Canon EOS VR System In-Depth Review for 3D VR180 Creators & Filmmakers

I spent the last few days filming TWO VR180 music videos with the Canon RF 5.2mm F2.8 L Dual Fisheye lens using the Canon R5 body. We shot in both a studio-controlled environment and out in nature in front of a waterfall. I learned so much about this VR180 setup in a practical, hands-on way. And I have so much information I want to share with you. So don't hit the buy button just yet until you watch this in-depth review all the way through and understand what you are getting yourself into.
See the image quality of my real-world sample on Oculus TV here:

0:00 - Introduction of EOS VR tutorial series
0:32 - NOT a Canon R5 ?!
2:25 - DESIGN: Why Canon EOS VR System is BETTER?
2:55 - Canon R3, R1, Canon R5C and ...
3:18 - Canon C70 with RF 5.2mm F2.8 L Dual Fisheye
3:33 - RED V-RAPTOR 8K with Canon RF 5.2mm F2.8 L Dual Fisheye?
5:00 - Resolution
5:22 - Manual Focus
5:55 - Will left & right eye focus drift?
6:45 - Dust- and Water-Resistant? Let's test it (in a waterfall)!
7:14 - Review the Lens Cap (seriously?!)
7:38 - ⚠️PUT YOUR LENS CAP ON DURING OUTDOOR FILMMING⚠️
7:47 - Image Quality Comparison Test
8:21 - FM DUO vs Canon EOS VR vs Z Cam K2Pro vs Insta360 EVO
9:35 - The MOST LINEAR FISHEYE with no fisheye distortion 🤯
10:09 - Fisheye Image Circle Resolution (vs Output Resolution)
11:29 - 180 Side-by-side vs 3D 360 Circle design (for VR headset)
11:58 - Vertical Parallax: VR180 inherent problem - UNDERSTAND THIS BEFORE YOU BUY!
12:38 - Fix Parallax w/ Canon EOS VR Plug-in for Adobe Premiere Pro
13:20 - Conclusion / Verdict

📜 VR180 Masterclass
👉 How to Film VR180 with Canon EOS VR System (new lesson every month):

Get the EOS VR System:
Required Storage:

⤵️Download the official Google / YouTube VR180 Creator Tool here (Hugh repacked):

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#Canon #EOSVR #VR180Camera

[ChinaVR]

Canon R5 shooting overheating can be solved with an external dummy battery, an external memory card and an external monitor. In addition, there is also a fan for cooling the phone to solve it.

[maxkangas]

Another excellent video Hugh! Can;t wait for more to come.

[jimmybaker]

Thank you for thos excellent tutorial. I checked the origin footage in my headsets Reverb g2, Pimax 8kx and quest 2 and the footage looks amazing. This lense is amazing.

[davidwatchesyoutube]

I enjoyed your content and review a lot. Well done

[AustinGlamourPhoto]

I appreciate you making these videos. very helpful.

[Racife]

Thanks for pushing the VR 180 space Hugh.

Am looking forward to your dual insta360 go tutorial!

[marksoukup]

Hey everyone! I want to share some good news! I can confirm that the Canon VR lens does indeed work with ALL Canon mirrorless camera bodies (R, RP, R6, R5, R3) for photos! I took some test shots with the VR lens on an R6, resized the jpegs to 8192x5464 (the R5 photo resolution), copied the Metadata from an R5 jpeg shot with the VR lens, and pasted it into the resized R6 photos. The Canon EOS VR Utility software read the R6 photos just fine and exported out properly corrected equirectilinear 3D VR180 photos! This is great news!

Unfortunately, this does not work well for video. Without explaining a couple extra necessary steps to actually make the Canon VR software make corrections to the video file, the bigger problem is that the R, RP, and R6 do not record DCI video, so the sides of the video files are actually cropped a touch. I haven't tested to see what the final output would look like but I assume it wouldn't look great.

[WindFireAllThatKindOfThing]

You can tell that the noise being produced by the R5's sensor is workable. It's hiding plenty of buried detail in the noise waiting to be sifted out and reclaimed with tools like Topaz in post. A monolithic lens by itself is a superior solution to twin sensors, so long as we can mate it to a cam that suits every users individual goals, and can carry over as we upgrade camera bodies over our lifetimes. Like any normal lens barrel.
That's a very good sign. But Canon still needs to knock it off with the proprietary mounting ring.

[rubenlazaro]

Thanks for these series of Canon 5, 2 Hugh. When will you try shot and stich 360 Stereo with these rigs? I am also impatient for Canon 5Rc!

[QiangQiangVRTV]

And not forgetting, this is normal camera as well, you can get b roll for PIP for VR just a change of lens. Now its a all in 1 VR, daily, camera! love it.. now i need to get myself a cup of milk n bread .. need to save up!

[ShinilPayamal]

Thanks once again for this awesome tutorial.👍🍹

[bestofcenturies]

Great tutorial. Looking for more on camera settings and editing part for VR

[handle]

Nice. Do you have any samples that are higher quality than youtube that we can download?

[davidwatchesyoutube]

How much more? 4:17 cuz this whole review is rad just wondering the workaround cost thanks 👍👌

[TestBot]

Hugh at 11:05, you mention a technique to remove the parallax caused by seeing a hint of the opposite lens in each eye, but I've been unable to find it. Which video is that tutorial in?

[HalleyDavies]

Ah, I'm still working with an A7Sii and a macbook pro late 2013. Sounds like I may need some gear upgrades if I want to head in this direction!

I'll be keeping my eye open for videos that talk about workarounds though :)

[ourbellalife]

Hugh! My 5.2 lens arrives tomorrow and I own an R3 so I'll let you know if it works! I also own an R5, C70, Komodo so i was going to try on those but your video just showed me the crop on the S35 sensor so that takes the C70 and Komodo off the try on lens list I had. LOL. Thank you for doing the heavy lifting for us! Quick question.. for those of us that don't use Premiere but prefer Apple Final Cut Pro as it's lightyears faster for edits on my M1 Max laptop.... any suggestion for software that plays with FCPX? Thank you!

[rickybung]

I think this lense is the future of VR180. Only the FM Duo is better buy also more expensive.

[marydeguzman]

Hi Hugh!! 👋 We got VR Content Creator Kit and we are editing in premiere pro with the eos plugin but we are struggling with exporting the video from premiere pro to play in vision pro. it is playing two videos left and right in vision pro. we exported using H.264 with Video is VR checked tried both monoscopic and stereoscopic side-by-side. But when played in vision pro it plays two videos side by side.... 😭😿😢 exhaustion setting in... all help welcome. ...

[ParvezSImagery]

HUGH! Great overview. What is the Canon stitching software cost? Mistika is $110/month! Hoping Davinci/ Fusion has a plugin or some customization that can also do the stitching.