This is probably the best camera review I’ve ever watched – Gerald Undone with the Canon EOS R5 and Canon EOS R6

Nuh, that would be overkill. Just a single asterisk at the tech specs header would suffice. It’s a common practice. In my opinion, Canon went a bit Gung Ho with this press release in particular.
Agreed they should have been more transparent about the limitations in certain press releases. There would be much less controversy right now if they had. Personally I always thought the 8k Raw mode would be limited to 5 minute bursts.. so the fact we can get 20 minutes in ideal conditions is kinda cool. I think the thing that frustrates me the most though is that shooting a moderate amount of stills can lock you out of the high quality video modes. Forces you to shoot your video snippets at the start of the shoot day or use a second camera for stills at the start of the day.
 
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SteveC

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How shellfish of them...

Well I did just try some milky way astrophotography, using the RF 15-35 I bought the day after I got it. Pixel peeping revealed problems with what I was doing (not with the camera, at least I don't think so), but now the moon is out...so hopefully tomorrow night is as clear as tonight was.
 
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AlanF

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I'm going to speculate, but I am speculating based on my knowledge of physics.

Everything the camera does generates heat. But how fast does it generate heat? If the camera can shed heat faster than it generates it, then it's fine. So yes, the camera has to shut off a high-heat-generating-mode but will still allow you to use modes which generate less heat, if it's enough less that the camera can shed it at least as fast as it's generated.

But the speed at which something sheds heat is not a constant. The hotter it gets, the faster it sheds heat. This is why lighting a fire in the fireplace warms the room up, but not to the temperature of the fire. The room warms up to the point where it's losing heat energy as fast as the burning fuel generates it, and no further. This is thermal equilibrium.

So a mode like (for example) 1080p will generate a certain amount of heat. At room temperature, the camera does NOT shed heat at that rate, but at higher temperatures, it DOES shed heat at that rate. So the camera will climb to a certain temperature, and get no warmer, provided it continues doing the same thing--it has reached thermal equilibrium. Some modes bring it to just below the overheat threshold. The camera will stay there all day, until you switch to another mode that generates more heat--i.e., has a higher equilibrium temperature--the camera, knowing the temperature will now rise into the danger zone, says "nope" and shuts off.

A camera that has shut off is free to go into modes that generate less heat per second, than it sheds per second at the temperature it's at. The temperature will drop, a bit, to the new equilibrium, but trying to switch to a higher-heat mode would force the camera to shut off to save itself, because it's already pretty warm.
If it sheds heat faster than it generates it when it is working continuously, will it make a mini refrigerator?
 
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Andy Westwood

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I agree with Canon Rumors Guy this is an excellent video to watch I’d already watched it prior to the post but I still enjoyed seeing it again.

A well-presented production with no quirks or gimmicks just the raw facts which might have been boring if not delivered in an enthusiastic, knowledgeable manor.

Such a shame it was only about the video side of the cameras but at least he was honest about that and didn’t try to be something he’s not.

I was shooting stills yesterday in a large apartment under tricky lighting conditions, heavily backlite by bright day light coming through the large diffused window blinds and lighting my model with gentle flash from an AD200 with a largish softbox as I didn’t want to blowout all that beautiful ambient light. My EOS R started off well shooting wide open at f/2.8 when the room light was good, the light started to fail but I could compensate with ISO.

What I couldn’t compensate for was how my R then struggled with eye AF in the lower light conditions, I’m optimistic that wouldn’t happen on the new R5 or R6 bodies.

I really want an R6 if my pennies allow, surprisingly my biggest camera store in town only had 6 pre orders for the R6 opposed to 15 for the R5. This they told me was reflective throughout all their UK stores, which I found interesting.
 
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I generally agree. But, I have a problem with any company that offers any feature that isn't ready for prime time. I think it was more than a bad marketing decision. I think it was a bad engineering and design decision. No matter how many disclaimers you offer, it's no substitute for having a product that works. If they couldn't make these ridiculously high resolution and frame rate modes work, they should have just left them off.

What you're saying is that if Canon released the R5 without 8K video, it would have been a better camera than the R5 it actually released. Wow. And there I thought that, as a photographer who has zero interest in 4K & 8K video, I could just buy the R5 and use it as if it doesn't shoot 4K & 8K video. Damn, there went my upgrade plan down the sewer.
 
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unfocused

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What you're saying is that if Canon released the R5 without 8K video, it would have been a better camera than the R5 it actually released. Wow. And there I thought that, as a photographer who has zero interest in 4K & 8K video, I could just buy the R5 and use it as if it doesn't shoot 4K & 8K video. Damn, there went my upgrade plan down the sewer.
Your attempt at sarcasm falls flat.

Read some of my other comments.

The damage to Canon's carefully cultivated reputation has a price. Canon has built their reputation on reliability. They are not Sony. Canon buyers expect a product that works, and value that more highly than they do the latest gimmicks. Canon now has two choices -- spend a lot of money trying to repair the damage or hunker down and hope it goes away. Neither is a good option and neither is an option that they are happy about, especially given the financial and competitive pressures facing the camera market today.

They could have avoided these unwanted costs had they produced a better engineered product or if they were unable to produce a better engineered product taken a more conservative approach to the feature set.

From a consumer standpoint, it might be nice to have these features, even with the restrictions. But from a company standpoint, it has been a very costly mistake that undermines more than a half-century of work that has gone into Canon's reputation.
 
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The damage to Canon's carefully cultivated reputation has a price. Canon has built their reputation on reliability. They are not Sony. Canon buyers expect a product that works, and value that more highly than they do the latest gimmicks.

So the R5 is unreliable even if I don't shoot 8K and 4K? Damn!

Canon now has two choices -- spend a lot of money trying to repair the damage or hunker down and hope it goes away.

I think the 2nd option is great.

especially given the financial and competitive pressures facing the camera market today.

You mean from all those other cameras that can shoot 8K with no limitations, or limitations people can live with?

They could have avoided these unwanted costs had they produced a better engineered product or if they were unable to produce a better engineered product taken a more conservative approach to the feature set.

Again, do you claim that for my stated needs, the R5 is mis-engineered, not sufficiently conservative, or not an upgrade from my 5DmkIV?

Not even with the new RF 15-35mm f/2.8L IS USM (an upgrade from my EF 16-35mm f/2.8L IS-less USM) and EF 24-70mm f/2.8L IS USM (an upgrade from my EF 24-70mm f/2.8L IS-less USM)? Damn!

From a consumer standpoint, it might be nice to have these features, even with the restrictions.

No! That's not true! That's impossible!

But from a company standpoint, it has been a very costly mistake that undermines more than a half-century of work that has gone into Canon's reputation.

I'm a strange little photographer who cares about how well the camera fits his needs, enjoys nice to have figures, and take PR with a grain of salt*. As everyone else goes the other way, Canon is surely doomed. Oh well, I'll switch brands when Canon goes bankrupt.

* Actually, I read criticism with a big bucket of popcorn and a soft drink. Where else can I do that, now that movie theaters are closed due to corona virus?
 
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cornieleous

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Haven't heard much from photographers using the R5, I guess they're shooting and editing and not typing on forums.

Exactly, we are indeed already out enjoying it! A few test shots at the end of post for people who don't want to read my rambling.

The R5 is turning out to be the best hybrid on the market, period. It was designed for stills and short duty incredible video footage. The video crowd and those who form opinions from their favorite talking heads have had a bit of tunnel vision, and pile-on the negativity bandwagon attitude. Despite the mountain made of a mole hill, the camera is turning out to exceed all reasonable expectations and be a true marvel when you get it out there and use it. All the major features, combined with all the nuances of ergonomics make it truly great. It is another well thought out camera that doesn't deviate from the care of design that has kept me with Canon for my stills work for almost a decade (yep I own other brands for video, although those cameras are redundant a bit now and may get sold). My nerves during all these negative internet rantings are gone after using it- I can tell it is solid and going to do everything I need reliably and effortlessly.

Now on to photography and a couple quick test shots.

Shooting experience: I've only taken the R5 out for some real test photos in the world just last night. In two words: it's amazing.
  • Can handhold +4 stops more than previous cameras like 5D4 with the same lenses. It is quiet or silent depending on shutter mode.
  • I'm getting used to the small size and starting to love it.
  • The dial placements plus the control ring makes setting exposure so intuitive and fast.
  • Articulating screen makes weird shooting angles easy.
  • You can operate exposure basics from EVF, LCD screen, or top screen if you even feel the need to look ( I didn't).
  • Info display is robust and very customizable.
  • The workflow with the EVF is incredible. So smooth and quick to move focus points with the joystick compared to any previous Canon. Histrogram, focus peaking, exposure preview, distortion correction all in EVF, so no time wasted reviewing photos- I know what they will look like when I take them and may only review sharpness if at all- there seem to be no auto focus misses ever and I'm using older EF glass mostly. The EVF may not look like real life in many conditions like fast tracking, bright daylight, etc. but it is a very high quality image. In any type of medium or low light it is a way better that the OVF or LCD screen and the typical DSLR distortion. The preview of what images are going to look like overlaid with any control or info you may need is a major workflow improvement. Review inside the EVF is far superior to screens for spotting issues with taken images. Overall it is a more fun experience to get the shot when your fingers just move on the controls while you watch the shot you want come into shape in the EVF and take it effortlessly.
  • Focusing in almost complete dark is trivial, it just works. You can focus directly on stars with autofocus and it does as good a job as manual focus. You can see night images how they will look after long exposure and frame them in the EVF, no more guessing in the dark or blinding yourself and everyone around with a headlamp to spot and focus on foreground objects. The red focus highlights can tell you when foreground, stars, or both are good without zooming in all around parts of the frame in live view ore reviewing test shots. Same during the day, focus highlights are incredibly good on this camera.

Editing: CR3 is a non issue, extremely easy to convert to DNG in one click and get into bridge or LR/Photoshop, until we get native ACR support from Adobe.

The RAW files are gorgeous with zero color noise, a ton of detail and crispness, and lots of room to crop. You could crop off 33% vertical and horizontal and still have a 6D sized file with less noise and more detail. The shadows push 3-4 stops with ease (not that this stupid metric matters directly) and for normal preserve highlight shooting you can almost completely skip any need for HDR stacks and get incredible results.

Here are a couple examples of my test shots reduced to 20% resolution. The full outputs you can zoom in for days and still see detail, the difference from 5D4 even though its only about 1/5 extra frame vertical and horizontal, still looks beautiful. These are not the most amazing photos or compositions as I had limited time to get to good scenes with decent conditions. Forgot the 5D4, was going to take test comparisons.

9937080820.jpg
R5 + 24-105mm F4L Mk1, 1/80s, ISO 200, F10. Single exposure. The shadows and flowers were DARK almost black to preserve highlights and boosted about 2.5 stops in post, resulting in this awesome quality. Image is post processed but not super heavily.


9989080820.jpg
R5 + 24mm Samyang , 15s, ISO 6400, F2.8. Single exposure, no long exposure niose reduction or darks used. Imagine what stacking for noise reducation will bring to night images with this camera. Again the detail is incredible. Noise in shadows has ZERO color problems, just a gradual loss of detail. It cleans up so much better than a couple generations ago and better than the 5D4. I'd say an easy full stop better than the 5D4 for noise and usable ISO in low light despite the large jump in sensor size. I'm confident I could shoot at 12800 if needed and use those files in many cases. Image is post processed but not super heavily.
 
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slclick

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Dec 17, 2013
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Exactly, we are indeed already out enjoying it! A few test shots at the end of post for people who don't want to read my rambling.

The R5 is turning out to be the best hybrid on the market, period. It was designed for stills and short duty incredible video footage. The video crowd and those who form opinions from their favorite talking heads have had a bit of tunnel vision, and pile-on the negativity bandwagon attitude. Despite the mountain made of a mole hill, the camera is turning out to exceed all reasonable expectations and be a true marvel when you get it out there and use it. All the major features, combined with all the nuances of ergonomics make it truly great. It is another well thought out camera that doesn't deviate from the care of design that has kept me with Canon for my stills work for almost a decade (yep I own other brands for video, although those cameras are redundant a bit now and may get sold). My nerves during all these negative internet rantings are gone after using it- I can tell it is solid and going to to everything I need reliably and effortlessly.

Now on to photography and a couple quick test shots.

Shooting experience: I've only taken the R5 out for some real test photos in the world just last night. In two words: it's amazing.
  • Can handhold +4 stops more than previous cameras like 5D4 with the same lenses. It is quiet or silent depending on shutter mode.
  • I'm getting used to the small size and starting to love it.
  • The dial placements plus the control ring makes setting exposure so intuitive and fast.
  • Articulating screen makes weird shooting angles easy.
  • You can operate exposure basics from EVF, LCD screen, or top screen if you even feel the need to look ( I didn't).
  • Info display is robust and very customizable.
  • The workflow with the EVF is incredible. So smooth and quick to move focus points with the joystick compared to any previous Canon. Histrogram, focus peaking, exposure preview, distortion correction all in EVF, so no time wasted reviewing photos- I know what they will look like when I take them and may only review sharpness if at all- there seem to be no auto focus misses ever and I'm using older EF glass mostly. The EVF may not look like real life in many conditions like fast tracking, bright daylight, etc. but it is very high quality. In any type of medium or low light it is a way better preview of what images are going to look like. Review inside the EVF is far superior to screens for spotting issues with taken images.
  • Focusing in almost complete dark is trivial, it just works. You can focus directly on stars with autofocus and it does as good a job as manual focus. You can see night images how they will look and frame them, no more guessing in the dark or blinding yourself and everyone around with a headlamp to spot and focus on foreground objects. The red focus highlights can tell you when foreground, stars, or both are good without zooming all around. Same during the day, focus highlights are incredibly good on this camera.

Editing: CR3 is a non issue, extremely easy to convert to DNG in one click and get into bridge or LR/Photoshop, until we get native ACR support.

The RAW files are gorgeous with zero color noise, a ton of detail and crispness, and lots of room to crop. You could crop off 34% and still have a 6D sized file. The shadows push 3-4 stops with ease (not that this stupid metric matters directly) and for normal preserve highlight shooting you can almost completely skip any need for HDR stacks and get incredible results.

Here are a couple examples of my test shots reduced to 20% resolution. The full outputs you can zoom in for days and sill see detail. These are not the most amazing photos or compositions as I had limited time to get to good scenes with decent conditions. Forgot the 5D4, was going to take test comparisons.

View attachment 191991
R5 + 24-105mm F4L Mk1, 1/80s, ISO 200, F10. Single exposure. The shadows and flowers were DARK almost black to preserve highlights and boosted about 2.5 stops in post, resulting in this awesome quality. Image is post processed but not super heavily.


View attachment 191990
R5 + 24mm Samyang , 15s, ISO 6400, F2.8. Single exposure, no long exposure niose reduction or darks used. Imagine what stacking for noise reducation will bring to night images with this camera. Again the detail is incredible. Noise in shadows has ZERO color problems, just a gradual loss of detail. It cleans up so much better than a couple generations ago and better than the 5D4. I'd say an easy full stop better than the 5D4 for noise and usable ISO in low light despite the large jump in sensor size. I'm confident I could shoot at 12800 if needed and use those files in many cases. Image is post processed but not super heavily.
Thank you, those are gorgeous images and your brief breakdown gave me more insight into it as a stills body than all of the teeth grinding and whining reviews and complaints have up to this point. Please do followups with more of your experiences and shots.
 
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AlanF

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I'm going to assume this isn't a joke. Nope, it will only shed heat as long as its warmer than what's around it. Heat "flows" from warmer to cooler.
It was a light hearted joke. But, if you assume it isn't a joke then I will be serious. According to the 2nd law of thermodynamics, heat does indeed flow from warmer to cooler and not vice versa. But, if work is done on a system, like discharging a battery, then heat can flow from colder to warmer. That is how refrigerators work - they use electrical energy to pump heat from the cold interior to the warmer exterior. Heat pumps are similar.
 
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SteveC

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Terrible marketing? When Canon is unable to meet demand for bodies or accessorie? A pox on Internet camera critics, all of them. I’ll choose for myself, and thus far my R5 looks like a very wise choice—for me.

It is honestly a camera far better than its owner, in my case. Which is a good thing; it's a heck of a lot easier to learn with a tool that works well and doesn't have to be fought, or its limitations overcome, every step of the way.
 
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