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Noisy miner on the wire Canon EOS R5 with RF 100-500mm Lens |
I just realised that I have been using the EOS R5 for six months so it’s time for a medium term user review.
I am finding that the more I use the R5 the more I like it. It is easily the most capable interchangeable lens camera (ILC) that I have ever owned and it delivers the best user experience.
You can read about the specifications, features and capabilities in excruciating detail elsewhere.
In summary this is a camera which brings a high level of capability to just about any photographic assignment. In the not-so-distant past you could have a camera with high resolution or one with high speed but not a camera with both. The R5 delivers both.
Landscape, portraiture, documentary, architecture, sport, wildlife, you name it, the R5 can deliver in style.
No ILC is worth anyone’s money without a fine selection of lenses. Here the still fairly new RF lens catalogue delivers with an appealing range of lenses covering the full gamut from super hero optics through enthusiast desirables right down to budget offerings for buyers with limited funds.
Things I like about the R5
* After six months and countless lens changes there is no detectable dust on the sensor even at f22. Some cameras including several Sony models and at least one Nikon, the Z50, attract dust like meat attracts flies with plenty of user complaints on forums as confirmation.
* Handling, ergonomics and the whole user experience are very agreeable and becoming more so as I become familiar with my chosen button, dial and custom mode functions. The handle is comfortable and requires no accessory grip. The EVF and monitor are excellent. All the buttons and dials are where my fingers want to find them and can be configured to work as I wish.
* Every aspect of performance is excellent but I give particular praise to the autofocus system which can find little birds in the sky and track them with uncanny tenacity.
Frame rates are high, the buffer is huge and the CFEB cards fast. Nothing really holds up this camera’s rapid progress if speed is required.
I can switch in a moment from landscape to macro to birds in flight to anything else which comes along.
The camera can run like a rocket if required yet pick out tiny details and subtle tonal nuances in a landscape when a more deliberative photographic style is appropriate.
* I like that everything about the R5 is well specified and works well. There are no real weaknesses.
I was viewing a user review of the just released Sony A1 today. In Australia this camera costs almost twice as much as the R5. Yet the reviewer was complaining about the small handle, the low grade monitor and a user interface unimproved from that of its predecessors.
Things I dislike about the R5
This is the only camera I have ever owned about which I can genuinely say I can’t really think of anything which I actively dislike apart from changing lenses but that comes with the territory of an ILC.
Many of the complaints about the R5 which I read on user forums are either non-issues like tiny gaps between sections of the outer shell (the weather sealing is inside the outer shell) or just new users coming to terms with the discovery that their new camera works in a fashion which is a bit different from the old one.
By way of example I have read several posts on forums from users coming to the R5 from Sony or Nikon and complaining that the On/Off switch is on the “wrong” side. It is where it is and that works just fine once you get into the way of it. What these complainants do not acknowledge, possibly because they have not figured it out yet is that if Canon re-located the On/Off switch to a collar around the shutter button that would completely disrupt the relationship between the shutter button, M-Fn button and the top/front dial and that would be most undesirable from an ergonomic and haptic perspective.
Improvements I would like to see
In the early days I did write out a list of improvements which I would like but most of those have dropped off the list as I gain familiarity with the camera.
There are however two improvements which I would like to see.
First, I would like Canon to revise the way the Q button works. As it stands the Q button gives access to a set screen which has seen service in Canon Powershots and EOS models for many years and is in my view desperately in need of an upgrade to a more user configurable interface.
All Canon has to do is copy the Fn/Q system used in current Sony and Nikon models. Pressing the button brings up a panel of 12 parameters in 2 rows, all user assignable from a long list of options.
Second I would like to see the number of custom shooting modes increased from three to six, preferably with a means of selecting between them more quickly using just one button or dial.
Investing in the future
Camera and lens sales have been in freefall over the last few years. Some makers such as Olympus have given up and I am sure others will follow.
In the good-old-days of mechanical film cameras, a small outfit could survive on low sales volumes if the product was appealing to enough consumers.
But in the electronic era low volume makers are unable to generate sufficient R&D funds to keep up with developments in technology and so they eventually fall by the wayside.
My guess is that Canon and Sony will survive. I choose Canon because I have owned several Sony cameras over the years and never enjoyed the user experience with any of them. With Sony cameras I never get the feeling of being in harmony with the device in my hands.
Of the rest, who knows what the future will bring ?