By Yadira B. Arnold 
As Canon has learned to its cost, innovative products can be maul as much as celebrated. This was certainly the matter with the EOS R5 full-frame mirrorless camera, which was introduced alongside the EOS R6 to shine with revolutionary features such as 8k video. However, this praise briefly soured when critics noticed that the small body tended to overheat, which reduced the time they could use it to record videos.
Since its launch, however, Canon has introduced firmware updates that have reduced, but not eliminated, heating problems. Although the camera was launched some time ago, these have made it a more mature product, while time has allowed the market to superior absorb its advantages and disadvantages.
What was lost in the early excitement is that in addition to its 8k video performance, the EOS R5 is a fast, high-resolution photo strike. It also offers other innovative features, such as powerful stabilization in the body and a much improved autofocus system that put it on a par or ahead of its competitors – Sony in particular. With all this and the perspective of time, let’s see how it works.
I’m going to start with the most exciting and debatable part of this camera: the video. The R5 has extremely powerful video features that few competitors can match, but also unique problems. The question is, how does all this affect the average user?
You can record 8k 30P or 4K 120P videos in high quality or even in RAW mode directly to an internal memory card. It also supports 10-bit and s-Log recording in all modes.
As Canon says, 8K striking gives you “extra cropping” or “unique angles next to a main camera”. “What it doesn’t say is that the R5 is a good 8k main camera. This is mainly because it always overheats even after firmware updates.
Canon says that you can record 8K for 20 minutes before the camera turns off, but I have found that it may take longer now — more than 25-30 minutes before I have to stop. And it recovers faster from overheating, so after the shutdown I was able to take pictures earlier and longer. By recording 8K for a few minutes at a time and turning the camera off in the middle strikes, I was able to record several hours without problems.
4K recording at 120fps is limited to only 15 minutes, but I found that I could take up to 20 minutes on a moderately hot day. Canon says that you can strike in 4K at 60 fps for 35 minutes with the full sensor or 25 minutes with an APS-C crop with an oversampling of 5.1 K. Again, I found Canon’s estimates conservative, as I could drive 5 to 10 minutes longer.
My biggest concern was the 4k HQ video at 30 fps. This is the mode I prefer because it oversamples the entire sensor to provide the sharpest 4K video. I used it to strike myself for my review video and I had to leave the camera on while starting and stopping remote recording with a Smartphone. During the 90-minute session, the camera turned off several times.
Most of the delays took a short time before I could strike again, but a few minutes before my strike was over, it took a while. I was forced to switch to normal 4K mode (non-HQ) to finish striking before sunset.
You will not experience any heating problems when striking without oversampling or 4K cropped APS-C (with 5.1K oversampling) up to 30 fps. If you do, it will reduce image quality problems like Moire, because the R5 has an Anti-aliasing filter. Another option is to record videos from Atomos or Blackmagic Design on an external recorder. If you do, there are no overheating limits in any 4K mode, including oversampled HQ.
What does all this mean? Overheating only affects people who are constantly recording 8k or 4K videos at a high frame rate. This is also a problem if you are recording long interviews in 4k HQ mode and you cannot turn off the camera in the middle strikes. If you do, I suggest you get another camera. If you strike mainly at Standard frame rates and occasionally slow-motion 8k or 4K clips, you rarely have to worry about overheating.
Other than that, there’s a lot to like about the R5 for video. Canon’s highly efficient dual Pixel video autofocus is available in all 8K and 4K striking modes. It doesn’t respond as quickly as the Sony a7S III’s AF, but it’s still very good. You can count on him to follow your subject, even if he moves at a good speed. Most importantly, he is accurate and does not seek concentration.
Canon has also made great improvements to the face and eye tracking autofocus. It is now faster and more reliable than ever, and I have easily used it in almost any interview or recording situation with people and even animals. It’s not quite up to Sony’s standards in terms of raw speed, but I found that the two-pixel system made it a little more reliable.
The EOS R5 is also equipped with Canon’s integrated five-axis stabilization, which offers a shake reduction of 8 stops, more than any other mirrorless camera except the Canon R6. This is complemented by two electronic modes that slightly enlarge the image. The most aggressive mode gave me the smoothest handheld video I’ve ever seen without a stabilizer, but of course it still can’t withstand a dedicated gimbal.
Finally, I am happy to say that the roller shutter is well controlled in normal 4K mode. Even in 4k HQ and 8K, it’s not as bad as the previous full-frame Canon and Sony cameras.
When it comes to video quality, the R5 offers. I was able to capture incredibly sharp images with accurate colors and skin tones, both in Standard and Log striking modes. To really put it to the test, I edited the video that accompanies this review in 4K HDR with a mix of 4K and 8K sequences. Seen on a high-end ASUS 1,000 nits HDR screen, I was blown away by the 4K sharpness. (I couldn’t publish the HDR video on YouTube because there are still too many problems, especially on macOS.)
To get the greatest possible dynamic range, you need to record 8k RAW, but you can only record six minutes of it on a 128 GB CFexpress card. I still have a decent dynamic range for 10-bit C log folders-more than enough for video.
Handling and photos
Moving on from the video, we must not forget that the R5 is a highly sought-after camera for photography. The weatherproof magnesium alloy matter exudes quality and it is a pleasure to hold it and use it in general. The handle is nice and big and everything is where you would expect.
Canon has removed the inconvenient touch bar from the EOS R and replaced it with a Joystick, so that the catch layout looks more like a typical Canon DSLR. However, the convenient top screen and the mode selector of the EOS R have been retained.
Unlike Sony and Panasonic, Canon has not seen fit to change its aging menu system, so navigation is still a bit tricky. You can use the touch screen to access the settings faster, but the menus are not really designed for touch.
The sharp 2.1 thousand-dot rear screen is fully movable, which allows you to use it for vlogging or striking from unusual angles. Sony’s A1 only has a single tilt screen on the back, a strange choice because it’s such a powerful camera for video, so the EOS R5 has a big leg up here.
If you prefer to use the electronic viewfinder (EVF), it has a sharp resolution of 5.76 thousand points and a refresh rate of 120 Hz. It’s not as good as the 9.44 thousand-point EVF on the A1, but it’s still sharp and extremely smooth.
However, if you use it for photos as often as I do, make sure to carry extra batteries. It can only handle 320 mediocre strikes with the EVF or up to 490 strikes with the rear screen. It requires relatively expensive LP-e6nh batteries, but it is also compatible with the old LP-E6N batteries (used in the recent Canon DSLRs).
It comes with microphone, earphone and powering ports, and you can power and connect via the USB-C port. Since many people want to use it with an external recorder, it is disappointing that it includes a mic port rather than a full-size HDMI port. It uses both high-speed UHS-II and CFexpress SD cards, so you can choose high-performance CFexpress cards or inexpensive SD cards, or both if you need a backup.