An amazing upgrade from my Canon 90D!!
Absolutely top quality typical Canon.
My photos are noticeably sharper shooting with the RF 24-105 lens. Honestly the menu options for those of you familiar with Canon’s DSLR menu is roughly the same but way way more intense. There are so many setting and sub settings in this thing that I’ll be honest for the first couple hours setting it up and using it I felt like I had never touched a camera before. With all the added features that my 90D doesn’t have left me wondering if I was even setting up the AF, Settings, menus correctly. First few photos ended up soft, flat, and some even out of focus. Strangely this was using the exact same basic ISO, Shutter speed, and aperture as my 90D that took rock solid, tack sharp images. Thing with the R5 is the settings while perfect for the 90D are not perfect for the R5. Most importantly where ISO is concerned. I have found that for instance 1/500 at F4 (the RF lens I used lowest aperture) at ISO 800 indoors for photos of my kiddo running around ended up dark and completely underexposed. I allowed the camera to choose Setting the ISO to auto meant it was setting it to 25600. This was showing perfect exposure. Now on my 90D 25600 equals ungodly noise in the photos. On the R5 it equaled slight noise akin to ISO 1600 on the 90D. So I have found that strangely the camera tends to want to shoot at much higher ISO values than the 90D. I’m not sure if this is purely environmental (lighting, ambience, etc) or if the ISO levels are somehow programmed to need to run high to expose the same as a non mirrorless DSLR would. I tried this same thought out by using my Tamron 35mm 1.4F prime EF lens on the R5 with the EF/RF adapter. I took a couple shots with the R5/Tamron and 90D/Tamron. Same lighting conditions, same Manual settings. The 90D consistently allowed a much lower ISO setting than the R5 before being severely under exposed. So I found that strange and interesting. Outside in cloudy/overcast conditions the R5 shoots sharp, perfectly focused, and clean with any EF or RF lens I have tried. Even at 1/30, F8, ISO 100. The photos are sharp without any blur from hand holding at that shutter speed. On the 90D with same settings the photos suffer from hand shake blur at that Shutter speed. But just changing the shutter to a hand operated friendly speed on the 90D churned out under exposed images unless I dropped the F down to F4 or lower and upped the shutter speed to 1/250 or higher leaving the ISO below 800. So in short I have no idea what the R5 is programmed to do differently that would cause the ISO to need to be higher than a non mirrorless camera but regardless it’s one of those things you just have to learn the quirks of and adjust your pre programmed brain to adapt to. Those of you that know exactly what settings to choose based on environment will possibly be a little challenged at first. Once you adopt the R5 like learning photography for the first time and ignoring what you may know would be the perfect setup on a mirror DLSR you will adapt to it quickly. Overall this is an amazing camera very much worthy of the price tag attached to it. I wouldn’t go back to a mirror DSLR now that I have seen what this near flagship mirrorless camera can do. But it does make me miss the “simplicity” of the 90D as far as speed of use on the fly changing settings to suit a changing/unexpected lighting condition. If you have an R6 and are considering upgrading I don’t think the gains are worth the price tag. But if you have a 90D or similar crop sensor or 5D full frame I definitely think this is a very worthy upgrade. But then again some of the best photos I have ever taken have been on the likes of the 80D and 90D bodies. It isn’t always the camera that makes the photos pop and leaves the viewer in awe. I guarantee that the older bodies are capable of absolutely flawless and perfect photos. In the hands of someone who knows how to shoot in manual and choose every setting you would do just as well with an older camera. The difference here is most noticeable in wildlife photography and action shots. None of my landscape photography is so far advanced compared to a high end DSLR. If you only shoot urban, architecture, street, landscapes and don’t use the AF face or eye detection you could be happy with any high end Canon from the last 8 years. But if you shoot birds, sports, wildlife the R5 is by far the superior camera. Would I buy it again? Absolutely. Will I sell or stick the 90D on a shelf to collect dust? No. I’ll still use it for certain purposes. Because truly it’s better at some things the R5 simply isn’t made for. If you are on the fence about upgrading from DSLR or from a lower mirrorless body take the leap and buy the R5. Just don’t expect to still be the pro you think you are in the first 100 photos.

Glad i made the purchase and im not disappointed at all. From the feel of it in my hand to the pressing of the buttons. It’s effortless, the quality is almost unreal.

Background:
– I have owned the Canon R5 for 2 years and a month
– I have photographed over 75 weddings with this camera
– My current shutter count is 150,000+
– My purchasing route has been Mark IV —> EOS R —> R5
Who is this camera for:
– A professional looking to upgrade from a DSLR to a high-quality mirrorless camera
– An event / portrait / real estate photographer
Who is this camera not for:
– Professional sports/wildlife photographer… Canon has better options for you.
– Someone with no prior photography experience… If you have the budget, go for it, but just know that the learning curve will be steep.
Advice:
– The RF lenses that go with this body are spectacular. Save up and buy them.
Pros:
– The autofocus is stellar when paired with an RF lens.
Images look tack sharp even at 1.2
– The camera will last 8+ hours in Eco mode during a wedding with a battery grip
– Silent shutter is the best-kept secret. During the wedding ceremony, I am able to turn my shutter off if the wedding is outdoors. I photograph in silence to not disrupt the gusts enjoying the ceremony… it’s the little things like this that add up.
Cons:
– I will get an error code that pops up and stops the camera from taking pictures. The only way to fix this is to remove the battery and put it back in. This doesn’t happen often, but it does happen.
… I sat here for 5 minutes trying to come up with more negatives… I’m sure that I could nitpick it. Truth is though that this is the best camera body I have ever owned. It’s built like a tank. Yes, it cost an arm and a leg, but the proof of its value is in the images it can help me produce.
Recommend?
– 1000% YES

The camera is wonderful, hence giving an overall rating of 5 stars but Best Buy has some serious problems. I don’t think that you’ll find a single person who says anything different about the camera. I am a professional photographer and I use my camera a lot. I upgraded to this camera from the Canon R5 because the R5 was overheating and wouldn’t let me record 8k for very long. Not a problem with this camera.
However, when I received the box with the camera in it, the camera was packaged terribly inside the outer box. That outer box was too big and the camera just moved throughout the box during shipment. The “security” tape wasn’t even covering the entire length of the box. When I opened the outer box, the inner box containing the camera was dented. And when I opened that box up, the material inside was all shuffled around and the English version of the instruction manual was missing. I have included a couple of pictures of what I am talking about.
So while I highly recommend this camera to anyone wanting a high class professional photo and video recording tool, I do not recommend buying it from Best Buy.
It should be noted here that this was NOT the only time when a package from Best Buy was shipped to me in terrible condition. Therefore, I do not believe that this is a one time only occasion. Going forward, I will not have anything shipped to me from Best Buy. One would think that a camera with this price tag would be shipped a little better than how it was.
The camera itself is not physically damaged BUT it is almost impossible to know at this point if there was any damage done to this camera internally. That may only be determined over the course of time. I am seriously considering bringing this camera back to Best Buy and getting a new one. But if I do that, I run into the same problem with a new order. However, the camera is available at a Best Buy store but that store is over 2 hours away (each way)! Not sure what I am going to do.
I am one of the Best Buy Total Tech customers – something I have paid for last year and this year. One of the “perks” of that membership is the support (or lack of) that Best Buy gives you. In the past I have called Best Buy customer support for help but what they say every time is that they don’t have any power to do anything and everything is up to the individual store to rectify whatever problem comes up. In other words, it’s absolutely pointless contacting them. I have had situations when the customer support person says one thing and I go to the store to follow through with the “solution” given to me by the support person and the store refuses to honor it.
I guess I will have to go back to the store but I’m not sure if they will be able to provide much of a solution for me unless I want to drive 2 hours (each way) to pick up another camera.
NOT HAPPY!! Not sure if Best Buy even reads these comments. But if they do, can someone reach out to me? Thanks!
Chris