Top Five
Just as it did with the very first – and very momentous – EOS interchangeable lens camera launch back in 1986, Canon has unveiled two new EOS models simultaneously. But this is 2020 and we’re talking about the next stage in the development of Canon’s EOS R full-35mm format mirrorless camera system. However, it believes the new pro-level EOS R5 (and its enthusiast-level sibling, the EOS R6), represents a “new era” which is certainly true in terms of Canon’s ability to compete much more aggressively in this sector… primarily with the ‘interlopers’, Panasonic and Sony. Another thing is certain with the R5… Canon has got its old mojo back.
There’s no doubt the DSLR-versus-mirrorless debate hasn’t made things easy for either Canon or Nikon compared to the camera makers that simply dived into the newer configuration and just got on with it, gaining a valuable head start. Sony has certainly made the most of it and is arguably now Canon’s chief rival for dominance of the interchangeable lens camera (ILC) market… the A7R IV, A9 II and A7S III all make this point pretty emphatically. The EOS R5 is essentially designed to take on all three of them as well Panasonic’s Lumix S models.
The model number, incidentally, pays tribute to Canon’s last really big success story in ILCs, the EOS 5D line of DSLRs which proved to be a massive hit with both photographers and video-makers (the latter from the Mark II model on). Canon clearly wants to keep both these groups of users in the fold and so, in many ways, the EOS R5 is the logical successor to the EOS 5D Mark IV… and a mirrorless camera is always going to be better suited to video-making than a DSLR which is undoubtedly why Canon has gone for headline-making specs here. At the top of the list is 8K RAW video recording internally at 25 fps (PAL standard) or 24 fps with 12-bit colour and using the full width of the sensor (i.e. no cropping) and for clip lengths of close to 20 minutes (temperature build-up is actually the key limiting factor here). What’s more, this is with Canon’s upgraded ‘Dual Pixel CMOS AF II’ phase-detection autofocusing, including subject tracking with AI-based eye-detection for either people or pets. Given this capability, the EOS R5 can jump through hoops with 4K video recording – DCI and UHD up to 100 fps for slow-mo effects and at 50 fps with either ALL-I or IPB compression routines, and again all using the full width of the sensor (there’s much more, of course, so go to
