The Canon EOS R5 8K mirrorless camera is now official. Canon just dropped full specifications for the oft-talked about hybrid photo/video camera. Debate and discussion come as expected for a camera touting 8K RAW internal recording with Dual-Pixel Auto Focus. Remember nearly ten years ago an often used April’s Fools joke focused on the funny idea a Canon 5D could handle internal raw recording… remember that? I do because I am three pairs of reading glasses old.

Well, here we are with the Canon EOS R5. I am a video shooter, so my post about the Canon R5 will come from this perspective. If you want a comprehensive look at the Canon R5, you can find Jose Antune’s post here. I love the idea behind a hybrid with internal raw recording, which I will touch on in a moment.

We have a price tag for full-frame 8K RAW recording, $3899.00 for the body only, and $4999.00 for the R5 and RF 24-105mm F4 L IS USM lens kit. The Canon EOS R5 will be available at the end of July. Some will say $3899.00 for the R5 body only is a little steep, but again internal 8K RAW recording does not come cheap. Yet, the R5 is a hybrid, so users get a lot more than internal 8K RAW recording.

• High Image Quality featuring a New 45 Megapixel Full-frame CMOS Sensor.
• DIGIC X Image Processor with an ISO range of 100-51200; Expandable to 102400*1.
• High-Speed Continuous Shooting of up to 12 fps with Mechanical Shutter and up to 20 fps Electronic (Silent) Shutter.
• Dual Pixel CMOS AF covering Approx. 100% Area with 1,053 AF Areas.
• Subject tracking of People and Animals*2 using Deep Learning Technology.
• 8K RAW, 4K up to 120fps, 10-bit 4:2:2 with Canon Log or HDR PQ, Internal Recording in all Formats, with Auto Focus.
• In-body Image Stabilizer can provide up to 8 Stops of Shake Correction*.
• Dual Card Slots for CFexpress** and UHS-II SD Memory Cards***.
• Built-in 0.5″ 5.76 Million Dots OLED EVF with 120 fps refresh rate^1, Vari-angle LCD Touchscreen. • 2.4/5Ghz Built-in Wi-Fi®^, Bluetooth^^ Technology.
• Enhanced Operating Controls.
• Optional Wireless File Transmitter and Battery Grip.
• Impressive Durability

8K RAW, 4K up to 120fps, 10-bit 4:2:2 with Canon Log or HDR PQ, Internal Recording in all Formats, with Auto Focus. This is a helluva list of video features. It appears to me, and I reserve the right to be wrong, that Canon has thrown down a gauntlet to other camera manufacturers to claim the right to be on top. The Canon EOS R5, and it’s $3899 body-only price tag, is less expensive with more features than several competitors like the ZCam E2-F8 and RED Komodo which is S35mm.

The only caveat is a small one that I think could be slightly annoying for real-world situations; the internal raw recording is only in 8K. Yep, only 8K RAW Recording. Not 4K, nope, 4K recording is ALL-I or IPB. If you are looking to jump into 8K RAW footage from the Canon EOS R5, you might want to make sure your editor can handle it.

Exactly how much 8K DCI RAW footage fits on a single 64GB CFexpress card, 3 mins. If you jump up to 1TB, your recording time jumps to 51 minutes. For a price of around $600 – $800, a handful of CFexpress cards become pretty expensive. These accessory costs must be included when researching a camera to purchase.

The big question is this: Do you consider the Canon EOS R5 to be an “A camera” or a “B camera” to a C500 Mark II or C300 Mark III? In my mind, I see the EOS R5 in either roll. There are a lot of features on the R5 shooters may use often. If Canon threw on a Neutral Density Filter wheel and an Electronic Viewfinder better suited for video capture, they could call this a cinema camera. At $3899.00 one gets an excellent deal for a full-frame 8K RAW dual-pixel autofocus hybrid camera.