Canon R5 Review - One Year Later

The dust has settled after the Canon R5 initial release and here is the Gear Focus one year review. The Canon R5 was released in July of 2020. Currently it has been out for just over a year and still has some of the most impressive video specs coming out of any mirrorless or DSLR style camera on the market.

WHAT DO YOU GET?

$3900 is quite a bit of money to spend but you do get a lot for your dollar. Very few rival the R5 when it comes to the quality that you can achieve. Especially from such a small package.

• Raw 12-Bit video in 8K
• Or H.265 4:2:2 10 Bit compressed video
• DCI 4K up to 120fps
• IBIS
• Auto focus
• C-Log
• Full frame / Mirrorless
• VLOG: Josh's studio

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kM-9V46gmg[/embed]

THE BACKLASH:

Although it seems to be amazing and capable on paper it did have its backlash when users actually received the units. That is exactly what this Canon R5 review is here for. With the performance Canon was demanding from such a small camera body, overheating became an issue. Some users reported that the camera was nearly unusable when trying to film in 8K. A feature that was a major selling point.

WHERE THE R5 SHINES:

During our one year review a handful of features were tested. The 4K 120fps slow motion, the 8K internal video and the in-body image stabilization. IBIS is a feature that is relatively new to Canon cameras when compared to the other major camera brands so it was exciting to test out this feature. Gear Focus is pleased to say that the in body stabilization in the Canon R5 worked wonderfully. When using a wide angle lens to a "normal" focal length the IBIS is almost as good as using a gimbal and nearly all of the micro jitters from your hands is taken away. It really was not a big surprise that the 4K 120fps slow motion is fantastic in the R5. And without any crop in this recording mode this camera becomes a filmmaker's dream if they value smooth, buttery B-Roll.   After Canon's updated firmware to help with the overheating we were keen to test out the feature for ourselves. While recording in 8K 24fps, our test showed no overheating problems for a runtime of 15 minutes. This is great news considering the most anyone would probably ever film in 8K for would be a matter of minutes or even less.

SHOULD YOU BUY THE CANON R5?

If you are a filmmaker that is primarily a one-man-band or someone who works with small crews but wants their footage to have the industry standard or better, than the R5 is a great option. The 4K 120fps and the 8K internal recording on a full frame sensor all but guarantees that the Canon R5 is here to stay for many years.