Approaching the Scene 160: Why The Canon R5 Rocks

(LINKS BELOW) Don’t worry, I’m not leaving Nikon. I’ve just been trying out the other flagship cameras out there. I’ve had an R5 loaner this past month and it rapidly became my favorite non-Nikon camera I’ve used in recent memory. It’s hard to send it back. I’ll share why in this video.

LINKED TABLE OF CONTENTS:
00:00 Intro to ATS 160
00:35 I’m not about to leave Nikon.
01:18 Remember gear alone will not make you a better photographer
02:06 Join our free August 24th Office Hours live photography meeting
03:19 Thanks to my friends at B&H for loaning me this camera and lens
03:50 Things I adore about the R5 (like the flippy screen)
05:18 The R5 ergonomics and controls are excellent
06:58 The R5 image stabilization is really effective
07:26 The eye face detect and tracking is really solid
09:33 Live RGB histogram!
10:40 Great features that are a bit clunky to utilize
12:05 It does auto focus stacking capture
12:59 It’s got everything you want in a great form factor and layout
13:08 Easy to navigate sensible menu structure
13:20 It has almost no blackout in high speed capture mode
14:47 Image review, dynamic range, image quality, focus tracking tests
20:27 The video capability of the R5 is totally astounding
21:38 Video review, 10-bit vs 8-bit 120fps 4K slow motion
24:35 I wholeheartedly endorse this camera and lens for Canon shooters
33:10 The DSLR vs Mirrorless debate echoes the film vs digital debate
34:00 Advice to the DSLR holdouts before buying new glass

LINKS:

Using my links helps support this video series. Thank you!

I invite all of you to join Rick, Woody, David, Darren and me for our free live Office Hours Tuesday August 24th at 10AM Pacific. We’re going to talk about workshops and I hope you’ll share your experiences from workshops past and or hopes for workshops in the future. We’ll tell some stories and share some things we’re planning as well as answering your questions. Be sure to submit a question when you sign up.

Thanks to everyone for the great questions you are sending in. Keep them coming either in the comments below or by emailing me directly. I hope to see you in the next Office Hours Session.

Stay safe and healthy.

[rnursemd]

I've had my R5 for about nine months and it has made us Canon shooters sigh in relief: FINALLY! Such an awesome camera!

[mdturnerinoz]

I have an R5 and an R6 and love both! I have some RF glass but the EF adapter makes the EFs work just as well as with RF native glass.

[diversedad]

Really cool to hear this perspective from a long time Nikon user. I've been a Canon shooter for years but I'm a hybrid shooter(stills/video) and a couple years ago I moved to Sony because they had better offering for hybrid shooter and for cheaper. But I kept my Canon glass hoping they would bounce back. I now have the R5 and it's a game changer. It's an amazing camera and it feels good to be back with canon. I still use my Sony as a backup/second angle camera.

[TheEastbelfast]

Coming from a Z7 And Z7ii my experience with the R5 with regards to AF for wildlife and BIF has been a real eye opener as to how bad the AF is on the Nikon’s, returned the Z7ii and kept the Z7 for landscapes, tried the Z7ii for bird and wildlife and was very dissatisfied, love the results from the Z7 for landscapes, one point I would make, LR and PS are a bad choice for Canon raw files, try putting the Canon files through DXO pure-raw, massive difference
Great channel enjoy your content and advice 👍🏻

[smkunder]

Love that you keep it real and unbiased, I am so sick of the brand wars. I have been limiting my participation in some forums and utube channels for the very reason of bashing. All systems have their strong point. I am Nikon for sure, but there are some things my Olympus can do that Nikon doesn’t. There is room for everyone, to enjoy the passion of photography.

[hollymasepohl]

Love your channel and your unbiased view on the different systems. Your gear recommendations have always proved spot on for me. I am a canon shooter and upgraded my 5DIV and it’s glass to the R5 and RF glass. Your so spot on about it not being the gear but about knowing your system and just going out and seeing and photographing. I am very happy, with my upgrade to mirrorless and now if I only didn’t have to work so much and had more time to go out and photograph. You have an excellent teaching style and I also enjoy your office hours and your ON1 material. I have learned a ton from watching your videos. Enjoy the rest of the summer with your beautiful family hope you all stay safe.

[peterbuitelaar]

Very good that a non Canon user is judging a Canon camera, this review is much more objective than the usually "negative" reviews by "fan" boys and girls of a certain camera.

[fotografmagnus]

The R5 has a dual-gain output sensor which in short means you have the ability to underexpose your shot heavily by up to around four stops, then pull it back up to a normal exposure. It helps a lot when you have bright highlights and backlit situations and don't want to blow the exposure on them. It won't even introduce more noise in the shadows or any vertical line issues which are common with normal type sensors.

[gregs]

I am a long time Canon shooter and I do own the R5 and love it. It took me some time to switch to mirrorless from my 5D IV but did it and though I still own the 5DIV, I don’t use it anymore. I have the DSLR in case I have to send the R5 to the shop!

[felm.]

Glad to hear you are staying with Nikon :) and can't wait for the Z9 and beyond, cheers!

[romiemiller]

I'm sticking with Nikon too. I don't want to change boats mid stream either. And, Nikon cameras are intuitive for me. Everything is where I naturally expect it to be and works the way I assume it should work. But it's interesting to hear about other cameras.

[joemreyes]

It was an absolute delight to migrate from Nikon to Canon with the new RF glass and R mount bodies. The RF lenses are just simply amazing.

[SanoyNimbus]

I understand your feelings about the Canon R5. I borrowed one in the start of this year ... And felt the same. I really loved that camera. I did a comparison between brands and had a Nikon Z7ii, Sony A7R IV and a Canon R5 ... Nikon also lended me a Z6ii. ... to send back the Z7ii didn't hurt as much as sending back the Canon. After the test period I ordered two Nikon Z6ii :) ... And are still a happy Nikon shooter.

[rogersulenski]

Nice review, I am a little bias since I shoot Canon but I have followed you channel for several years now and always enjoy you content even if it about Nikons or other brands of cameras. I always enjoy learning and I can depend on that from your videos. (I've been using the R5 for about 8 months)

[sarfaraz.hosseini]

The product design team did a stellar job, asthetically the R5 and R6 are the prettiest looking full-frame cameras from any manufacturer.

[BrentODell]

Many years ago I shot with a Nikon D500. The weight of the 200-500/5.6 inspired me to give mirrorless a try. After using Panasonic, Olympus, Fujifilm, and Sony, I'm seriously thinking about getting an R5 and going Canon. It's good to hear that even Nikon shooting like it :)

[leswentworth]

For other Canon shooters out there,
the FV setting is worth a look on that camera. Nice review Hudson!

[steviejsmall]

Hey Hudson, long time since I’ve commented on a video of yours, figured now was as a good of time as any!

So I had the Z6 and a 24-70 F4 when they first came out, upgraded the 24-70 F4 to the 2.8 version and then ended up leaving Nikon because I was frustrated that the 70-200 and 14-24 were taking so long to arrive. Jumped to Canon with the EOS R and got the 15-35 2.8, 24-70 2.8, 70-200 2.8 and the 100-500. Really enjoyed the glass, was less than enthused with the body, especially compared to Z6.

I was holding out on getting an R5 as I wanted to see what R3 would bring to table and after that announcement and rumored specs, new R5 was my better buy…except for one thing…I really missed Nikon!

This is completely subjective and my own rationale but I just always felt the pictures I took with my Z6 looked more pleasing to me in terms of how color and the image rendered out. All my Canon files left me feeling like I was trying to compare it to Nikon and never feeling satisfied.

Regardless, I rented an R5 to see how I’d like it and boy does that camera sing, especially with the glass, what a combo! But…the allure of Nikon and your recent vids about Nikon and Z6 II just kept playing in my mind.

So, made the financially painful choice to go back to Nikon and got the Z6 II and the full set of 2.8 zooms and couldn’t be happier to be back. Just really love the images and the lenses are optically amazing and I put them up against Canon and Sony as phenomenal lenses.

I’m here to stay with Nikon and while the autofocus isn’t quite as great as Canon’s R5, it’s pretty darn close and so now I’m joining in the fight to say it’s not as bad as a lot of folks make it out to be. Could it be better? For sure! Is it going to be? I truly believe so!

So, with being back in the Nikon fold and having the 2.8 zooms, I’m curious to see what you think the 100-400 will end up being aperture wise? The RF 100-500 for Canon is sublime and love the extra 100mm you got with it but the 4.5-7.1 was a little bit of a let down. Think Nikon will have a faster glass with the less reach or will it be equivalent if you had to guess?

Also, any other lens recommendations? I see you really love the 105 2.8 macro, I’ve never had a macro before so not sure it fits what I like to photograph and film but seems like a nice lens.

Been making some purchases at Kirk Photo to complement the recent purchases and got my eye on some other gear you’ve been recommending.

Final thought, have you ever shot with the 58mm Noct? I really want that lens as I imagine using it for talking head shots for video and it has to be incredible for astrophotography assuming you can live with manual only focus…curious on your takeaway if any?

Keep up the awesome work and great video for Canon R5, what an amazing body and great system but I can’t leave Nikon again…and that Z9…ooo wee can’t wait to see what it ends up being!

[t-linn]

Great video, Hudson. I recently moved back to Canon and the R5 after seven years with the Fuji system. I'd love to see you spend some time with the latest Fuji bodies—X or GFX. Many of the features you laud in the Canon, Nikon, or Sony bodies are actually more refined in the Fuji system. For example, in the focus stacking mode, you can set both a start point and an end point to limit the number of extra images taken when you don't need to go out to infinity. And Fuji allows the user to set up custom screens like Canon, but your control is much more granular. You can turn each item on or off individually rather than the preset groups you get on the R5. I love my R5 but there is a long list of things that I miss from Fuji.

[peterzpictstube]

Great coverage of amazing camera. But your shots show the same lifeless color DPRTV had in their initial testing of R5/6. Is it Adobe defaults or is there really something special about Nikon’s colors?