Gordan Laing Review: The Canon EOS R5 for photography

Yes I had 5D4 and EOS R. I sold them both. I sold the EOS R to buy the R5 only to be disappointed.
I have come from 7D/5Diii/5Div and now R5 and I am really impressed with the improvements. Yes, it is expensive to some - and even to me as the first time that I have pre-ordered. I (and my wife/family) are happy with what Canon delivered and the specifications and limitations they published. I am only one satisfied customer and lucky in some ways to even get my hands on it in the initial batch.
I can appreciate that you could be disappointed with the R5 but there are lots of people still waiting for theirs if you want to return it. No one camera can do it all. Get the best camera(s) that meet your individual needs.
 
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I have come from 7D/5Diii/5Div and now R5 and I am really impressed with the improvements. Yes, it is expensive to some - and even to me as the first time that I have pre-ordered. I (and my wife/family) are happy with what Canon delivered and the specifications and limitations they published. I am only one satisfied customer and lucky in some ways to even get my hands on it in the initial batch.
I can appreciate that you could be disappointed with the R5 but there are lots of people still waiting for theirs if you want to return it. No one camera can do it all. Get the best camera(s) that meet your individual needs.

Congrats on the R5! Mine is due to arrive any day now and getting excited.

How are you liking the improved high ISO performance compared to the Mark IV? Is it a noticeable difference in real world use?
 
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Congrats on the R5! Mine is due to arrive any day now and getting excited.

How are you liking the improved high ISO performance compared to the Mark IV? Is it a noticeable difference in real world use?
I haven't done any pixel peeping on astro shots but I certainly will be.
That said, the simplicity of eye AF at ISO12800 @5m away (@20mm focal length) was amazing. Airdropping a SOOC jpeg to my wife earned kudos from my wife. Pleasing skin tones and no apparent banding is a thumbs up from me.
 
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I haven't done any pixel peeping on astro shots but I certainly will be.
That said, the simplicity of eye AF at ISO12800 @5m away (@20mm focal length) was amazing. Airdropping a SOOC jpeg to my wife earned kudos from my wife. Pleasing skin tones and no apparent banding is a thumbs up from me.
The AF sounds incredible. Good news about the skin tones too. I actually really like the skin tones on the 5D IV, has it improved or stayed about the same?
 
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quilatoo

EOS 5D iii
Jul 30, 2020
26
27
Use the ignore feature - aka idiot


The EOS-R, aside from the sensor, is not a 5D4 replacement in any regard in my book and I own both cameras. It's a nice camera but it's no 5D4, and the 5D4 is no R5.

If you're asking me if the R5 @ $3700 is worth $1700 more than the R my answer is absolutely. Ditto if you had to pay $3899 retail. If you're asking me if the R5 is worth the same money as the 5D4 at launch my answer is absolutely and without hesitation.

I bought the 5D4 at launch and wasn't "stopped in my tracks" by the price nor was I "stopped in my tracks" to pay the same money for a drastically improved camera four years later.

If people just "can't afford it" I can understand that, but I don't agree with the idea that the camera is overpriced. Even if you remove all the video features you're paying 5D4 money for a camera that outperforms it in every single way.

It isn't "at a higher cost..." Given inflation it's roughly the same price, and it's a bargain considering there isn't a camera that comes close to its feature set and execution at any price.
It's not about it being something I can't afford it's purely a question of whether it's worth the extra in the current market. I also have to consider the fact that it's £4,200 in the UK, which is a decent whack above the launch price of the 5D IV, even taking inflation into account.

Compared even to the £2,500 R6, which has many of the same improvements I mentioned the R5 has over the 5D IV, I have to question what exactly I would be getting for spending £1,700 more: much greater resolution and high end video specs. £1,700 could net me... well not one of the higher end RF lenses but at least the 24-105 f4 and 85 f2.

There's a difference between paying for features I know I won't use (that others might) and paying for features that aren't useful anyway. The latter is always going to feel like more of a rip off than the former.

I want all those juicy megapixels and will stump up the money eventually but I don't want to feel like I'm also paying extra for a developmental misstep.
 
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The AF sounds incredible. Good news about the skin tones too. I actually really like the skin tones on the 5D IV, has it improved or stayed about the same?
I didn't have any complaints with the 5Div but I wasn't taking portraits at ISO12800 to compare :)
 
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Firillu

Zobb f’sormok
Feb 16, 2017
15
9
Pluto
In my ideal word there would be the Canon EOS RP5P, with P standing for photography and will be stripped of all video capability. It will significantly cheaper.

I just hate buying a camera like this, knowing I am paying a lot of money for its video component, which I will never use. I have a 5DIV which is great but at some point have to get an RP, and the the best upgrade.
 
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tron

CR Pro
Nov 8, 2011
5,222
1,616
It seems that R5 is excellent for my needs (stills only) maybe for birding* but mostly for low light interior shooting in combination with the IS 2.8 RF zooms or for astro….. Now when is BlackFriday … 2021 or … 2022 ... :D

EDIT:
*Add a NIKON F (at least for E series) to Canon EOS RF converter and birding is covered too :cool:
 
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Fran Decatta

EOS R6
Mar 6, 2019
95
109
Rolling shutter "noticeably superior" to the R6. Well that's quite an accomplishment for a 45 mp camera

Would love to see a comparison between those two cameras shotting with silent mode and see those differences. Im sure that I will use the R6, but, working mainly in weddings, I hope this rolling shutter doesn't make the pictures unusable if there's any movement.
 
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D

Deleted member 378664

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In my ideal word there would be the Canon EOS RP5P, with P standing for photography and will be stripped of all video capability. It will significantly cheaper.

I just hate buying a camera like this, knowing I am paying a lot of money for its video component, which I will never use. I have a 5DIV which is great but at some point have to get an RP, and the the best upgrade.
It is already cheaper. Video components on this level don't make the camera significantly more expensive.
Imagine what this camera would cost if the video component would be implemented such that there won't be an overheating limit.

Frank
 
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Unles you are living under a rcok by this time you know there is a7s3 and the Pansonics that does not over heat with 4k60. Each have their short comings. My reply is to your point because it has 8k, 4k120fps it is great hybrid camera. No it is not, if you use those modes either you have to buy 6 cameras to continue the shoot without interruption or you need to stop and wait for hours before you can use the camera again. Noone asked for 8k. Canon foolishly tried to pull 8k purely for marketing stunt and lost again on 4k too.

Gawd give it a break. Read the title of this thread. You are spamming.
 
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tron

CR Pro
Nov 8, 2011
5,222
1,616
It's not about it being something I can't afford it's purely a question of whether it's worth the extra in the current market. I also have to consider the fact that it's £4,200 in the UK, which is a decent whack above the launch price of the 5D IV, even taking inflation into account.

Compared even to the £2,500 R6, which has many of the same improvements I mentioned the R5 has over the 5D IV, I have to question what exactly I would be getting for spending £1,700 more: much greater resolution and high end video specs. £1,700 could net me... well not one of the higher end RF lenses but at least the 24-105 f4 and 85 f2.

There's a difference between paying for features I know I won't use (that others might) and paying for features that aren't useful anyway. The latter is always going to feel like more of a rip off than the former.

I want all those juicy megapixels and will stump up the money eventually but I don't want to feel like I'm also paying extra for a developmental misstep.
Well actually that amount and actually 50 and 100 pounds less was the price I paid for RF15-35 and RF24-70 respectively (or vice versa sorry!) from a very reputable UK based grey importer back in January!
 
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It is a review of the Canon R5 but at the same time make me feel I bet on the wrong horse by pre-ordering the R6. I have real difficulty to believe that the R6 compares to the rp in terms of quality of image. The pixels are bigger. Can you explain more? In the video presented here it did not convince me of that.

I preordered the R6 as well. If you're talking pixel count it may be similar to the RP, but I have my doubts that the repurposed 1DX3 sensor and the RP sensor are even in the same league IQ wise. As a matter of fact, looking at DPreviews studio test setup comparison, it shows the RP significantly worse:

r6rp.png
 
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Aug 9, 2016
360
429
How does it make zero sense? RAW is the sensor data untouched, unless the manufacturer decides to touch it with some processing like NR or pixel shift, etc. This is not the first camera to do that. Long exposure noise reduction has been applied to RAW across brands for a long time. It is as close to the RAW sensor information as you will get. RAW just means you are getting close enough to the original pixel readout that you can customize the final look and preserve as much detail as as possible. There isn't some rule of physics broken here if the manufacturer decides that some sensor data needs to be processed in some way prior to storing as a RAW.

exactly what I am saying, its still a RAW file, the comment "its not completely raw" that I was responding too is whats laughable.
 
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vrpanorama.ca

Canon r6
Mar 23, 2020
33
5
I preordered the R6 as well. If you're talking pixel count it may be similar to the RP, but I have my doubts that the repurposed 1DX3 sensor and the RP sensor are even in the same league IQ wise. As a matter of fact, looking at DPreviews studio test setup comparison, it shows the RP significantly worse:

View attachment 191890
Thanks for this, I consider the R6 in my bubble the true successor of the original canon 6D for the pixel quality
 
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