Preview: Canon EOS R5 Mark II

Wednesday 17 July 2024, 12:12 by Elja Trum | 3,213 views | 2 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Canon announces the Canon EOS R5 Mark II today, the successor to the popular R5. Last week, I got to spend a day using this new camera. In this preview, you'll discover its specifications and my first impressions.

Canon EOS R5 Mark II specifications

- 45-megapixel full-frame BSI CMOS sensor
- In-body image stabilisation up to 8.5 stops
- DIGIC X processor with DIGIC Accelerator
- Sensitivity: 100 to 51,200 ISO
- Electronic viewfinder: OLED, 0.5-inch, 5.76 million dots
- Display: 3.2-inch TFT LCD, 2.1 million dots
- Video up to 8K at 60 fps, Canon Log 2/3
- 30 frames per second (electronic shutter, 12 mechanical)
- CFexpress and SD(XC) memory card slots
- New LP-E6P battery (older batteries remain usable, with limitations)

I currently use the Canon EOS R5 as my main camera and I am very pleased with it. So the R5 Mark II is of particular interest to me.

Also suitable for sports photographers

The Canon EOS R5 Mark II is a true all-rounder. This second version is now also very suitable for sports photography. This is thanks to the many features it shares with the new Canon EOS R1.

For example, the new 'Action Priority' mode. This lets you automatically focus on the player with the ball during a football, hockey or basketball match. In future, other sports should also get this advanced tracking feature through a firmware update.

The R5 Mark II can also shoot up to 30 frames per second. The R1 goes even further with 40 frames per second, but most sports photographers will find 30 more than sufficient.

Pre-shooting

Even more interesting for sports photographers is the pre-shooting function. When you enable this option, your camera continues taking photos while you half-press the shutter button. These photos are stored in the camera's buffer, but not on your card.

Only when you actually press the shutter button are the photos already in the buffer written to your memory card. The photos you take at the moment you press the shutter button are then saved as well.

This means you also get around fifteen photos taken before you pressed the shutter button. Handy, because you can still capture the perfect action shot after the actual moment has already happened.

As a photographer, you no longer have to judge the exact right moment. You press the shutter button when you see a great moment and you still capture it, even if you were actually too late.

Selecting your subject with your eyes

Personally, I am very enthusiastic about the eye focus on the new Canon EOS R5 Mark II. This feature was previously found on the R3 and has now been developed further. The feature is now said to be about twice as accurate.

With eye focus, the camera looks at where you are looking while you peer through the electronic viewfinder. A yellow circle appears on the screen where you are looking. When you then half-press the shutter button, autofocus selects the subject you were looking at.

So if you are photographing a group of people, for example, you look at the person you want in sharp focus and the camera focuses on that person. Even if the person moves, they are tracked neatly, so they stay in focus.

As soon as you half-press the shutter button, the yellow circle disappears and you can, for example, fine-tune the composition. Meanwhile, the camera continues following the subject you selected.

To use the feature optimally, you need to calibrate the camera to your eye several times in different conditions. Each process takes around 10 seconds and you need to do it about five or six times.

Improvements over its predecessor

A number of points of concern with the previous model have been addressed. For example, a lot of attention has been paid to cooling the camera. There were many complaints about overheating with the R5, mainly during video recording. Canon has now dealt with this properly, so you can keep filming for longer.

If you shoot a lot of video, the optional cooling fan grip could be for you. The grip contains a fan that blows air through the new cooling vents in the R5. This means you can also keep shooting 8K and 4K video at high frame rates for a long time.

The rolling shutter effect has also been reduced by 60 per cent compared with the original R5. Another improvement is the electronic viewfinder, which is now twice as bright. These were issues I had not experienced myself in practice with my R5, incidentally, but it is good that they have been improved.

Canon EOS R5 Mark II for videographers

Cameras used to be specifically for photographs. That changed in 2008 with the arrival of the Canon 5D Mark II. This camera had a video function, which video makers liked very much. Since then, the 5D series, and now the R5 series, have also paid a lot of attention to videography.

The R5 is even the first camera, together with the R1, to have a light on the front of the body that shows you when recording is taking place. Handy during recording, so the person being filmed knows that the camera is running.

You can also switch this light off if you would rather not use it.

The maximum video resolution is 8K at 60 frames per second. That is very useful if you want to shoot VR video in combination with the Canon RF 5.2mm VR lens. Lower resolutions are also possible at higher frame rates. For example, 4K at 120 frames per second.

With the Canon EOS R5, you can also film in Canon Log 2 and 3. You can even load your favourite LUT directly onto the camera, so it is applied straight away.

Provisional conclusion

The Canon EOS R5 Mark II seems to be a great successor to the already popular R5 in every respect. The camera has improved across the board.

Is the Canon EOS R5 Mark II worth upgrading to if you currently own its predecessor? The improvements seem to be mainly aimed at sports photographers and videographers. For them, it may well be worthwhile.

As a portrait photographer, I do not see myself upgrading just yet. There are some good and useful improvements, such as eye focus, but they may not immediately be worth the investment.

Don't have an R5 yet, but are you interested in a camera like this? Then the Canon EOS R5 Mark II is certainly an interesting camera for you.

Price and availability

The recommended retail price of the Canon EOS R5 Mark II is 4799 euros. The camera will be available from the end of August.

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About the author

Elja Trum is the founder of Photofacts and online photography course website Photofacts Academy. He has been writing about photography since 2006. Elja is also the author of (Dutch) books on composition, black-and-white photography, flash photography and portrait photography.

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2 comments

Henri wrote on Thursday 18 July 2024 at 14:30 | reply
Have been working with the 5D Mk IV since 2017 and kept that up for a long time because this camera has GPS on board.
Now I have finally ordered the R5MkII because technology has made some nice advances in the meantime.

When I asked Canon Netherlands whether the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver is compatible with the R5 MkII, I was told that this is 'probably' the case, but that this had to be checked for certainty (it had only been out for 4 hours when I contacted them).
But now it turns out that the complete technical specs. state that there is an interface for:

GPS satellites (America)
GLONASS satellites (Russia)
MICHIBIKI Quasi-Zenith satellites (Japan)

That sounds very interesting to me as a globetrotter.....

I still have to get a definitive answer as to what exactly this entails. To me, 'interface' sounds like 'connection', so perhaps a successor to the GP-E2 GPS Receiver is coming? Or GPS is really built in, as the employee at Canon suggested, but you don't read anything about that anywhere. I will receive a reply by email explaining what is meant.

Link to the complete specs:

https://www.canon.nl/cameras/eos-r5-mark-ii/specifications/

Incidentally, I am disappointed that the viewfinder has not been improved compared to the previous R5, and by that I mean in terms of resolution etc. Especially now that you see the update to the viewfinder of the Nikon Z6MkIII: what a viewfinder!

Anyway, I can't wait dot the postman is standing at my doorstep (in August) with my package......
Translated from Dutch.

Donald Willemsen wrote on Saturday 27 July 2024 at 12:05 | reply
I think it's a shame that that 'action priority' only applies to sports. It seems useful to me to be able to use that for other forms of photography too, such as with animals, for example.
Translated from Dutch.

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Would you like to take better photos and keep up with what is happening in photography? Photofacts publishes articles that teach you something about photography — from a product announcement to a practical shooting tip or a look at a website. Photofacts covers photography every day and is a hobby project of Elja Trum's that got out of hand. The articles are written by a team of volunteer authors. If you would enjoy writing one or more articles for Photofacts, do get in touch.More about Photofacts

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