Loving My Upgrade to R5 Mark II

I have never been one to wait in line for the latest tech gadget. However, when I rented the R5 for a trip earlier this year, I knew I wanted to get the new Canon R5 Mark II when it was announced. So, I arrived after dark and waited for the clock to strike midnight. After picking up my camera at 12:01 am, and getting some sleep, I decided to take it for a test drive. Over the next week, I took it all over Southern California looking for subjects.

The first stop was the beach. I wanted to test out the new auto-focus features. I put on my favorite walk-around lens, RF 24-105mm F4, sat on the Hermosa Beach Pier, and photographed the morning walkers, swimmers, and surfers. There were lots of people about and the camera did an amazing job staying focused on the subjects. It was able to track swimmers as they moved in and out of the shadows and walkers as they passed each other on the pier.

As the weather warmed up, I sat on The Strand and shot beach volleyball during morning practice. I intentionally sat on the walking path to see how the camera would do with people walking between the camera and the subject. As an added benefit, I could then sit in the shade. I used the Subject Detect-People and the Eye Detection Auto settings. It could pick up the players through the net and stay on the player regardless of where they moved in the frame. I was using High-Speed Continuous Shooting and had multiple frames with the players and the ball still in sharp focus, even though more than half of the frame was obscured by passers-by.

I remember thinking, “I don't need all of those megapixels”. I am not a big “cropper” and try to do most of my framing in camera. Sometimes you just can't get physically closer, like in shooting sports and wildlife. I think the ability to crop will be an added benefit in my Travel Photography. Shooting on the beach in California, I was able to crop in and get rid of all the trashcans, traffic cones, and bystanders and still have enough resolution to print the photo full size.

The next adventure was shooting a soccer game. As a former player and soccer mom, I have shot a lot of soccer games from AYSO to D1 College ball. I was super excited about the Action Priority Sports Events settings. It has presets for Soccer, Basketball, and Volleyball. I don't understand what the algorithm is doing to get the shots. But, paired with the Pre-Continuous shooting, all I can say is it was amazing. The focus was able to not only follow the players and the ball but also seemed to be following the play. However, it was not as simple as turning on the settings. I had to sit with my user manual on my phone to find the right combination of settings. The Action Priority Sports and Pre-Continuous need to be paired with the electronic shutter. Once I figured it out, I saved it as one of my Custom Shooting Modes.

With the file sizes and the number of in-focus shots, my biggest issue is going to be the number of frames I need to go through. I am going to need to learn to be more ruthless in my culling and delete not just the “bad” ones, but the "less-than-great" ones too.

I have only just begun to explore the full potential of the camera. I have yet to play with the Eye Control or the myriad of video options. So far, I am very pleased with my purchase. If you are currently shooting mirrorless, the settings will feel familiar, but the auto-focus will surprise you. The menus are very similar to other Canon R series cameras, but the capabilities are a huge improvement. If you have been waiting to go mirrorless, now is the time to take a look at the new Canon R5 Mark II.