This post has several firsts.  It’s my first post since the pandemic started. It’s my first time out with a camera in months.  And, it’s my first time out with my new Canon R5!

I have been shooting with Canon APS-Cs since the Canon 20D.  Rethinking for a full-frame sensor has a learning curve, but I am loving the new camera.  Just take a look at the above photo.  That was hand-held for 1/8 of a second with f/14 at 50mm ISO100 with the Canon RF 24-70mm!  The background is perfectly sharp thanks to the lens IS and internal IBIS.  Really amazing.

By now, you have heard all the complaints about the 8K video causing the R5 to overheat.  But, few people remember the same issue with the Canon 5D when it was first introduced.  Videographers are experimenting with work-arounds like recording externally to the Atomos Ninja V 5.

For still photography, the R5 is a wonder.  Since it is a mirrorless, the R5 is smaller and lighter than a DSLR but still feels good to hold.  It balances well with an RF lens attached. 20 fps with an electronic shutter is pretty incredible.  And navigating the endless menu options is pretty straightforward.  The most important settings are available on the touchscreen.

I need to test the low-light noise levels.  I accidentally shot at 12800 ISO and I didn’t realize it until post.  It looked great.

The biggest drawback comes in post.  Lightroom and Photoshop do not support the Canon R5 RAW file format.  The camera is that new.  So if you shoot RAW, you will need to download Canon’s DPP and export to 16-bit TIFFs and then import those into Lightroom.

[Update 8/21/2020: Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw now supports the CR3 files from the Canon R5.]

More to come.  Here are some additional photos taken with the Canon R5 and the Canon RF 24-70mm.