that one solution might be quad pixel autofocus).

I'd welcome a slight boost in resolution, but it is not a deciding factor for me and only if Canon increases the buffer to accommodate increased resolution.

I don't care about pre-shot capture or eye control autofocus. Eye control just isn't effective or reliable for my shooting and I doubt I'd ever use the pre-shot capture (I don't on the R7).

I'd like a sound option added to the electronic shutter.

Too much to hope for, but it would be really nice if Canon would eliminate the "freeze" feature on all its mirrorless bodies.

I don't think the focusing on another tree branch for birding is unique to mirrorless, my 90D sometimes does the same thing using the OVF with AF spot in the middle, and the lens has been micro adjusted. If I have time sometimes I'll try live view and that seems to work better, but more awkward to hold the 90D and 70-300mm L.

I think pre-shot capture would be useful for birding, sometimes by the time I press the shutter the bird has already started to fly away haha, I think the R5 should have this feature added since the cheaper bodies have it.

I also hope that Canon figure out what's causing the freezing issues with RF.

 

[Aussie shooter]

Let’s hope they’ve managed to significantly boost the dynamic range to match some of the fantastic results we’re seeing in the new Sony cameras. It’s probably the feature where canon’s current hybrid cameras are most notably trailing behind other brands.

Oh my Lord. I honestly thought Sony fanboi shills had become non existent.

 

[Quarkcharmed]

Oh my Lord. I honestly thought Sony fanboi shills had become non existent.

Yeah, the dynamic range of the R5 is pretty good already, there's room for improvement but it's very limited. The R5 is pretty much on par with competitors in terms of the dynamic range.

What does need to improve is the amount of hot pixels (due to dark currents I assume). The image quickly gets dirty at shutter speeds longer than 0.5 seconds, with more and more hot pixels popping up. It used to be better in older Canon sensors (e.g. in 5DIV). 'Long exposure noise reduction' helps but makes shooting experience awkward.

I'd rather be happy to switch to a dedicated landscape camera, something like a long rumoured high megapixel R5s optimised for landscape photography - that is, sacrificed high speed shooting for better image quality, less hot pixels and banding.

 

[Quarkcharmed]

My wishlist:

Improved IBIS
Improved shadow recovery

'shadow recovery' is something bound to photo editing software, Canon won't even try to improve on something that 3rd party software does.
What you actually want is a higher dynamic range - it would generally give you a better 'shadow recovery'.

However there's little room for dynamic range improvement anyway, unless Canon uses a drastically different sensor tech in the R5II.

If you struggle with 'shadow recovery' on the R5's images, you may want to reconsider your shooting technique, as the camera copes very well with high dynamic range scenes, better than any of the previous-gen Canon cameras.

 

[snapshot]

I don't think the focusing on another tree branch for birding is unique to mirrorless, my 90D sometimes does the same thing using the OVF with AF spot in the middle, and the lens has been micro adjusted. If I have time sometimes I'll try live view and that seems to work better, but more awkward to hold the 90D and 70-300mm L.

I think pre-shot capture would be useful for birding, sometimes by the time I press the shutter the bird has already started to fly away haha, I think the R5 should have this feature added since the cheaper bodies have it.

I also hope that Canon figure out what's causing the freezing issues with RF.

I have both the 5d4 and R5. Much better hit rate with R5 autofocus. not close. however R5 in eye tracking mode can get stuck where subject is completely out of focus and give up. where as 5d4 with single point would get there quick (assuming i get the point on the subject). I sometimes have to full-time manual focus my EF lens to get subject eyes close enough for the R5 to find them. I think Alan has a multibutton setup to change quick to single point which might help also.

 

[AlanF]

I have both the 5d4 and R5. Much better hit rate with R5 autofocus. not close. however R5 in eye tracking mode can get stuck where subject is completely out of focus and give up. where as 5d4 with single point would get there quick (assuming i get the point on the subject). I sometimes have to full-time manual focus my EF lens to get subject eyes close enough for the R5 to find them. I think Alan has a multibutton setup to change quick to single point which might help also.

Correct. The * button is set up for back button focus with fixed centre point, no tracking. The AF-on is BBF for full tracking with eyeAF. I use that on both the R5 and R7. If the AF-on doesn’t find the bird or I need to focus on a particular part of anything I press the * button instead and point the small central square at it.

 

[dolina]

Less than 13 months to 2024 Summer Games.

 

[Deepboy]

I think the video I saw was about the Z9.

Probably it was, yes, as the Z9 is one of the very few cameras able to trigger a strobe with ES; probably (as far as i know) the Z8 is the CHEAPER camera doing that, so for the majority of people out there (very few can spend 4k minimum for one of those cameras) strobes + ES is not an option.

 

[cooldood]

Correct. The * button is set up for back button focus with fixed centre point, no tracking. The AF-on is BBF for full tracking with eyeAF. I use that on both the R5 and R7. If the AF-on doesn’t find the bird or I need to focus on a particular part of anything I press the * button instead and point the small central square at it.

This is exactly what i do and it works great.

 

[binary]

A report has surfaced that bodies of the Canon EOS R5 Mark II are in the hands of the select few testers. Does that mean we’re going to see it announced in Q4 of 2023? We have no specifications of value to add to the Canon EOS R5 Mark II rumors at this time. Most

See full article...

I doubt bloggers are testing the new R5 II if the announcement day is in Q4. Usually they have only 1-2 weeks to play with preproduction units.

 

[Quarkcharmed]

I doubt bloggers are testing the new R5 II if the announcement day is in Q4. Usually they have only 1-2 weeks to play with preproduction units.

It's just CR1, but I think 'playing with' is not the same as 'testing'.

 

[unfocused]

Less than 13 months to 2024 Summer Games.

Yes. Which means that if the R1 is to be released for the Olympics, it cannot be any later than the first few months of 2024. Why?

As I've often pointed out, no Olympic level photographer is going to take a camera to the games that he or she isn't thoroughly familiar with and hasn't used multiple times beforehand. That means the camera must be in the hands of professional sports photographers in time for them to use it at Olympic qualifying events and other sporting events.

This is even more critical this year because the R1 will be the first mirrorless 1 series camera. With the 1 series DSLRs, photographers only had to adjust to the latest incremental changes from one model to another. But, the mirrorless 1 is a completely new series. True, the R3 has been available and presumably the R1 will carry over many of the features of the R3, but I believe Canon is not going to take any chances and will want the R1 to be readily available for Olympic level photographers well in advance of the games.

As an aside, if I were Canon I'd be sweating bullets over the freeze issues that photographers have encountered with almost all of Canon's mirrorless bodies. Can you imagine the damage to their reputation if any Olympic photographer missed a key shot because the R1 froze up?

 

[cohenfive]

So how will the MII differ from the incredibly good MI?

I guess better heat handling is an obvious improvement, but for us primarily still shooters, that's not a big deal. I'm not looking for more resolution; 40-50MP is the sweet spot in my opinion. Rather, I'd like to see a 45MP stacked sensor implemented to reduce rolling shutter artifacts, improve responsiveness, and make the already excellent limited blackout disappear. 20fps is plenty for me, but more options (e.g 10, 12, 15fps), and a fake (selectable?) shutter sound in ES mode would be desirable.

In short, I'm not looking for major changes but, rather, for a more refined camera. My R5 is my most enjoyable body (I shoot the Nikon Z9 as well). I think that if Canon makes the user experience more enjoyable with the performance improvements mentioned above, a lot of R5 users will be willing to upgrade.

I am hoping for the same thing...which is basically a Canon branded Nikon Z8.....IMO if there is no stacked sensor, the camera won't do well in the market. The tech has moved on. I own both an R5 and Z8, and while the R5 is no slouch, the Z8 is just more fun to use and pretty much zippier all around. I'm still unsure if the af of the nikon is faster, and if it is, not by much, but the overall experience is made much better because of the sensor speed.

 

[unfocused]

I think pre-shot capture would be useful for birding, sometimes by the time I press the shutter the bird has already started to fly away haha, ...

My understanding is that you have to half-press the shutter to activate this. I imagine the R5II will have the feature. I'm just not sure if it will be as great as people hope.

 

[koenkooi]

My understanding is that you have to half-press the shutter to activate this. I imagine the R5II will have the feature. I'm just not sure if it will be as great as people hope.

You have to keep the shutter half-pressed and the output is a single large file that only DPP4 knows how to parse. And you can only extract images one-by-one.

 

[unfocused]

Oh my Lord. I honestly thought Sony fanboi shills had become non existent.

Apparently they haven't updated their instructions for what? ...six/seven years?