Would you purchase another R5

[AlanF]

Well to answer the question - no I would not purchase another Canon R5. After waiting for ages for the price to come down, last week I finally gave up waiting, sold my one remaining kidney and bought an R5 along with three RF lenses.
My initial observations are these:
1) Everything is more expensive on the Canon mirrorless system when compared with the DSLR/EF equivalents so it requires a huge investment just to buy a fairly basic R5 system. Also Canon seems to be limiting the supply of accessories and a cynic might say this is in order to keep the prices high. At the moment I can't even buy a spare battery for my new R5.
2) The size and positioning of some buttons on the R5 is far from ideal. In particular the lens release button is exactly where my middle finger lands when i am holding the camera with both hands, and the button has such a low profile that I don't realise it is there. Twice now I have inadvertently pressed the button the lens actually fell off the camera on one occasion. Fortunately I was just trawling through the menus and the lens just plopped into my lap so no damage was done but in future I must remember to avoid that button when holding the camera. This is in addition to all the other new stuff I need to remember.
3) The electronic viewfinder might be one of the best around but it does not compare well with an optical viewfinder. Those of us who have used a DSLR for many years will miss the clarity and responsiveness of the viewfinder on a DSLR.
4) As expected the battery life is poor and I have spent most of my first week disabling feautures in order to conserve battery life. So what is the point in buying a camera costing almost £4,300 if you are then going to disable many of its advanced features? If Canon ever decide to make some spare batteries available in this country then I will be able to carry a couple of spares, but for now I must operate the camera in miser mode.
Of course there are some positives too.
The picture quality is amazing - far better than anything my 5D mark 4 can produce and I am very pleased with the three RF lenses that I chose. They all perform extremely well.
Also, I have found that many of Canon's alarming warnings are untrue. For example I continue to achieve a burst rate close to 12 fps when using mechanical shutter, even when the battery charge is well below 50%. Although the High ISO of 102,400 is disabled when the camera is new, actually pictures taken at a very high can be used with a bit of noise reduction. They are certainly far better than pictures taken at very high ISO on my 5D mark 4.
Finally, when using my EF lenses on my R5 with the control ring adapter they all perform extremely well, far better than expected. This is great news because it means that I can continue to use my older lenses for a few years and give my bank account time to recover.

If it was the price, it's been available for the past year or more for £3,000 - 3,300 from reliable grey market sellers. The LP-E6NH are currently listed as in stock at the Canon store, and I have bought a couple of spares over the years. Given the description you have of its performance, the only reason for not buying again is that you have sold both kidneys. If I bought another, I wouldn't hesitate at going to the grey market.

Speak for yourself when it comes the EVF, as you are not speaking for me when you say "Those of us who have used a DSLR for many years..." I don't miss the OVF and really like the ability of the EVF to show me if my exposure is right and also to be able to dial up the brightness and identify a backlit bird.

 

[danfaz]

2) The size and positioning of some buttons on the R5 is far from ideal. In particular the lens release button is exactly where my middle finger lands when i am holding the camera with both hands, and the button has such a low profile that I don't realise it is there. Twice now I have inadvertently pressed the button the lens actually fell off the camera on one occasion.

I'm curious how you managed to do that. In addition to depressing the release button fully, you have to twist the lens at the same time. The lens doesn't just drop off when you press the button.

 

[JohnC]

I absolutely would, it’s a great performing body. Caveat being they haven’t come out with a higher MP body for landscape use. The R5 body is very well balanced between resolution and speed.

 

[Frodo]

It took me a while to adjust to the EVF on my R as I had been using a 5DsR, which has one of the best OVFs around. Indeed I originally bought my R as a backup to the 5DsR, but eventually only used the DSLR when I needed 50 MP. I wouldn't go back to an OVF now, but it did take me time to adjust.

 

[Ian_of_glos]

I'm curious how you managed to do that. In addition to depressing the release button fully, you have to twist the lens at the same time. The lens doesn't just drop off when you press the button.

It is easily done when you are running down the touch line at a rugby match. When i am holding the camera, the middle finger of my left hand always lands on the lens release button and, because it is only raised very slightly above the surface of the camera I do not realise that I am pressing it. The problem has only happened with an EF 100-400 F4.5-5.6 atatched to the camera via the adapter and there is always a monopod attached to the foot of the lens. So I can only assume that the monopod must have applied enough torque to loosen the lens slightly. On one occasion I was still taking photos of the match and I noticed that the aperture information was no longer avaiable. I realised what had happened, secured the lens and no damage was done. On the second occasion it was at the end of the match. The lens must have already been loose when i sat down to review my photos and that time it fell off into my lap. To be fair, the lens release button on the R5 is in the same place as it is on my 5D mark 4, but the button on 5D sticks out further and I can feel it is there. All Canon needed to do was move the button further round the lens so your finger does not rest on it when you are holding the camera or give it a textured surface so you can feel it is there.

 

[Ian_of_glos]

If it was the price, it's been available for the past year or more for £3,000 - 3,300 from reliable grey market sellers. The LP-E6NH are currently listed as in stock at the Canon store, and I have bought a couple of spares over the years. Given the description you have of its performance, the only reason for not buying again is that you have sold both kidneys. If I bought another, I wouldn't hesitate at going to the grey market.

Speak for yourself when it comes the EVF, as you are not speaking for me when you say "Those of us who have used a DSLR for many years..." I don't miss the OVF and really like the ability of the EVF to show me if my exposure is right and also to be able to dial up the brightness and identify a backlit bird.

Do you really measure your exposure by judging how bright the image is in the viewfinder? I suppose we are all different but I rely on the camera's metering system to set the correct exposure.
I thought I would get used to the electoronic viewfinder over time but I have had the R5 for one month now and I still dislike it. There is always a delay when I put the camera to my eye, the image is nowhere near as clear as it is on my 5D and I find I am reverting to the 5D for most of my work.
On price - I went to a proper Canon retailer and paid the full £4,200 for the body. Not sure I would want to take the risk of buying from a retailer that is not approved by Canon.

 

[AlanF]

Do you really measure your exposure by judging how bright the image is in the viewfinder? I suppose we are all different but I rely on the camera's metering system to set the correct exposure.
I thought I would get used to the electoronic viewfinder over time but I have had the R5 for one month now and I still dislike it. There is always a delay when I put the camera to my eye, the image is nowhere near as clear as it is on my 5D and I find I am reverting to the 5D for most of my work.
On price - I went to a proper Canon retailer and paid the full £4,200 for the body. Not sure I would want to take the risk of buying from a retailer that is not approved by Canon.

I began photography with film before exposure meters were built in and hand-held meters were too expensive for me, and I can survive on my own judgement with a digital sensor and RAW in full manual mode. Where the EVF really scores is that in the past with DSLRs I had sometimes had completely wrong settings that I did not realise, but now I can see immediately if I have made a mistake. I can easily compensate additional exposure for say backlit birds by dialing it up until it looks right, and conversely I can see if there is bleaching of highlights. You can even display the histogram if you wish. I can also dial up the exposure when using the camera as a spotting scope for strongly backlit birds that I can't identify because they look black. Try using an f/11 telephoto with an OVF - it will be ghastly dim. In short, I love the EVF. You can hate it if you like, it's your choice.

The delay in the camera becoming live is not due to the EVF per se , it's the overall electronics - the R3 turns on immediately and the R7 wakes up very quickly. With the R5, I half press the shutter immediately as I begin to raise the camera to my eye, and it's usually ready by the time it gets there.

There are reliable grey market dealers from whom I have bought. The price of the R5 is a complete rip-off in the UK at a huge premium over the US price whereas the R7 is similarly priced to the USA and may be even cheaper here. It's your choice where you buy and you should choose a dealer with whom you are happy, but I am not going to put up with Canon's practices that I don't like.

 

[danfaz]

...there is always a monopod attached to the foot of the lens. So I can only assume that the monopod must have applied enough torque to loosen the lens slightly.

Ah, I can see that happening now!

 

[Mikehit]

Do you really measure your exposure by judging how bright the image is in the viewfinder? I suppose we are all different but I rely on the camera's metering system to set the correct exposure.

With wildlife photography there are many, many cases where the meter gets fooled - like the iridescence of a kingfisher against greenery or the whites of swan. If you forget to set exposure compensation for backlit subjects - it is immediately obvious with EVF. Also with EVFs you have the option of setting blinkies warning of over exposure on highlights, or having an in-EVF histogram for ETTR. Some people don't like these things in the viewfinder, I am one of those who approaches the VF (OVF or EVF) as a compositional tool and use these functions as and when the situation needs it.