R5- Longer term thoughts

[HDNitehawk]

My opinion as of right now is one of indifference, it really hasn't set the world on fire.
Even worse my opinion of the body keeps falling.


I see may positives with the R5, and it is an exceptional camera in may ways.
Eye tracking is a positive for humans.
Flippy Screen is wonderful.
Frame rate is great for a high resolution body.
However:
I bought the 5Ds R at release so the resolution of the R5 feels like a compromise and step back.
I am not seeing an increase in the hit rate for in focus pictures, it seems close if not less to than the 5DsR. But then I do not spend hours doing an AFMA to make sure it is just right. It seems about equal to the 5DsR when all its AFMA settings are correct. Overall I do not see the AF of the R5 as a gain, more of a lateral move that may be more convenient. Still it is not on par with the 1D IV so I doubt it is on par with the 1Dx series.

I had mentioned I took a few shots at my sons wedding, the R5 had several misses that were in no way difficult for an AF system and really just inexcusable.

So here is todays R5 story. Sitting in the living room a Tom Turkey walks buy in the yard and he has a huge long beard. I have the RF and 600mm F/4 and monopod sitting ready for such an situation. I step out the side door to the house and wait for him to come in to view. Settings are for tracking and animal. Unfortunately he caught a glimpse of me and wouldn't strut when I yelped. I was able to get 10 shots before he made it to the woods. At less than 20 yards I had a total of 10 shots and only 3 had acceptable focus. All the shots would have been poor composition and of no value, but still it should have hit 10 of 10.

[Fast Glass]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels like the R5's AF is not all it is cracked up to be.

It's fine, it works pretty well for a lot of stuff. But I can't tell you how many times I heard statements of it completely blowing away anything else including 1-series and it being phenomenal.

It's ok, what I would expect from a 5-series. Definitely easier to use for the novice as long as you use it within It's limits it works. Like say a 24-105mm. It works great, plenty of DOF to work with and the eye detect makes it super easy for a less experienced user. But it doesn't nessarily perform better, it behaves really differently.