Full Review of the Canon EOS R5 for Commercial and Portrait Photographers switching from the 5DIV

After using the R5 for a full month as a professional commercial studio and portrait photographer, who shoots some video, I have decided to fully switch from the 5D Mark IV. It took me a while to test everything from auto focus, to tethering to video (including overheating) and how to get the best color out of the new RAW files. This video also covers post production in DPP (Digital Photo Professional), Lightroom and Capture One 20. Please see a full summary of the time line below.

This video was recorded on the R5 in 4:2:2 10-Bit HQ fine externally to an Atomos Shogun in 422HQ Prores.

Pardon my dry AF COVID hands!

Canon EOS R5 Mirrorless Digital Camera (Body Only)

Canon BG-R10 Battery Grip

Lenses

Slider
Kessler Philip Bloom Signature Series Pocket Dolly

Lighting

Review Timeline

3:33 Autofocus

11:17 4:3 Masking / Cropping

14:04 EVF Image Review

14:42 Tethering

16:25 Exposure simulation

19:39 Shutter Mode

25:09 Image Quality

32:11 Video Quality & Overheating

37:24 Form Factor

My other ride is a C200.

[Adamfahlundadafah]

When importing to get the right crop try checking "include existing adjusments"

[rob-cowell]

At last, a balanced review of the R5 with the main attention being photography rather than video. I think you have summed-up the intention of this camera perfectly, continuing the aim of all Canon 5 series cameras I suspect: photography first and foremost but with the option for video if and when needed. I enjoyed this video immensely and thank you for your realistic approach based on real world use. I have the 5D4 and absolutely love it but you your comments have really helped put things into perspective on whether or not I will move to the R5 in future. I suspect I now will at some point.

[Iorndealer]

Excellent Review! I’ve both cameras 5D MK IV and R5. You have answered all my question . Yes it’s so true that one camera can not be all thing in 2 Genre, what to prioritize Video, deal with a Video centric machine, deal with photography get a photographer’s camera. You show how to do it right and foolish that most users want a C200 and wouldn’t want to pay for it but think they can own a “hybrid “ and get that performance free.

[rgrayphotog]

Wow, that was perhaps the most honest and convincing review of the R5 I have seen. Canon *should* pay you to use this for PR! Thank you for this, and I look forward to watching your other videos while I fiddle around with my own R5. :)

[TrishaDash]

Amazing review from a professional standpoint. I have been watching countless reviews of the R5 getting ready for its arrival and this is hands down the best video I have watched. I am a professional fashion & beauty photographer and I just upgraded from my 6D. I no longer have to guess about the crop for Instagram 🙌🏾 thank you

[nickditoro]

I'm so glad to have watched your review of the R5. You thoroughly covered all the ground that I've been wondering about. I''m now planning to order an R5 for myself.

[JaredRibic]

10:37 - I completely agree with you about the need for an *internal zooming* 70-200mm lens. I will continue using my EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS II lens until Canon makes a better (better for me) 70-200mm lens with *internal zooming*. I don't care about how small it is compared to the EF version, I care about how rugged it will be when I'm out shooting. The other thing I don't like about the new RF 70-200mm lens is that you need to turn the zoom ring further in order to get it from 70mm to 200mm. I like the shorter throw on the EF version and don't want to lose that.

I'm loving the EOS R5 for stills and I do a little video on the side as well and it's great for my needs.

[timpolster]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts John. Very useful info. Best of luck with the camera!

[ColinRobertson_LLAP]

Great review John. I'm really glad you brought up the issues you've had with camera-matched profiles in Lightroom. This is something I've struggled with on my EOS R as well. They do have pretty good matching profiles now, but the Adobe's rendering of the R raw files wasn't very good when it first came out... then they changed them, breaking previous edits. 😡 

Despite the improvements Adobe has made, I still prefer the way Capture One interprets my raw files... unfortunately I really miss some of the Lightroom > Photoshop workflow when I use it. The bottom line is I think Adobe needs to work on their Canon profiles.

[ValiRossi]

Amazing review. Really great video. I would highly recommend the X-Rite color checker passport. I never shoot without it.

[BadgerofBitcoin]

Very nice review. You might want to use EFCS as your default, though, to avoid shutter vibrations that can impact images using midrange shutter speeds, and try to remember to switch to full mechanical when using fast shutter speeds and wide apertures. Some cameras can auto switch between the two to ensure the best mode is being used, that would be a nice feature to have. Interesting that the Colour Fidelity profiles do not seem to be the final answer for you - I’m still hopeful that they (or a slightly tweaked form of them) will do the job.

[Chalito]

You might be the best camera channel on YT! Always great stuff John!

[machomeccano]

Great review John, coming from a 5DS i'm loving ithe R5 even though the sensor is slightly less. Images are better for sure. Your video spec 'piece' with settings was a real help getting up and running with this camera. Real world work will tell but i'm happy to see Canon stepping up finally. The eye detect is amazing for sure. Take care.

[pierrelagarde]

Very good and balanced review. Thanks a lot for all those useful information. To add something, to my sense, full electronic shutter is mainly practical in a church for weddings, when you have to portrait people that don't move to much without making any shutter sound.. I won't use it for sports at all or anything moving unless I have to not care about its side effects.

[KTWilliams]

I've enjoyed the R5 in the past few weeks. I've been doing all of my senior photos with the R5 this season. It has been so sharp and I love the eye detection. Coming from the 7D MKii it's a HUGE upgrade. I'll be shooting Formula Drift with it this weekend. We'll see how it does with fast moving objects .

[josephcedeno]

Amazing review of the camera and thanks for all the information, I’ve seen many videos about this camera and this is by far my favorite. I’m ready to do the switch from my 5D mk4 to the r5

[TheBillyfarrell]

Great presentation John, loving your laid back style. I agree with most of what you say but isn’t it terrific that we have so much customisation that each of us can set up the R5/6 to suit our own particular nuances. Keep them coming, thanks.
Billy

[stevemontgomery]

Very informative video, I like how you cover mainly the photography aspects more than the video. Your workaround with Capture One using the EOS utility is good. At first, I was annoyed about not writing to the card when tethered. You soon get over that after you use it more. Plus reviewing the image on a screen is better than on the back of the camera in my opinion. Keep the videos coming.

[young-geezer]

A wholly respectable review - thanks John

[martinekwall]

Great review by a pro! I really appreciate that as it becomes more usable and more insightful. You can use Capture One´s crop function to get it exactly as you want when tethering. Just do it on one photo then automatically you'll have on the rest till you change it. Smooth and easy. You can save crops as presets. I do it often for getting the right proportion to compose for web images; sometimes its panoramic proportion something crazy like 600x2000 pixels... It's also possible to import a text as an overlay so one can really check for exact composition. Its such an ease of mind seeing it right there on the shoot its going to work out design wise.