Canon EOS R5 Mark II Review - ePHOTOzine

[Canon Rumors]

We're not big fans of "zero-day" camera or lens reviews, or really any review of significant cameras or lenses that come out within a month of release. There aren't may publications or reviewers out there that take their time with a product for reasons that one could consider obvious.

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[Del Paso]

I never liked the EVFs despite some obvious advantages, especially when using vintage lenses.
That is, until I bought the R5 II and looked through an R1's fantastic EVF.
Now, I couldn't imagine turning back to DSLRs. Focusing precision and MFAing every few months with every single lens etc...
The only - for me - annoying thing about the R5 II is the too easily accessible stills/video switch. If only it could be locked or customized...

 

[JKT]

On other sites there are reports that while the temperature specs haven't changed, the actual behavior has and the battery will promptly show 0% in cold weather.

 

[Canon Rumors]

On other sites there are reports that while the temperature specs haven't changed, the actual behavior has and the battery will promptly show 0% in cold weather.

I know of 6 R5 Mark II's currently in Mongolia chasing Snow Leopards, it been between -16c to -32C. There have been no issues outside of the battery dying fairly quickly... but even my LP-E19 lasted for less than 500 shots. I have asked the tour lead to keep me updated on the performance of both the R1 and R52 on the trip.

In those conditions, how you bring the camera and batteries down to temperature is extremely important. We'd leave our bags outside the gyr for 60-90 minutes before we headed out. Also, leave the batteries outside of the camera and also have silica in the bag.

We also had some good discussion about batteries when in the field when it's well below zero C. I am of the belief to not keep the batteries in an inner pocket where your body heat will warm them up again. Up, down, up and then down again, they'll be colder in the camera than on your persons. Bring them down and leave them down.

 

[Canon Rumors]

I never liked the EVFs despite some obvious advantages, especially when using vintage lenses.
That is, until I bought the R5 II and looked through an R1's fantastic EVF.
Now, I couldn't imagine turning back to DSLRs. Focusing precision and MFAing every few months with every single lens etc...
The only - for me - annoying thing about the R5 II is the too easily accessible stills/video switch. If only it could be locked or customized...

The R1 EVF is so good, but I have had to get used to actually looking around in the viewfinder.. It's so big. That took a bit of time, but the 0.9x and resolution is killer. Now I'm efficient with it.

 

[f2_productions]

Just around new years eve I took my 90D with 20mm f1.4 out into the cold night and left it there for 9 hours, making a time lapse of the nigh sky. Besides the lens heater which ate each of my two 20.000mAh batteries up two times, I had absoloutely no issues. Not with the batteries or the camera. The temperature was around -5°C and the humidity was very high, so the camera got a frost layer on the cold sides.

 

[koenkooi]

I do wish Canon would stop using open loop AF, it does a great job of locating a subject, but it should have a verification step after the lens reports that it has focused that distance. Case in point:


The camera proudly shows a red square around the kingfisher when reviewing, but we can all see it picked the closes object in the AF frame, not the actual subject.

R5II + 100-500L, the EXIF reports that it focused at about 56 meters.

This was with -4C, but the I used the camera only for a few minutes.

 

[Bonich]

What is this BS discussion about minimum temperatures?

Canon F1 SLR was specified starting at -20°C, the question was the film not to rip in those temperatures. You could shoot those without any power beside your fingers.

Canon EOS1 SLRs were specified starting at -20°C, the question was the film not to rip in those temperatures again. The power source were batteries, standard type or Canon' rechargeable pack. This was specified 0°C min, especially while charging.

Canon EOS1D DSLRs were specified starting at 0°C, The new thing was the rechargeable battery pack to come with the camera. This generated the 0°C in the specification. But those cameras were widely used far, far below without any issues. We carried some extra battery packs held warm in our pockets.

With sitting to mirrorless nothing changed regarding min temperatures, we are able to shoot in the Arctic winter/on the mountains as we were used to. We simply have to carry some extra battery packs held warm in our pockets.

Regarding temperature range there is just one special topic: The 1-series are specified to 45°C max, the 5 series and others are specified to 40°C max. This matters in some cases as we know ....

 

[alFR]

I am of the belief to not keep the batteries in an inner pocket where your body heat will warm them up again. Up, down, up and then down again, they'll be colder in the camera than on your persons. Bring them down and leave them down.

What’s the rationale behind that? I’ve never seen it suggested anywhere that the rate of change of temperature of the battery rather than its absolute temperature affects its ability to deliver power.

 

[mpmark]

For anyone with an R5ii or R1, Rudy is back and had a sit down to explain what each setting in the AF menu actually means or does. I find these way more informative then photographer YouTubers trying to spin what they feel canon wanted to do with each option. And half the time misunderstanding and confusing things.

Canon directly tell us what the settings are meant for. For those complaining about the eye tracking option, Rudy gives a great tip that no reviewer I know ever did on how to make it work great.

Apologies if we can't post links, I'm just trying to help more people like this helped me.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtu.be

 

[tiggy@mac.com]

I know of 6 R5 Mark II's currently in Mongolia chasing Snow Leopards, it been between -16c to -32C. There have been no issues outside of the battery dying fairly quickly... but even my LP-E19 lasted for less than 500 shots. I have asked the tour lead to keep me updated on the performance of both the R1 and R52 on the trip.

In those conditions, how you bring the camera and batteries down to temperature is extremely important. We'd leave our bags outside the gyr for 60-90 minutes before we headed out. Also, leave the batteries outside of the camera and also have silica in the bag.

We also had some good discussion about batteries when in the field when it's well below zero C. I am of the belief to not keep the batteries in an inner pocket where your body heat will warm them up again. Up, down, up and then down again, they'll be colder in the camera than on your persons. Bring them down and leave them down.

I've shot only a few times in cold-enough conditions to be a problem (around -20f) when staying out for too long. The thing that worked for me was using a dummy battery hooked up to a 100wh video battery tucked in my inner pocket through a d-tap connection. I've seen frozen LCDs, but the battery kept everything working throughout.

Later, I used those batteries in six-pack coolers, along with a lizard tank heater (1w heater, essentially) to keep cameras going all night outdoors for some weird wildlife remote stuff.

You can get the 100wh batteries for about $80 now, not far from an LP-e6p.

 

[David - Sydney]

"The rest of the planet? It’s still a camera that can be hard to come by and we haven’t seen any movement on price at this time, though we can’t know pricing at every retailer."
Canon Australia has a AUD300 cash back until 31-Jan and still includes the 5 year warranty.
Digidirect and Georges had R5ii at AUD5515 a couple of days ago (including 10%GST but excluding the AUD300 cash back) ie AUD5215 to buy. Both authorised retailers moved back to AUD5870 today. The $300 cashback is separate. There is no set "list price" or recommended retail price locally.

If my calculations are correct... equivalent USD @0.62 exchange rate excluding 10% gst.
Last week AUD5215 => USD2940
Currently AUD5570 => USD3140
https://www.georges.com.au/collections/shop?q=r5+mark+ii and is in stock and they throw in a Canon backpack.
https://www.digidirect.com.au/canon-eos-r5-ii-mirrorless-camera

For comparison, the R5 pre-order price was AUD6588

 

[Canon Rumors]

What’s the rationale behind that? I’ve never seen it suggested anywhere that the rate of change of temperature of the battery rather than its absolute temperature affects its ability to deliver power.

Nothing rational besides feeling that constant extreme temperature changes to a battery would/could implede performance or lifespan. I have absolutely zero science to back it up. I have no desire to be in the extreme cold long enough to actually test the theory.

An update from Mongoia though, R52 batteries in the camera were functionally lasting about 4 hours in -20C to -30C. There was one blip in which the battery died after about two hours, but the camera was turned off and back on and lasted about another 30 minutes.