Canon R5 for Weddings + Engagement + Portrait Sessions (Real-world Review)
As a working photographer, I have had the opportunity to use the Canon R5 for about two to three weeks now and have had five full working days with it. I've shot it in various scenarios, from the studio to natural light, high ISO, and everything in between. I want to share with you my experiences with this camera as a working professional, the things that I have found helpful, and the things that make a difference in my workflow.
First and foremost, I want to talk about the ISO performance of the R5. This was the biggest thing that stood out to me when I first used the camera. I did a test where I took three pictures in the same environment using natural light, one at 800 ISO, one at 5000 ISO, and one at 8000 ISO. The difference was barely noticeable, and it's some of the cleanest footage I have ever seen.
One of the most impressive features of the R5 is its autofocus system. I have to say, it is legendary. I have been able to capture incredibly sharp images with a high percentage of them in focus, even when working with fast-moving subjects. On a typical wedding day, I would say probably only 10% of my pictures would be a little bit soft or out of focus. With the R5, that number has gone down to 1% or less. I attribute this to the camera's ai servo with eye detection and face detection features. It's a dream come true. In fact, I would say that this camera is even better than the 1DX Mark III that I own because the eye detection feature is available when you're looking through the viewfinder as opposed to just on the back of the LCD screen.
However, there is a downside to the R5's autofocus system. I found it a bit more difficult to focus on details such as flowers. The camera doesn't know which part of the flower I want to focus on, and I have had to set it to focus on the right side of the screen. I think once I set the joystick correctly for focusing, it will be a bit easier. But, I did find a slight learning curve when it came to focusing on details as opposed to shooting people.
This past weekend, I was shooting a wedding and it was an open-air micro-wedding. I didn't want to set up lights because it was an open-air wedding and the lights would have been obnoxious. But I also didn't want to use a direct flash, so I decided to test the high ISO performance. I went up to 5000 ISO and then a couple of 8000 ISO and even went as high as 10000 ISO. I was perfectly happy with the results. The reception photos go in the album and get shared around digitally. I was more than comfortable shooting at 8000 to 10000 ISO, and it's perfectly clean. It is light years better than the 5D Mark IV, in my opinion.
I also want to mention that most of what you will see in this video is straight out of camera JPEGs. I prefer to shoot in JPEG because it's easier than editing everything and it gives you a better look at what's coming out of the camera. However, if you're interested in my presets or local adjustment tools, they are available for Lightroom and some of them are available for Capture One. You can find them on my website or in the link below.
In conclusion, I am not going to tell you what to buy because I believe it very much depends on what you are upgrading from, your budget, and what you're shooting. But I can tell you that as a photographer, the Canon R5 is an amazing camera that I highly recommend. I will also mention that I did test the video capabilities of the camera and it's interesting, but I will leave that for another discussion.
