Canon released the EOS R5 mirrorless full frame camera body in early August 2020. For me, this was an eagerly awaited launch as I had dipped my toe into the mirrorless market with an EOS R in October 2018. Whilst this was not a true professional camera, I had thoroughly enjoyed shooting with it and knew that once Canon launched a professional mirrorless body, this would be my proper entry into the “mirrorless” world of cameras and give me an opportunity to get the most out of my two RF lenses.
Many of the specs match the truly excellent flagship 1DX Mark III DSLR and with a 45 MP sensor, this is an exciting camera. I have not been disappointed, in spite of much criticism of overheating issues when shooting 8K RAW video – something I have not done and do not at this stage envisage doing. What has particularly impressed me is the autofocus ability of this body, especially when shooting with the eye recognition focus mode. The body works well with my super-telephoto EF lenses with a RF/EF control ring adapter. With the RF 15-35mm f/2.8L and the 28-70mm f/2L lenses, it makes an excellent landscape camera. For me, it looks like it will be an ideal nature photography camera and together with the 1DX Mark III, I have most bases covered.
Having recently gone through the set up of the 1DX Mark III, which was complicated by the fact that it required settings for viewfinder shooting, live view (mirrorless) shooting and video capture, the R5 was somewhat simpler because it is only still shooting and video.It however needs careful setting up in regard to using the electronic viewfinder and the LCD screen viewing and the synchronisation thereof.
I always use Custom set up versions (C1, C2 and C3). This is done for both still shooting and video, which makes six groups of settings. Like the 1DX Mark III, I have settings for landscape photography, general nature and action photography.
Settings are very much a personal thing, depending on your own requirements, style of shooting and what you intend to photograph. This is an attempt to summarise my preferences and it could serve as a good starting point when setting up your new R5.
Included is my customisation of the various buttons and dials and also the use of “My Menu” options. The latter helps a lot in making changes while shooting without having to drill down into the various menus. Settings like AF method and Shutter mode are prime examples. The R5 also gives three options for Shutter mode – Mechanical, Electronic 1st curtain and Electronic. With the latter setting, you can obtain 20 shots/second and without a shutter sound.
The original settings were done in Numbers on a Mac and then converted to an Excel file. Both versions are linked below.
The Excel Link:
The Numbers Link:
If you click on the link it will take you to another page where you again click on the file name and it will download the respective file.
Note this is for Firmware version 1.1.1