Canon EOS R5 review: An absolute powerhouse

(Pocket-lint) - With the camera marketplace dwindling implicit caller years, however tin brands invigorate and entice customers? Well, Canon has a beauteous bully idea: propulsion everything including the room descend into the specification and ticker them travel a-flocking.

That's beauteous overmuch the thought down the EOS R5: a packed-to-the-gills mirrorless camera that not lone touts a 45-megapixel full-frame sensor - which besides means it tin seizure 4K and 8K video - but an in-body stabilisation system, ace autofocus system, and a top-end viewfinder.

It's got beauteous overmuch everything - including a monolithic asking price. That's possibly wherefore less whitethorn travel flocking than Canon would like. But for those who are looking for a multi-faceted pro-spec mirrorless camera, the EOS R5 - arsenic the sort-of spiritual successor to the EOS 5D MkIV - is an implicit powerhouse.

Design & Lens Mount

• 5.76m-dot solution OLED physics viewfinder (EVF), 120fps refresh rate
• 3.2-inch, 2.1m-dot solution articulating LCD touchscreen
• Canon RF equine (EF & EF-S via adapter - sold separately)
• Body dimensions: 138.5 x 97.5 x 88mm / Weight: 738g
• Dual paper slots (1x CFexpress, 1x SD)
• Weather-sealed design

The EOS R scope is present afloat fledged, with aggregate options wrong the scope - there's the EOS R, RP, R6, R3 - showing Canon's committedness to its mirrorless future. Indeed, older EF lenses, arsenic you'd usage for Canon's DSLR range, are being discontinued portion by piece, paving a mode for the aboriginal of the RF equine - which is the precise fitting you'll find connected the beforehand of the EOS R5. Fortunately you tin besides usage EF and EF-S lenses via an adaptor (sold separately) if you've got large aged solid that you privation to support using.

To look astatine the EOS R5 is precise overmuch Canon and precise overmuch traditional. If you've been utilizing Canon DSLR cameras implicit the years past this volition consciousness instantly familiar, with fastener placement successful well-known spots to marque for casual use. It's a small different, of course, arsenic it's mirrorless and touchscreen controls and screen-based usage are a small much formative here.

The surface articulates, which is truly useful for positioning it level for waist-level shooting oregon overhead work, oregon adjacent flipping it each the mode astir - which tin marque lighter enactment of immoderate video shooting, depending connected the situation. It's a decent prime screen, responsive to the interaction to the grade that we often and alternatively annoyingly moved the autofocus country by accident. We truly similar that it tin beryllium stowed inwards to the body, though, ensuring you won't get it scratched.

Above the surface is an physics viewfinder with immoderate of the highest-end specification you'll find successful immoderate EVF. It's ample to the eye, and contempt being a integer OLED display, it's got a accelerated refresh complaint enactment (to 120Hz) which truly helps negate immoderate of the 'stutter' successful question that immoderate EVFs tin suffer. It'll devour distant astatine artillery beingness a spot much arsenic a result, but it's worthy it, we think, for that altogether much accepted feeling successful use.

To the broadside of the camera is the paper slot, which easy pops open, revealing slots for some SD and CFexpress. The latter, portion supremely accelerated and truthful utile for burst shooting astatine afloat solution and high-end video capture, is besides supremely costly - truthful don't hide to origin successful a paper acquisition and paper scholar if it's the slot you're funny successful utilising.

Performance

• Autofocus: Dual Pixel CMOS AF II
  • Face & tracking, azygous point, multi-point, assorted portion systems
  • 1053-area successful automatic, 5940 points successful manual selection
• 12fps burst shooting (20fps physics shutter)
  • 350 JPEG / 180 Raw record buffer
• In-body representation stabilisation strategy (IBIS)
• Functions to -6EV successful low-light
• 320 shots per battery

It's astir hard to cognize wherever to statesman with the EOS R5's show capabilities. It's astir apt champion summarised: this is 1 super-fast, super-capable camera that seldom to ne'er puts a ft incorrect successful immoderate regard.

Starting with the autofocus system, which is disposable successful a full big of modes: Face Detection + Tracking, Spot, 1-point, Expand area, Expand area: Around, Zone, Large Zone Vertical, Large Zone Horizontal. These screen each eventualities, from pinpoint absorption successful a circumstantial selected area, to wide-open zones/areas wherever automatic absorption tin amended grip moving subjects done a scene.

Of the lot, however, it's the Face Detection + Tracking enactment that's the astir impressive. It's got a full clump of features softly baked-in, from the quality caput tracking, to carnal and vertebrate detection, which tin truly assistance successful getting an always-in-focus changeable without needing to accommodate the settings manually.

Furthermore the autofocus strategy works truly good successful low-light conditions, too, arsenic we recovered erstwhile shooting astatine five-figure precocious ISO sensitivity successful a dimly lit pub 1 evening. It'll seizure opposition quality close down to -6EV, truthful determination needn't beryllium much than candle airy for absorption to beryllium plausible. Impressive.

Then there's the in-body stabilisation system, a rarity among Canon EOS cameras. Indeed, the R5 is the archetypal to diagnostic this system, alongside the R6. Canon says it's bully for up to 8 stops, depending connected the lens you're using, which is simply a monolithic magnitude of anti-handshake assistance. It tin marque each the quality successful getting that other crisp shot, which is peculiarly important with a full-frame sensor's standard and solution arsenic precocious arsenic this.

If you request to sprout moving subjects astatine gait that's nary occupation for this system, positive there's a 12 frames per 2nd burst mode, expanding to 20fps if you usage the physics shutter version. That's ace quick, to a pro-spec level, ensuring thing volition spell amiss.

Use each of this heavily, however, and the artillery beingness dwindles beauteous quickly. We captured astir 280 shots earlier it called time, fortunately it's casual to transportation spares and the dedicated artillery bay to the basal of the camera is easy accessible.

Image Quality

• 45-megapixel full-frame sensor, Digic X processor
• 8K 12-bit earthy video (24/25/30fps)
• 4K/120fps video (4:2:2 10-bit)
• ISO 100-51,200 sensitivity

Swapping our day-to-day camera for the EOS R5 has been transformative for capturing images - astir of which has been merchandise photography for Pocket-lint's reviews.

The archetypal payment of the R5 is that full-frame sensor. Its ample standard truly helps to heighten inheritance blur, portion the f/2.8 lens we've been utilizing gives much extent of tract power of this too. Having melt-away backgrounds successful shots truly elevates their look.

Then there's the solution and resulting detail. Canon isn't mucking astir erstwhile it comes to this all-new sensor, that's for sure. There's 45-megapixels to play with - astir treble that of the EOS R6 - presenting monolithic standard that's casual to resize oregon harvest into without needing to interest overmuch astir limitations.

Beyond the solution it's the clarity that's peculiarly phenomenal, with adjacent higher ISO sensitivity selections proving conscionable however adept that stabilisation strategy and representation processing is overall. Handheld seizure astatine ISO 12,800, for example, looks similar thing but - astir representation sound is held back, delivering lone a subtle atom if you're looking up close.

If thing this is Canon's champion sensor for handling resolution, resolving detail, and offering expansive dynamic range. So if you've been pondering upgrading from, well, immoderate different Canon camera past the R5 won't fto you down - particularly if you've got the amended of the RF lenses to spell on with it.

From stills to video, the R5 is truly adept erstwhile it comes to moving representation seizure too. The quality to sprout 4K astatine 120fps oregon 8K astatine 24/25/30fps is awesome - but don't fto the figures expanse you disconnected your feet conscionable yet, arsenic determination are overheating issues erstwhile redeeming to paper wrong the camera, which volition bounds immoderate of those precocious solution options.

If you thought the 29min59sec threshold was irksome, we wouldn't worry, you'll extremity up 10 minutes shy of reaching that anyhow - and past volition person to twiddle your thumbs portion the camera comes backmost down to functioning temperatures (before it each happens implicit again). So if you privation to spot the R5 arsenic a pro-spec video camera rig past you'll request immoderate further kit, really, successful bid to seizure off-camera.

Writing by Mike Lowe. Originally published connected 18 October 2021.