R5? R6? Anyone?

[Joel Eade]

Could it just be because your LP-E6N batteries are a bit old? Mine are indicating low recharge performance, so they would probably have the same issue. But maybe new ones would work okay (although not for as long as the LP-E6NH).

I guess that's possible ... they are batteries I got with the 5DIV so they are a couple years old ... they seem to charge normally and register as full in the camera but I have not specifically tested them for voltage or amperage.

[Joel Eade]

Do you know how fast of fps you get with the older batteries? I've been curious.

For whatever reason, it is part of the spec that you need LP-E6NH batteries for 12 fps. I just noticed you also need to be 1/1000th of faster on the shutterspeed.

I went to that info in the manual as well and tried multiple settings of all parameters even shutting off AF with a high shutter speed at f/4 and a fully charged battery and could not get the highest speed mechanical shutter .... the indicator blinks. I was shooting from inside the house where ambient temp is not an issue

I am not certain of the exact mechanical shutter speed I am getting with the old batteries... it is very adequate for my bird set up .... I would estimate maybe 6-8 per second ( again this is a total guess ).

The electronic shutter does not seem at all significantly reduced .... but I have not made any specific measurements of it either.

[Karsaa]

And about the new battery. Last night finally was good night for northern lights aka me shooting timelapse. After 2500 images i changed battery but still had 1 block left on indicator, so i quess on not so freezing weather you can shoot close to 3k images with one battery. This is quite nice ramp up from the older model.

[Jonathan Huyer]

And about the new battery. Last night finally was good night for northern lights aka me shooting timelapse. After 2500 images i changed battery but still had 1 block left on indicator, so i quess on not so freezing weather you can shoot close to 3k images with one battery. This is quite nice ramp up from the older model.

Wow --- sweet! I'm really looking forward to seeing your timelapse (or even some stills). I saw that the aurora forecast was looking very good so I went out with a few friends to a site that I've always wanted to shoot. However we were foiled by clouds... the bane of aurora shooters. Stayed out until 2:00 am so I'm chugging extra coffee today

[Kayaker72]

So, my R5 arrived last Friday. I had been thinking that I would test it for a week before posting anything (technically, I am testing this ). But, I responded to a question earlier today, so....

Initial impressions are positive. Perhaps the biggest surprise is how much it melts away while I am using it to the point where I am not thinking about the camera at all. Perhaps this is because the R5 is very much a combination of the 5DIV and M6 II. In a way, taking the best parts of both those cameras that I really like, combining them, and making other things better. It has a few quirks I am still working on.

Two images that I cropped pretty tight, both taken from my office window set up as I have used all summer, and what can I say, it does not disappoint.

R5, 700 mm, 1/500, f/5.6, ISO 3200 (no noise reduction)--11.2 MP
537A1067 by kayaker72, on Flickr


700 mm, 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 6400, 5.8 MP...but with some noise reduction
537A0227 by kayaker72, on Flickr

[Joel Eade]

So, my R5 arrived last Friday. I had been thinking that I would test it for a week before posting anything (technically, I am testing this ). But, I responded to a question earlier today, so....

Initial impressions are positive. Perhaps the biggest surprise is how much it melts away while I am using it to the point where I am not thinking about the camera at all. Perhaps this is because the R5 is very much a combination of the 5DIV and M6 II. In a way, taking the best parts of both those cameras that I really like, combining them, and making other things better. It has a few quirks I am still working on.

Two images that I cropped pretty tight, both taken from my office window set up as I have used all summer, and what can I say, it does not disappoint.

R5, 700 mm, 1/500, f/5.6, ISO 3200 (no noise reduction)--11.2 MP
537A1067 by kayaker72, on Flickr


Same settings, 5.8 MP...but with some noise reduction and at ISO 5000
537A0227 by kayaker72, on Flickr

I have been shooting at >1/1000th, surprised that these two are at 1/500th.

Great detail in both of those images.

I have been shooting mostly with my 600 + 1.4 TC .... image quality is great and using the histogram in the EVF it is very easy to expose to the right (and not blow the highlights) which results in minimal noise up to ISO 6400. Beyond that I am using Topaz Denoise AI.

I programmed the * button to set the image format so I can quickly go into crop mode for smaller or more distant subjects. I find myself using mechanical shutter (which is very quiet) almost exclusively for my back yard bird set up. Electronic shutter, although totally silent, produces so many images that are very similar it ends up taking a lot of time to sort through them.

Are you using animal eye AF?

[Kayaker72]

Great detail in both of those images.

I have been shooting mostly with my 600 + 1.4 TC .... image quality is great and using the histogram in the EVF it is very easy to expose to the right (and not blow the highlights) which results in minimal noise up to ISO 6400. Beyond that I am using Topaz Denoise AI.

I programmed the * button to set the image format so I can quickly go into crop mode for smaller or more distant subjects. I find myself using mechanical shutter (which is very quiet) almost exclusively for my back yard bird set up. Electronic shutter, although totally silent, produces so many images that are very similar it ends up taking a lot of time to sort through them.

Are you using animal eye AF?

Hi Joel.

Thanks. Its funny, I wasn't posting those pics for "quality," in which case I would have used Denoise (it is very good), but more to show what out of camera quality is like (even on the second, the noise reduction was not applied to the bird itself, but to the background). But as soon as I posted on Flickr, they had several likes. I might have to go back and update.

I do have Eye AF programed to my "AF ON" button and Expanded AF set to the "*". I haven't yet played with crop mode, but will likely set it to something. In a brief amount of time I have used it, the Animal Eye AF is very good when it is on, but if it doesn't think there is a bird or animal there, or if the animal/bird is oof, it goes to the closest object. With the "*" button to a controllable AF point, I can quickly take control myself, tell the camera where to look, but then pivot back to Eye-AF.

I haven't even tried the electronic shutter yet. I have been toggling between "H" and "H+". It is funny, as critical as FPS are to certain circumstances, when not in those circumstances, it is actually an issue. As I've been weighing what I wanted to improve, not filling my buffer after 2 seconds was more important than FPS as I often want to shoot a sequence that is 3-5 seconds. As a quick example, yesterday, I got a series of a bird in the bird bath. About 4 seconds, but I have those entire 4 seconds.

[Joel Eade]

Brant,

I have been very pleased overall with the R5 but have not yet had a good chance to try it for birds in flight.

I anticipate it will be very good with the RF 100-500mm lens.

I do have a nice series of images from the back yard that I will share on the forum soon.

Happy to hear that you are also impressed.

[PatrickH]

Seeing some really impressive images here and will admit that the eye AF tracking and IBIS have me seriously considering an upgrade.

One thing that I am wondering about is the crop mode. Joel, what advantages are you finding with it? As I understand it, it is truly a crop. Why not just crop in post?

Is a larger subject simply helping with composition or is there something more substantive, like eliminating distractions for AF lock? I do suppose the file size is smaller.

[Dave Throgmartin]

It is nice to see people are enjoying the new cameras. I wonder what the DSLR phase out period will be and when many people have changed to mirrorless? When will the new RF mount lenses become the new standard or will many people use their EF lenses?

Dave