Canon R5 Anticipation for R5 Mark II?

[jcass]

Having been on an upgrade cycle of 7 to 8 years, I confess that I am likely to purchase an R5 Mark II on introduction after having my R5 for a year and half. That'll be two firsts for me: upgrading after only 1 1/2 years, and buying a camera at intro. Of course, this is depending on an actual release and the final specifications of the camera.

I love my R5 and plan to keep it as a second body. There are a couple of features though that just keep tugging me down the road to upgrade:

1. Pre-buffer shooting. I always miss birds launching by a hair and would like to take photos of lightning. In sports, I have a good sense for the moment of the action, this can only help.
2. Auto-focus improvements, especially QPAF and low light AF. The R5 is fantastic, but it does hunt in low light and improvements in the R6 II and R8 AF have been lauded. I admit, this is a weakness of mine and I can use all the help that I can get.
3. Increased resolution/size of viewfinder and display. My eyes just ain't what they used to be. My unicorn is the articulating viewfinder.
4. Multi-function hot shoe. My old flashes suffice, but the incompatibility moving forward is frustrating.
5. Stacked sensor... dynamic range... improved low light image quality. No complaints in my R5, but can you imagine it being better!

I'd like to know what other folks think about the Mark II... should the February announcement actually occur. I think it will. What features do or don't matter to you?

 

[RedCobra]

I see your point on the first crop, looks OK, not so the second imo. A smaller crop might look better with but this one is way too soft. Nothing wrong with the original shot though!

Soft? Are you looking on your phone? LOL

 

[Dave Williams]

No, on my Mac. Looks OK on a small screen like a phone.

 

[Dave Williams]

Soft? Are you looking on your phone? LOL

Ah just realised your shots were probably taken with your OM-1 , not a Canon camera. Criticism of the OM system that I have heard is that when you have that sensor in the body it doesn't leave a lot of room for more cropping. Viewed on a desktop computer the lack of any fine detail is very apparent.

 

[Archibald]

To me Vulture Tree 3 looks oversharpened or has JPG artifacts or both.

 

[RedCobra]

Ah just realised your shots were probably taken with your OM-1 , not a Canon camera. Criticism of the OM system that I have heard is that when you have that sensor in the body it doesn't leave a lot of room for more cropping. Viewed on a desktop computer the lack of any fine detail is very apparent.

Yeah, and a couple of people here aren't happy that it's as sharp as their Canon stuff. LOL Shot with the MZ 150-400 f/4.5 at 800mm (FFE)

 

[Dave Williams]

Yeah, and a couple of people here aren't happy that it's as sharp as their Canon stuff. LOL Shot with the MZ 150-400 f/4.5 at 800mm (FFE)

Well I'm certainly not one of them.
I have heard that because it's a 4/3rds sensor it doesn't allow for much cropping though, and that's coming from owners of the said camera. Cropping exaggerates noise and attempts to reduce it with programmes like Topaz paints out detail .
Anyway, no more comments from me on this , I don't want to upset our friendly forum!

 

[jcass]

I don't have time over the next week to look at the R5 User's Manual, but I am interested in reading a couple of sections when I get a chance: prebuffer settings, focus bracketing settings, the new AF settings, etc.

My initial reaction at launch was hopeful, but reserved. My excitement is growing the more I read/view from sources that I somewhat trust. I don't expect this to be a night vs day experience. But it is lining up that, in a series of upgrades that I was hoping for, this will be an impactful upgrade for me. Don't get me wrong... if it was down to a strict cost-benefit analysis, I would question the need to upgrade from an R5 to R5ii. But it ain't. I'm getting more and more excited to get the R5ii in my hands the more read and see from the few lucky folks that have used it.

 

[jcass]

I received an email from B&H today thanking me for my order, saying that the R5 Mk II is currently on backorder, and that the expected ship date is August 20. So, kinda confirms the Aug 20 I've read.

Thank you for your purchase of the new Canon EOS R5 Mark II at B&H Photo! We appreciate your business. The product you ordered is currently on pre-order, with the confirmed ship date of August 20, 2024.

I'm happy to say that the R5 Mk II will support flash during focus bracketing for macro. It's in the manual. I wasn't expecting that before the official announcement, but became hopeful when I read that it support flash with electronic shutter. Unfortunately, we can't map a button to toggle pre-capture shooting on/off. That is a feature that I believe I will use often and would have like a quicker way to enable when I say a bird that looked like it was ready to launch.

 

[Only RF]

News - Canon EOS R1 and R5 Mark II Finally Announced!

Dude Paton's Preference for R5ii (over R5 & R1)

rfshooters.com

 

[jcass]

I've seen a lot of the posts about Dynamic Range and noise at high ISO's... basically stating that image quality being somewhat reduced in the Mk II. Frankly, I don't give a hoot. My excitement regarding the Mk II is increasing and I can't help but wish that B&H would screw over Canon and ship mine today. Can't they feel my "influence".

DR and noise performance are important to me. Don't get me wrong, an improvement was on my wish list. But, I am very happy with the R5's performance and I can't imagine a significant drop that would dissatisfy me. I think some folks are over-critical and pixel peeping too closely.

On the other hand, the AF performance/modes and other features are stoking my anticipation.

• Pre-buffer shooting
• Flash in focus bracketing (unexpected)
• Reduced rolling shutter (a problem that has plagued some of my favorite photos)
• Low light focus hunting

On the down side:

• the new batteries are on backorder and there is a question about 3rd party batteries.
• for the first time, I ordered a battery grip, just in case. The BG-20, not the cooling version. Never had an overheat problem with the R5.

I'm curious to know everyone thinks as we approach the formal delivery date.

 

[jcass]

Home stretch. I sent a message to Elon on X to authorize B&H to ship my order now so that it will arrive by the 20th, "as promised". Surprisingly, reply yet from either Elon or B&H.

Yeah, I understand GAS. Yes, I was once a kid and I remember the anticipation of Christmas Eve. I should be beyond all of that at my age. But, dammit, I want to see that shipping notification and get the tracking number. The cat is already out of the bag, Canon. So, release the dogs!

 

[jcass]

I've also followed the recent threads on DPR and FM, etc. I figure most folks have as well and there wasn't much benefit to rehash it here. To summarize:

• The DR and image quality improvements are non-existent or, at best, insignificant.
  • Imo, mild disappointment, but based on hype and my hopes. Likely anything is not noticeable or irrelevant. It's a wash.
  • Add your own links if you feel strongly that one argument or set if results is more relevant.
• Battery support
  • Imo, the accusations of IP protection are unwarranted. I fully believe that future 3rd party batteries will meet the voltage requirements and current needs to "pass" Canon in-camera checks. I'm an embedded developer that has programmed this kind of stuff. I may be wrong, but I believe that Canon would only be screwing themselves, much like HP, if they went down that road. 3rd party battery manufacturers will figure out how to pass the spec's just like Canon batteries do. What do you think?
  • Canon's new stuff needs more power. They raised voltage and current requirements in the age-old balance of power requirements. Nothing new here except, once again, letting the after-market catch up.
  • Cost of new batteries. Yeah, I've order new spare "P" batteries. Not happy, but no choice.
• Positives:
  • Auto Focus Performance! Has any initial evaluation, not applauded this yet?
    • I shoot sports and birds/wildlife.
    • I shoot family and friends for events.
    • I have not heard of any new feature that I consider useless to me. I'm excited by all. YMMV.
  • Prebuffer shooting.
    • Totally excited.
    • Folks are complain about the implementation, but I'm grateful for the current design and will take a wait-n-see attitude about making it more flexible. Losta, folks seem to go from the R6 mk ii's is crap to this is also crap in a heartbeat.
      • Yes, I would like a future firmware option to go from 15 Frames to 1/5 Second, but I just want the bleeping feature for now without the bagage of unpacking shots. Sheesh, I'll live with it if I have to.
  • Flash in ES. This was unexpected by me. Macro fans rejoice.
    • Related. Flash in macro focus stacking.
  • Regarding video...
    • So many questions about overheating. Idk and I'm not going there. Imo, if you need something that doesn't overheat at 8K video, then pony up the bucks and buy the video cam that you need... please don't make my hybrid cost me $2k more.
    • I've shot almost no video on my R5 and I'm interested in expanding my horizons and doing more.

Broad topics, but please let me know what you think. What are the topics, that I didn't mention, that matter the most to you?

 

[Jake Shoots Birds]

I'll be picking mine up tomorrow morning and took a day off to celebrate.

I asked a Canon rep I know if they had one I could check out in the meantime they said I could with the following caveats - it's got pre-release firmware and I can't take any images with me. Would have love to checked it out anyway, but we couldn't make it happen.

The reason I say this is that the Canon person explicitly stated that the firmware in the camera wasn't the final release firmware, meaning that firmware wasn't accessible yet even by them. I'm not saying that the release firmware will have features we haven't heard about, but I also expect that no one who has posted about the camera to this point has shot with it either. So any and all comments about what did or did not improve are taken with a grain of salt.

For me the keys are the focus system (which has gotten raves) and the fast read speeds in electronic shutter that might finally allow me to shoot in it most of the time.

I'm hoping the newer chargers have a USB connection so I can charge batteries on the way home and not have to plug in the body directly (bringing a fully charged current Canon battery with me anyway). Also hoping Adobe gets a non-generic profile done for it soon (my understanding is that the June release of ACR will read the files but profiles are just OK), otherwise I may need to use Canon's software for a bit (not a fan). Also wondering about DxO Pure Raw 3 as I can't seem to find what bodies are supported.

All the frustrations of being first on the block. LOL

 

[Jake Shoots Birds]

• Prebuffer shooting.
  • Totally excited.
  • Folks are complain about the implementation, but I'm grateful for the current design and will take a wait-n-see attitude about making it more flexible. Losta, folks seem to go from the R6 mk ii's is crap to this is also crap in a heartbeat.
    • Yes, I would like a future firmware option to go from 15 Frames to 1/5 Second, but I just want the bleeping feature for now without the bagage of unpacking shots. Sheesh, I'll live with it if I have to.

Just saw something on this that I hadn't heard before - the 15 frames are just that, 15 frames. That gives you 1/2 second at 30 FPS, but if you're at 20 FPS then it's 3/4 second, and a full second at 15 FPS (https://youtu.be/MDQnMZkAG9o?si=19nfZ43Ww25W7-HT&t=387). These are the only folks I've heard mention it - or at least imply it, and for someone like me who's used to shooting a lower frame rates it makes those 15 frames more valuable in certain situations.

 

[RedCobra]

Home stretch. I sent a message to Elon on X to authorize B&H to ship my order now so that it will arrive by the 20th, "as promised". Surprisingly, reply yet from either Elon or B&H.

Yeah, I understand GAS. Yes, I was once a kid and I remember the anticipation of Christmas Eve. I should be beyond all of that at my age. But, dammit, I want to see that shipping notification and get the tracking number. The cat is already out of the bag, Canon. So, release the dogs!

Picking up mine (with extra battery) tomorrow from my local dealer.

 

[MikeZ]

I'd love to get an honest assessment of the R5II from any are current R5 owner who is in process of upgrading. I'm more than happy with my R5, but am really interested in how the MkII compares in actual use. Thanks.

 

[Jake Shoots Birds]

I'd love to get an honest assessment of the R5II from any are current R5 owner who is in process of upgrading. I'm more than happy with my R5, but am really interested in how the MkII compares in actual use. Thanks.

Gimme a week.

 

[jcass]

I'd love to get an honest assessment of the R5II from any are current R5 owner who is in process of upgrading. I'm more than happy with my R5, but am really interested in how the MkII compares in actual use. Thanks.

Jan Wegener posted his review today. He does lots of comparisons to the R5. You may find this helpful.

R5 Mark II: Near PERFECT with a SURPRISING FLAW! | INTENSIVE in the Field REVIEW

Dynamic Range, AF? 100k photos later, how did the Canon R5 Mark II fare in the real world?Order your R5 II here! - https://bhpho.to/3URLDk0 MASTERCLASS - Edi...

youtu.be

 

[jcass]

Like many, I recieved shipping notifications from B&H for R5ii and BG-R20. Only thing not shipped yet is two spare batteries. Shipped items should arrive tomorrow.

I'm very busy at work right now, so tomorrow may be a frustrating day.

 

[Bucolic Old Sir Henry]

Just heard from my dealer that my R52 is waiting for me to pop in and collect it. Unfortunately, can't get down to town until Thursday afternoon - but I expect I'll survive.

 

[MikeZ]

Jan Wegener posted his review today. He does lots of comparisons to the R5. You may find this helpful.

Thanks for the Link, Jim. It seems that the advances are largely in autofocus and video - evolutionary upgrades. That helps tremendously.

 

[jcass]

Just saw something on this that I hadn't heard before - the 15 frames are just that, 15 frames. That gives you 1/2 second at 30 FPS, but if you're at 20 FPS then it's 3/4 second, and a full second at 15 FPS (https://youtu.be/MDQnMZkAG9o?si=19nfZ43Ww25W7-HT&t=387). These are the only folks I've heard mention it - or at least imply it, and for someone like me who's used to shooting a lower frame rates it makes those 15 frames more valuable in certain situations.

I've heard this too. There seems to be contradictory info, but that may be because most folks had used prebuffer at 30fps or 20fps and haven't/can't see the time difference in exif data. I'm still excited about the feature and I plan to experiment with the behavior to see how useful it is at slower fps.

(Note: I read some complaints about 15 images still be saved at low fps, but I'm guessing that you have to half-shutter for long enough to buffer the images. Experimentation needed.)

 

[RedCobra]

I'd love to get an honest assessment of the R5II from any are current R5 owner who is in process of upgrading. I'm more than happy with my R5, but am really interested in how the MkII compares in actual use. Thanks.

Got the MkII yesterday. Keeping the Mk I.
Spent the last hour transferring settings from one to the other.
Initially, I find the AF sticker (set Case to M and Sensitivity to -2 and Acel/Dcel to -1 as per Jan Wegener)
Pre cap is nice and works
Bigger VF is great and no blackout
Sound for ES, variable Drive mode rates

That's all for now. Worth while upgrade for me as a wildlife shooter.
More Later.

 

[jcass]

I picked up my R5 MkII this morning. I missed delivery yesterday while in a work meeting. Another busy work day, but I went out this evening with minimal camera setup time... mistake. I was shooting jpegs, I couldn't figure out how to switch shutter modes, and my back button setup wasn't right. At least the Great Blue Heron that I saw was too far away to get a good photo anyway. This weekend I'll put some effort into going through the configuration settings.

One thing that was evident in my time this evening was the capture speed of the autofocus. There was only a couple of times that I had birds closer than 50 yards. I had an Eastern Phoebe land in a bush at about 20 yards and the focus capture was instantaneous when it could see the bird's eye. When the Phoebe flew off, I noticed that the focus tracked it until if flew behind branches.

 

[StevenAunan]

I picked up my R5 MkII this morning. I missed delivery yesterday while in a work meeting. Another busy work day, but I went out this evening with minimal camera setup time... mistake. I was shooting jpegs, I couldn't figure out how to switch shutter modes, and my back button setup wasn't right. At least the Great Blue Heron that I saw was too far away to get a good photo anyway. This weekend I'll put some effort into going through the configuration settings.

Ditto on the minimal setup. I was able to get mine today after running some errands, and I grabbed the 24-105 and took it for a quick spin. The first thing I noticed about the R5II is the size of the viewfinder. I can see through it with my glasses on, which was impossible on the R6 and R7. That's worth $4300 right there LOL. I took a half dozen pics before realizing I was shooting JPEGS in Program AE mode. I'm recreating the settings I used on the R6 now, and will head out to the nature preserve tomorrow with a full kit.

Has anyone been able to download the full manual? The Canon website doesn't seem to have it.

https://www.usa.canon.com/support/p/eos-r5-mark-ii

 

[Bucolic Old Sir Henry]

I posted this on another thread: https://cam.start.canon/en/C017/manual/c017.pdf

 

[StevenAunan]

I posted this on another thread: https://cam.start.canon/en/C017/manual/c017.pdf

Thanks. I went back to the Canon support page today, and the manual is there now. But it wasn't there yesterday...

 

[jcass]

This is the first photo that I'm posting from my R5II. I like this because of the keepers eyes and expression as the ball passes over the line for Penn State's winning goal. And it was nice, golden hour light.

I received my R5II on the 21st, but I've only been out shooting a couple of times. I also was not able to open any of my images in DPP or Lightroom CC until last night. I was up to date on the latest releases, but something was wrong on my PC and I had uninstall/reinstall and finally was able to open and cull images.

First impressions are tough at this point because I've shot so little with it and the autofocus settings and behavior are more of a change than I expected. But the R5II focus acquisition speed is definitely faster, imo. It's ability track as long as I am not panning is much better too. Overall, the autofocus kicks butt for sports and birds. I can't notice any image quality degradation or increased noise.

 

[AntonLargiader]

What a great moment!

 

[Jake Shoots Birds]

Funny but that image reminds me of the Brady Bunch episode where Greg's football injury sidelines him, so he takes pictures of the game and captures a play that was called incorrectly, so they make him team photographer and we never see a camera again. I say that because isn't this technically offsides? Oh, wait, I have the teams backwards - just saw "Army" on the goalie's jersey. LOL

To your tracking point, are you set on Auto? I'm thinking your panning issue may require you to make the focus a little more sticky by ticking down the settings one or two clicks. Jan Waggener suggested this for birds and I found it helps, so maybe it'll work for your situation as well?