Canon R5m2 & R1 : First Impressions

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He's not wrong. It's going to take a lot for me to leave the Z8 for an upgrade. 10 more FPS? don't care, slightly better AF? don't care. I feel like he does, if I can't get a shot with this thing it's a me problem and not the gear. Even RAW precapture, nice, but I've just learned how to get JPEG's right in the first place, channeling that inner Ken Rockwell, no RAW files needed or taken lol.

It's going to get rough for the manufacturers until the next tech breakthrough (probably computational techniques like iPhone once the processors reach affordability for the manufacturers).
 
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Lee R said:
He's not wrong. It's going to take a lot for me to leave the Z8 for an upgrade. 10 more FPS? don't care, slightly better AF? don't care. I feel like he does, if I can't get a shot with this thing it's a me problem and not the gear. Even RAW precapture, nice, but I've just learned how to get JPEG's right in the first place, channeling that inner Ken Rockwell, no RAW files needed or taken lol.

It's going to get rough for the manufacturers until the next tech breakthrough (probably computational techniques like iPhone once the processors reach affordability for the manufacturers).
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He may not be wrong for his style of shooting though I would welcome better af, faster fps, and RAW pre-capture, not to mention real time zebras for stills.
 
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I had the opportunity to ”shoot“ with the R1 over the weekend for a brief period. I put shoot in brackets because I wasn’t allowed to keep the files… it was just a “feel” first impression.
‘it is without a doubt an amazing camera to handle - the ergonomics are ideal (for me), it’s lighter than it looks, the touch sensitive AF-on is a dream to use - when multiple subjects are in frame you can toggle between subjects by sliding your thumb on the AF on button - works perfectly. The viewfinder is amazing, the specs don’t tell the story of how bright and detailed it is, certainly felt like a big step up over the A1‘s viewfinder and even the A9iii. I liked the R3 - this is much better, far better than any specs on paper would suggest… but it’s still just 24MP 😢

The subjects were not difficult enough to judge how AF performed versus the A9iii and I didn’t get any files to look at image quality so this will have to wait. Maybe by then Canon will have DO primes competing with Nikon’s 🤪
 
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At last!
DxO PureRAW 4.4.0 supports R5m2.​

DxO PureRAW support for Canon R5m2
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I have DxO 7, just upgraded, thanks! Just received my spare battery too :)

I have now returned the RF 600mm f4 lens but the results for some past photos are really great! The combination is supported--along with the TC 1.4 attached.
 
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Not sure if this will add any additional insight to anyone (on the fence), but here’s a short comparison-summary:

photographylife.com

Nikon Z8 vs Canon EOS R5 II

With Canon's announcement of the EOS R5 Mark II, they certainly took aim at Nikon's Z8. Both cameras are high-speed, high-resolution options that are made to be versatile enough for any type of photography. How do they compare head to head? Here's what you need to know.
photographylife.com photographylife.com
 
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beano said:
Not sure if this will add any additional insight to anyone (on the fence), but here’s a short comparison-summary:

photographylife.com

Nikon Z8 vs Canon EOS R5 II

With Canon's announcement of the EOS R5 Mark II, they certainly took aim at Nikon's Z8. Both cameras are high-speed, high-resolution options that are made to be versatile enough for any type of photography. How do they compare head to head? Here's what you need to know.
photographylife.com photographylife.com
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"What about the other differences between them? There’s one that could be very significant, but which camera you prefer will depend upon what your priority is. Namely, the Canon EOS R5 Mark II can shoot at 30 FPS rather than 20 FPS of the Nikon Z8, which is nice for the fastest and most erratic subjects. However, it has a much smaller buffer, only recording 93 frames at 30 FPS before the buffer fills, compared to over 1000 frames at 20 FPS for the Nikon Z8."

yikes. I haven't read the entire thread, but I've been watching a few various reports on the R5II and can't believe I never saw this before. 93 frame buffer only? surely that can't be right?
 
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nmerc_photos said:
"What about the other differences between them? There’s one that could be very significant, but which camera you prefer will depend upon what your priority is. Namely, the Canon EOS R5 Mark II can shoot at 30 FPS rather than 20 FPS of the Nikon Z8, which is nice for the fastest and most erratic subjects. However, it has a much smaller buffer, only recording 93 frames at 30 FPS before the buffer fills, compared to over 1000 frames at 20 FPS for the Nikon Z8."

yikes. I haven't read the entire thread, but I've been watching a few various reports on the R5II and can't believe I never saw this before. 93 frame buffer only? surely that can't be right?
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Well, that's not entirely correct and it depends on the FPS, compression, etc. One of the major distinctions is that the R5II like its predecessor locks up and has to flush the buffer before allowing further images as opposed to the Z8 which slows down the FPS. One of the videos, I believe the specious one which compares the cameras side by side has a nice illustration of the differences. While the photography life article is a nice stat comparison, it doesn't really capture the differences in SD/AF performance, etc.
 
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ajrmd said:
Well, that's not entirely correct and it depends on the FPS, compression, etc. One of the major distinctions is that the R5II like its predecessor locks up and has to flush the buffer before allowing further images as opposed to the Z8 which slows down the FPS. One of the videos, I believe the specious one which compares the cameras side by side has a nice illustration of the differences. While the photography life article is a nice stat comparison, it doesn't really capture the differences in SD/AF performance, etc.
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I see. I remember two of my biggest gripes with the R5 were the blackout, and the buffer being too small. Missed a ton of shots as a result of those two.

So far with the Z8/Z9 I haven't noticed ever touching the buffer - but maybe it's been slowing the FPS the whole time and I wasn't aware of it.

Really interesting that the R5II has worse dynamic range and low light performance. It seems like less than a stop, but some of the big Canon guys are making it seem like a huge deal.
 
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nmerc_photos said:
I see. I remember two of my biggest gripes with the R5 were the blackout, and the buffer being too small. Missed a ton of shots as a result of those two.

So far with the Z8/Z9 I haven't noticed ever touching the buffer - but maybe it's been slowing the FPS the whole time and I wasn't aware of it.

Really interesting that the R5II has worse dynamic range and low light performance. It seems like less than a stop, but some of the big Canon guys are making it seem like a huge deal.
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Yes, the R5 EVF lag was problematic though I shot compressed RAW and almost never had buffer issues. I suspect that if one does that with the R5II, the buffer will be less problematic. Depending on the card used, the buffer slow down on the Z8/Z9 may or may not be perceptible while shooting, though it is very real. The one video I spoke of which I am loathe to link because it has many study design flaws still has some useful comparative information regarding DR, though again, he's not all that forthcoming with his methodology (
). It appears that in grossly underexposed images (>3-5 stops) the Canon seems to lose shadow detail more so than the Nikon, though I don't find that necessarily relevant. In terms of overall DR, sure due to current design limitations, a stacked CMOS sensor loses a bit compared to a non-stacked sensor though the differences are small under many circumstances. For the landscape, product, or fashion photographer, I could see how they might be concerned though quite candidly, they should probably be shooting MF anyhow.
 
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nmerc_photos said:
"What about the other differences between them? There’s one that could be very significant, but which camera you prefer will depend upon what your priority is. Namely, the Canon EOS R5 Mark II can shoot at 30 FPS rather than 20 FPS of the Nikon Z8, which is nice for the fastest and most erratic subjects. However, it has a much smaller buffer, only recording 93 frames at 30 FPS before the buffer fills, compared to over 1000 frames at 20 FPS for the Nikon Z8."

yikes. I haven't read the entire thread, but I've been watching a few various reports on the R5II and can't believe I never saw this before. 93 frame buffer only? surely that can't be right?
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It should be clarified that the 1000 shot Nikon buffer is in HE*. In Lossless Compressed it is around 81-82 shots.

From Rici's tests way back in the day of the Z9 release.
Screenshot 2024-09-24 at 5.17.27 AM.jpg
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bleirer said:
Neither canon nor nikon owners will be changing brands over this. Raw precapture maybe.
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I can’t see changing a whole system for RAW precapture. If you practice editing photos in NX Studio and carry those over to the in camera jpeg settings you can get quite close to a RAW edit if you get the JPEG right from the start. Ai Denoise in Lightroom is better than in camera but that’s about all I missed. You can lightly edit JPEG files if they’re almost there when shot.

So for the difference I don’t think it’s worth the cost. 20 FPS and setting HE gets you basically an unlimited buffer so you can generally get the shot that way it just takes some scrolling to isolate the image you want later, which is sort of like watching a video clip anyway so it’s not that time consuming. I just do it on the back screen and star the keeper. You can upload only those and just delete the junk.

That said I hope they add it in some capacity. I’m not buying a version ii for just that feature if Nikon decides it’s a feature to hold back for later. Itll just end up in much less expensive body’s over the next 5 years.

Given Nikons market position it’s probably a better move to make customers happy rather than play feature gatekeeping. They can focus on bigger things and a even better precapture in the next version.
 
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R5m2 Firmware Update : version 1.0.1

Link to Download.
  • "Fixes an issue…" x6
  • "Improves the stability of…" x1
  • "Optimizes the…" x1
So, don't expect anything new and exciting!

There are also updated versions of firmware for the original R5 and most other Canon R-series mirrorless cameras.
 
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Getting close to the R1 release.
Here is the first new review I've seen. Jan Wegener said he will have his review video out next week.
Some odd quirks noted by Fabian in this review....top plate WB and EC dials can't be programmed to anything else...waste of buttons I never use. Also worse than that, EC button doesn't function when in M+AutoISO...reminds me of Canon circa 2010.

 
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