Canon R5 v Sony a9ii for wildlife

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Rectory Photography

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I currently shoot with a d850 and 500mm f4, but decided to enter the mirrorless world. I had decided on the Sony a9ii until Canon blew the game open with the R5 which seems to offer much to the wildlife / landscape photographer. Is anyone else having a similar debate?
 
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I am a nikon shooter, and have tried the a9 a couple of times. I just could not get comfortable with the ui and ergonomics. I've used canon on occasion and didn't have the same issue. It looks to me like the r5 is a mirrorless d850, which is high praise indeed. I have one buddy who is a pro wildlife guy who just bought an r5. Can't wait to hear what he has to say, he's also coming from nikon. Personally, I am waiting to see how nikon responds before bailing. Don't forget, their z bodies were better than the canon offerings until the new r5/6. Also, canon and nikon have a much more developed set of lenses than sony, at least for now. I would have a hard time giving up my pf lenses for example...there just are no real viable alternatives right now. So I wait. I'll bail on nikon if they don't offer competitive mirrorless in a fairly short time, but I'm cautiously optimistic. Time will tell.
 
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I understand your situation completely, very similar to my own. I must admit i am worried about Nikons current position and am considering the R5, but do intend to keep my d850 and 500 f4 and maybe run the two systems alongside each other. I too prefer the Canon lens line-up to the current Sony one, and the R5 opens the door to both the modern RF and legacy canon glass in whats seems like a great all round camera package. I do worry my Nikon gear especially the 500mm will lose value unless Nikon brings something better into the mirrorless world. Canon has done well to finally catch Sony up......or so it seems.
 
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ivor said:
I understand your situation completely, very similar to my own. I must admit i am worried about Nikons current position and am considering the R5, but do intend to keep my d850 and 500 f4 and maybe run the two systems alongside each other. I too prefer the Canon lens line-up to the current Sony one, and the R5 opens the door to that in whats seems a great all round camera. I do worry my Nikon gear especially the 500mm will lose value unless Nikon brings something better in to the mirrorless world.
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I have a D850 and D500 with my 500 f4 and 300 2.8. I have a friend who has the A9ii and like with Cohenfive above I just could not get on with it for wildlife. Even the reviews of the r5 state there is (inevitably) some viewfinder lag, albeit very slight as with the A9. Personally, at this moment in time I would stick with a DSLR for wildlife work. I think the mirrorless cameras are getting there but in all honesty the switch to mirrorless will not help you get up early to catch the sunrise, make sitting in a. bush for 4 hours waiting for your subject or knowing where your animal is going to be any easier. I also have never felt particularly underpowered with my two cameras in my hand...they do get the shots already. I also am not sure quite how bad a situation Nikon are in to be honest. There are plenty of people like you and me who have yet to switch and buy a mirrorless camera and if they get the new processors in the forthcoming Z6s and Z7s I think they could close the gap quickly. Id stick it out for a little while before switching.
 
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True, the smartest move may well be to wait, and maybe Nikon will pull something out of the bag.....I don't mind the early mornings......I have just moved into my elderly parents quite large garden via my campervan....(They are now elderly enough to consistently need my help). Currently they have a red kite in situ which is quite rare in these parts, so early mornings are back on the agenda. I love spending the hours 'living' with the subject i'm photographing, but must admit, a silent shutter could help things a little at times.
 
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I currently do most of my shooting with A9II and A7RIV. I just sold my D850 and I've kept my D500 to use with my 500PF/300PF because I just can't bring myself to give up those lenses. I also have a Z50 just used to dabble in Z system but I find the AF-C for moving subjects to be too weak to spend Z7 money. Maybe upcoming Z7s will close the AF gap to Sony/Canon for MILCs.

I've been seriously tempted by the R5 as I was a Canon shooter from 2008 through 2018, adding Nikon in 2017 and Sony in 2018. My friend has one in the mail to him so I plan to try it out in a week or so and see if it can match the AF of the A9II. Watching blue boxes bounce around the EVF and lock onto eyes is one thing, seeing if the shots are critically sharp in the end is what remains to be seen. If I still owned one of my big Canon primes like the 400DOII or 600II that I sold in 2019 and 2018 respectively, I would have bought an R5 already. But because I need to buy a lens for it also I've held off until I try it out.

For me the A9(II) has been the best camera I've owned over the years. I can't go back to DSLRs now after having the advantages of useable AF on a flip screen, exposure preview in the EVF and with the A9, blackout free, high FPS shooting with amazing AF hit rates. I'm usually shooting 2 or 3 systems so for myself I'm waiting on new Z cameras, trying the R5 out and waiting for the next A9 model.

If you are wanting to settle into a single mirrorless system from one of the big three then it is a really hard choice right now. If the R5 AF is as accurate and consistent as an A9 then adapting the huge catalog of EF glass is a big plus. If Nikon can get their AF-C up to par then adapting the F glass is a big plus in another way. As for Sony, the 200-600 is a phenomenal lens and you have the option of the two big primes. You can even get excellent performance out of adapted EF glass if you aren't after fast/challenging subjects. I was using my 400DOII adapted to A9 for all my perched, floating and slow fliers with good success until I finally got the 200-600/600GM.
 
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I think the conclusion is that this is all good for us shooters...Sony and now Canon have great offerings, and while nikon just fell behind, don't forget that in terms of dslr tech, by most standards they were ahead of canon for the past several years. Hopefully they don't falter, it will be great for all of us to have three great mirrorless systems to choose from.
 
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Honestly, I'm tempted by the R5 as well. We've been adding Sony, but now I'm wondering if the second system should be Canon. As mentioned above, the R5 seems like a mirrorless D850 - only amped up a bit. It really looks like what I wanted the Z7 to be! Still, I also agree that Nikon isn't done yet and I'd like to see what the rumored Z7s is like before making any decisions. I'd also like to see what Sony does next. Is there such a thing as too many good options?
 
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I'm glad i'm not the only one having difficulty making this decision....... :) The big deal for me is that Canon has a greater legacy of glass than Sony, so i could potentially put together better glass on a smaller budget. Another question for me is whether Nikon can get its mirrorless act together.....because if it does, d850 owners are then able to follow a natural progression into mirrorless......otherwise, Canon seem to be a good bet once again.
 
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Lots of good options out there. I am happy waiting with my D500 + 300PF + 1.4 tc. Like others I think the PF lenses are brilliant and have no equivalent under S or C. May go for Nikon Z7s of dual processors resolve AF tracking accuracy and EVF lag. I’d love the extra dynamic range colour palette for landsacpes too. Like I say happy waiting as I improve my nature skills and am getting far better images than I got a year ago.
 
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Steve said:
Honestly, I'm tempted by the R5 as well. We've been adding Sony, but now I'm wondering if the second system should be Canon. As mentioned above, the R5 seems like a mirrorless D850 - only amped up a bit. It really looks like what I wanted the Z7 to be! Still, I also agree that Nikon isn't done yet and I'd like to see what the rumored Z7s is like before making any decisions. I'd also like to see what Sony does next. Is there such a thing as too many good options?
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Steve, can you let us have your opinion as to any impact of viewfinder lag (e.g. in R5 with fast refresh) on shooting wildlife action and birds in flight. Has mirrorless finally overcome this disadvantage versus DSLRs? And as a Canon shooter that admires your work and follows Backcountry I do wish you would have Canon specific content added to your 'Nikon bias'. Thanks for your great tips and instruction e-books.
 
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pkj said:
Steve, can you let us have your opinion as to any impact of viewfinder lag (e.g. in R5 with fast refresh) on shooting wildlife action and birds in flight. Has mirrorless finally overcome this disadvantage versus DSLRs? And as a Canon shooter that admires your work and follows Backcountry I do wish you would have Canon specific content added to your 'Nikon bias'. Thanks for your great tips and instruction e-books.
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I can't speak specifically to the R5, but I can to the Sony and Nikon mirrorless. On the Nikon's lag can sometimes be an issue. I remember I was trying to photograph a woodpecker as it hit the bark. I can usually pull this off, but not this time. The lag on the Z7 was jus enough that by the time I saw his head move in the viewfinder, he had already hit the branch. I've also had issues with faster BIF shots with the Z cameras due to lag.

The Sony a9ii is better though. For the most part, I haven't really struggled too much with lag - but - I also haven't it shot it too much (just like me to get a camera right before a pandemic). It's not as lag-free as a D6 ( :) ) but for the majority of what I shoot it's lag-free enough. If the R5 is similar, then it should work well for the vast majority of wildlife scenarios.
 
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Wow! My Nikons sure won’t do that! Way to go Canon! I haven’t owned Canon since F1N but I’d sure consider a slow change with AF like that!
 
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I've decided to take a chance.... purely to help you all out and not for my own personal photography enjoyment at all. (English irony at its finest ) ..... I've sold all my Nikon glass and d850 to buy the Canon R5, which arrived today.....I only ordered it 4 days ago so i think that was quite fast........ Now i'm waiting on the 100-500mm rf lens to be released in the few days time (A good carry about/hiking lens to try the system on before getting any really big expensive glass) I'll post my findings here so you can all learn from my horrendously expensive and probably terrribly regretted experiment. I am by nature, a risk taker!!
 
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ivor said:
I've decided to take a chance.... purely to help you all out and not for my own personal photography enjoyment at all. (English irony at its finest ) ..... I've sold all my Nikon glass and d850 to buy the Canon R5, which arrived today.....
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Most noble sacrifice for the good of the forum - what a fine example to set. Await your news with interest!
 
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