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.
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.
