Canon R5 and Canon EF 500 F/4L IS Mark 1 FPS

[Sinh Nhut Nguyen]

Hi everyone,

Looking for your experience on the R5 and EF 500 f/4L IS Mark 1 FPS. I read that the R5 mechanical shutter FPS drops to 5/6 when paired with this old lens. 5/6 FPS is way too slow for bird photography. According to Canon Canada the EF 500 f/4L IS Mark I supports the R5 20 FPS electronic shutter. Is electronic shutter the way to go? I shoot birds with a 1DX right now and want to upgrade to the R5 and I want to use my EF 500 f/4L IS Mark I for as long as I can. Thank you for your comments!

Nate

[Kayaker72]

Hi Nate,

I have not used the R5 with the 500 f/4 Mk 1. I did check and the Mark 1 is not on the list for "H+", or 12 fps. This usually means that you can still get the next lower fps, which is 8 fps on a fully charged battery (this drops as you pass ~60% batter charge officially, but I've noticed fps dropping more in the 30-50% range). Your post did make me recall this older video that came out early on when people were starting to test the R5:

Canon EOS R5 & R6 Animal AF BLOWS MY MIND! (Wildlife review) - YouTube

Looking at it, my guess due to how the screen behaves and lack of sound, they were using electronic shutter. If you watch it through, some of Chelsea's opinions I suspect have changed as she eventually adapted the R5 as her wildlife camera.

Joel might be more help as between him and his son, there is an R5 and a 500 Mk1, but I am not sure the two have ever met, so to speak.

Thanks,
Brant

[Joel Eade]

Nate,

I have been shooting the R5 with my EF 600mm f/4 II and, as Brant noted, with a full battery I have been able to access the H+ drive mode with the mechanical shutter. I have not tested the frame rate but it doesn't seem too slow and the 20 fps with electronic shutter is available with the EF to RF adapted lenses.

This combination works very well for birds that are perched or moving slowly and the eye tracking AF performs great.

I have not used the 600mm for flight (due to size and weight)

I have used the R5 + EF 600mm with both the 1.4 and 2.0 TC .... both perform great with all AF points available.

Also, to use H+ drive mode with the mechanical shutter you must use the new battery version that came with the camera.

I am using a battery grip with 2 batteries and it drives the big lens just fine.

The older 5D batteries will work for electronic shutter (20 fps) and the slower drive mode with mechanical shutter but do not provide enough "juice" for H+ drive mode with the mechanical shutter.

As Brant said my son has a Version I 500mm f/4 but I have not tried it on the R5.

I suspect you would be happy with the 500mm f/4L I performance on the R5 ..... perhaps a rental before you buy would be helpful.

For birds in flight I am using the RF 100-500mm .... it is amazingly sharp for a zoom lens, on par with the EF 100-400 II. Not quite as good as a big prime f/4 but very capable of producing stellar images. It is light, well balanced and perfect for hand-holding with the R5. I let Brant shoot with it for a while and I think he was equally impressed.

Joel

[Sinh Nhut Nguyen]

Thank you Joel and Brant so much for your replies.


Joel, could you please test your R5 with your son’s 500 f/4 IS Mark I when you get a chance? I just want to know what the speed of the mechanical shutter is when shooting with a grip and two genuine R5 batteries.


I plan to have the genuine Canon battery grip and all new R5 batteries. I also plan to use the ES more to take advantage of the 20 FPS, but would like to use the MS when situations call for. I’ll be happy with 8 FPS but 5/6 is too slow. Please let me know, thank you so much!


Nate

[Joel Eade]

I will do that when I can, no problem.

[Sinh Nhut Nguyen]

Thanks Joe! If you could give me an update before this Christmas �� it would be awesome!

[Fast Glass]

It really drives home the relevancy of the 1Dx III for niche applications it was meant for. Pure unadulterated speed.

[Joel Eade]

Thank you Joel and Brant so much for your replies.


Joel, could you please test your R5 with your son’s 500 f/4 IS Mark I when you get a chance? I just want to know what the speed of the mechanical shutter is when shooting with a grip and two genuine R5 batteries.


I plan to have the genuine Canon battery grip and all new R5 batteries. I also plan to use the ES more to take advantage of the 20 FPS, but would like to use the MS when situations call for. I’ll be happy with 8 FPS but 5/6 is too slow. Please let me know, thank you so much!


Nate

My son brought his EF 500mm f/4L Version I to my house today.

Even with the battery grip and 2 fully charged new R5 batteries it will not support the H+ mode at 12 fps. With the mechanical shutter I estimate that it is shooting around 6-7 frames per second.

I held the shutter for a count of 3 seconds and counted the images. I repeated this test 3 times. First time I got 19 images, second time I got 20 and third time 21.

The electronic shutter is still functioning at 20 frames per second as best I can tell by using the same method as above.

After testing it I looked in the manual and the Version I 500mm is not listed in the chart of lenses that will support 12 frames per second.

The slower rate is fine for perched birds or swimming ducks and the electronic shutter would be the ticket for flight shots.

[Fast Glass]

Well that is a disappointment.

Maybe they will make an update to allow for that. Because I can't see a good reason not to allow it.

[Joel Eade]

I am unsure what the issue really is .... it's maybe the lens' ability to focus rapidly enough or something else in the electronics of the lens that was changed between version I and subsequent versions. Seems unlikely to be a camera firmware problem to me but I am far from an expert on this type of issue.

I don't think it would deter me from getting an R5 because the electronic shutter is still a good option for fast action.

Another thought would be to wait until there are good prices on the used market for a 1DX III which has the rapid frame rate but significantly lower resolution.