Canon’s most powerful camera yet puts Sony on notice

Transfer over Sony, Canon is attempting to take the lead in bleeding-edge tech for mirrorless cameras. The corporate’s new $4,300, 45-megapixel EOS R5 II gives superior options like eye-tracking autofocus (AF) that may’t be discovered on any current Sony mannequin. The brand new digicam can be pushing Sony’s A1 and different fashions in the important thing areas of velocity, video and autofocus. And it’s arguably extra fascinating than Canon’s personal upcoming flagship R1 because it has practically double the decision.

I’ve had the R5 II for just a few weeks, evaluating not solely its practicality and velocity for each professionals and critical amateurs, but in addition the way it stacks up towards Sony’s A1, the gold commonplace for high-resolution mirrorless cameras. And admittedly, I am impressed.

Canon

The EOS R5 II is Canon’s finest digicam in years due to enhancements in key areas like autofocus and video.

Professionals

• Quick taking pictures speeds
• Canon’s finest autofocus but
• Highly effective video capabilities
• Good picture stabilization

Cons

• Nonetheless overheats for high-res video

$4,299 at Adorama

Design and dealing with

I really like the dealing with of Canon’s mirrorless cameras and the EOS R5 II could also be its sweetest design but.

The physique and controls are similar to the R5, other than a few adjustments. Canon moved the facility swap to the highest proper the place it’s simpler to entry, and added a devoted picture/video swap on the left. The corporate gave picture and video modes their very own settings, making it a lot simpler to leap from one to the opposite. Canon additionally made a uncommon change to its menu system, including a brand new olive inexperienced tab for management customization. This new tab additionally comprises the settings for eye management AF monitoring.

In any other case, the R5 II’s format is just like its predecessor. That’s a superb factor, because the management placement is essentially the most pure of any digicam I’ve used, from the snug grip that gives a safe place to carry, to the properly tactile controls that fall completely at hand.

Transferring to the shows, the R5’s 2.1-million-dot absolutely articulating rear contact display screen was already sharp and straightforward to make use of, so Canon didn’t mess with that. The R5 II has the identical sharp 5.76-million dot OLED digital viewfinder as earlier than, however the firm boosted the brightness and redesigned the optics to accommodate the brand new eye management autofocus.

The R5 II helps CFexpress Kind B playing cards for capturing 8K RAW video, together with SD UHS II if you happen to’re okay with cheaper and slower media. Different key options embody headphone and microphone ports, a full-sized HDMI enter and a USB-C port for charging and transfers. Canon additionally launched three new battery grips, together with one with a cooling fan that extends video taking pictures occasions, as I’ll talk about quickly.

I’m a giant fan of the R5 II’s design, and my professional photographer pal agreed, saying that like most Canon merchandise, the R5 II’s ergonomics are so good the gadget is snug to carry for lengthy intervals of time. He additionally stated he barely most popular the R5 II’s dealing with to his Sony A9 III and A1 cameras, due to how straightforward it’s to make use of with one hand.

Efficiency

The EOS R5 II gives a mix of velocity and determination that rivals and generally even surpasses the Nikon Z8 and Sony A1. That is principally because of the new stacked 45-megapixel sensor and up to date Digic X processor to crunch all these pixels.

The R5 II can shoot bursts at as much as 30 fps in digital shutter mode with a blackout-free view. That’s slower than the R1, however I’ll commerce a small hit in efficiency in alternate for the additional decision. I used to be capable of seize about 100 RAW frames earlier than the buffer stuffed. Speeds drop to 12 fps with the mechanical shutter, however there’s hardly ever any want to make use of it as a result of there’s no concern with rolling shutter distortion – due to the stacked sensor. The R5 II’s new pre-capture mode can report as much as 15 images whenever you half-press the shutter. That’s nice for photojournalists or wildlife photographers who could in any other case miss a shot by a fraction of a second.

Canon’s “Twin Pixel” autofocus has all the time been good, however on the R5 II it’s one of the best I’ve ever seen. When taking pictures bursts with a topic biking towards the digicam, 80 p.c of my photographs had been in focus. And the EOS R5 II now tracks animals, birds and autos, on prime of faces, eyes and our bodies of individuals.

The digicam additionally has a few new autofocus tips, together with one known as motion precedence. That retains the AF centered across the ball in three particular sports activities: volleyball, basketball and soccer. I didn’t discover any explicit AF enchancment, as my hit price appeared to be about the identical with out it, however devoted sports activities photographers may see the distinction.

One other new perform retains the monitoring level in your topic even when somebody crosses in entrance of them. That did appear to work nicely more often than not, however it will sometimes get lost and lock onto another person.

When Canon launched the R5 II and R1 in July, it launched pre-registered particular person precedence AF that lets your digicam memorize as much as ten particular individuals, like star athletes for example. This function functioned as marketed, switching AF to a registered particular person and monitoring them as an alternative of different individuals within the scene.

Lastly, I examined Canon’s well-known eye management AF that detects the place the photographer is wanting and strikes the topic monitoring level there. That is an undeniably cool function and has improved in comparison with the primary implementation on the EOS R3, however remains to be too unreliable for skilled use.

In truth, the professional photographer pal I discussed identified that although eye management feels futuristic, it’s nonetheless a bit too flakey for paid gigs the place focus reliability is paramount.

On the R5 II, in-body stabilization is one of the best I’ve seen on any Canon digicam, holding the sensor rock-steady for handheld taking pictures, with as much as 8.5 stops of shake discount. It was so dependable that I by no means felt the necessity to carry a tripod when utilizing sluggish shutter speeds.

I’ve all the time discovered Sony cameras to be barely superior to Canon in the case of autofocus and velocity. I can now not say that, because the EOS R5 II may be very even with Sony’s newest fashions. My Sony-using photographer pal agreed, saying he couldn’t see any actual distinction between the R5 II his A1 or A9 III.

Picture high quality

Picture high quality on the R5 II is essentially the identical because the R5, and that’s a superb factor. The 45-megapixel sensor produces images pretty much as good as or higher than the Sony A1 at a less expensive worth, and compares favorably to Nikon’s equally priced Z8.

When taking pictures in RAW mode at decrease ISOs, the R5 II gives good dynamic vary in excessive distinction shiny and darkish scenes. Like different stacked sensor cameras, although, there’s a bit extra noise than with common CMOS sensors. High quality additionally drops barely in digital shutter mode, so it’s higher to make use of the mechanical shutter in tough lighting situations.

Excessive ISO efficiency isn’t too unhealthy for such a high-resolution digicam both, with noise staying below management as much as ISO 12,800. After that, the R5 II doesn’t fairly measure as much as fashions just like the Nikon Z7 II or Sony A7R V, as each of these provide cleaner photos with much less grain.

Should you don’t need the trouble of processing RAW, JPEG rendering is superb straight out of the digicam, with nicely balanced sharpening and noise discount. For low-light taking pictures, pores and skin tones are flattering in any respect ISO settings, and one of the best amongst all cameras on this worth vary.

One new notable function on the R5 II is the AI-powered upscaling utilized after the picture is taken. The outcome isn’t fairly pretty much as good as a devoted app like Topaz, nevertheless it’s not unhealthy contemplating it’s in-camera processing.

Video

The unique EOS R5 would have been a darn close to good video digicam if not for its pesky overheating points. Canon has improved this to a level with a brand new passive cooling design and $400 fan grip. With these updates, warmth is simply actually a problem on the highest resolutions (8K 60p and 4K 120p). Nevertheless, these limitations are much less extreme on the rival Nikon Z8.

Except for the heating concern, the EOS R5 II has spectacular specs. It will possibly shoot as much as 8K 60p and 4K 120p video, however does so with far much less rolling shutter than the R5, once more due to the brand new stacked sensor. The digicam now has Canon Log 2 (CLog 2) functionality that enables for greater dynamic vary seize than the R5.

Video autofocus is excellent in any respect resolutions, with fast acquisition of the topic and dependable monitoring. Face- and eye-detection work very nicely, and I solely sometimes observed AF lag with fast-moving topics.

As for stabilization, I may shoot clean footage whereas handheld in optical mode with no crop, supplied I didn’t transfer the digicam an excessive amount of. Digital stabilization allowed for extra motion whereas solely cropping in a contact, and the improved setting let me shoot easily whereas strolling with a 1.5x crop. Panasonic’s S5 II remains to be one of the best on this regard, however the R5 II is shut behind.

As for high quality, video on the EOS R5 II is extraordinarily sharp, significantly with supersampled 4K HQ. Different 4K modes are subsampled, however practically as sharp. Rolling shutter is nicely managed, so that you received’t actually discover it except you do whip pans or jostle the digicam whereas taking pictures.

Canon’s glorious coloration science delivers heat pores and skin tones and correct colours. RAW video permits a number of room for changes in submit, whereas the CLog 2 brings dynamic vary as much as 14 stops to allow taking pictures in contrasty situations. With all this, the Canon R5 II is now my go-to digicam for taking pictures video — even over Sony and Panasonic fashions.

Wrap-up

The $4,300 EOS R5 II is Canon’s finest digicam in years, due to enhancements in key areas like autofocus, video, taking pictures speeds and general really feel. Newly launched tech like eye management AF is much less helpful, nevertheless it’s nonetheless good to see Canon attempt to innovate, and the function ought to enhance in subsequent fashions.

The R5 II is up towards some nice competitors on this worth vary, particularly the $4,000 Nikon Z8 that holds its personal towards this digicam in most conditions. Nevertheless, Canon’s autofocus is barely quicker and extra dependable, and I vastly desire the R5 II’s dealing with. The one different full-frame possibility with a stacked sensor and related decision is the Sony A1, which prices $2,200 extra.

The principle points with the R5 II are overheating, the wonkiness of motion precedence and unreliable eye management autofocus. Nevertheless, it now stacks up extraordinarily nicely towards Sony’s A1 when it comes to velocity and autofocus, whereas providing superior stabilization and dealing with. Which one you select could merely come right down to model desire or current lens assortment.