Well, I've finally done it, and ordered a new Canon R5.
Some of you may have seen my comments about looking into new cameras and gear in another post, A couple of days by the River Deben in Suffolk, and my apologies to Dave for the unintended hijack so I've set up a new thread to keep folks updated.
To continue from my comments, as many of you will be aware, I've been grounded by my falling apart body, but i've nothing but praise for the nurses, consultants, doctors and anyone else involved it working hard to resolve the situation.
We've all heard the old saying, the devil makes work for idle hands, well, include computer and mouse into that, and I've been researching into mirrorless cameras, which is the future, whether we like it or not.
Me, I'm intrigued and like the concept, but not the costs.....
Why the Canon R5?
Well, first and foremost, my son said go for it!
Some of you may be aware his partner walked out on him eighteen months ago, which almost rendered him homeless. While we would happily have taken him back, after a chat with my wife, his mother, I gave him a large chunk of my savings and agreed to be guarantor for his mortgage. I never gave any repayment terms, but he did ask how much, and has transferred some of the money back to me, enough to cover the R5.
I've been using Canon cameras for many decades, and I feel they are on a par with Nikon and the other big brand names, the only problem is, if you change to another brand, then you need to change all your lenses and other associated kit as well.
My research started with the cost of upgrading and also, many camera manufacturers also offer conversion kits, or adapters, so you can use your existing lenses on the new breed of cameras.
Also, my research shown that could I use my existing lenses, the cable and wireless remotes would work, so will the Speedlite flashgun. The only extra items required are the lens mount adaptor, and the memory cards, which are still the existing SD Card, or, the faster and more capable CF Express card, whereas the 5D4 will use a Compact Flash card.
Also, the battery pack for the R5 is the same is the 5D4, which I understand is the same as the 5D3.
This appealed.
However, the cost was still going to be steep.
My local postie, who we had for 20+ years, a very friendly chap, I never realised he did wedding photography, and offered to show me his cameras, which are Nikon, and how he managed to make the change to mirrorless.
We both agreed, Nikon, Canon or any of the other big names, you can't really go wrong.
After a very interesting three hours and numerous cuppas, and some time handling his cameras in the garden, and to play safe, I sat down to use them rather than stand and risk falling or dropping them, I was nicely impressed with what I saw.
There are some trade offs and caveats with electronic view vs live view, but I'm not one to be negative. Obstacles are there to be beaten, not beat you.
The one big downside, if it is a downside, is video. The final quality is good, however, when panning a moving subject, there is a noticeable lag. But then I don't do much video, and to be honest, my current 5D4 has some lag, because that in video mode uses the large TTF screen and not the optical viewer, which is live view.
I said obstacles are to be beaten, not beat you.
The video quality is superb, and a bigger plus, the electronic viewfinder shows the same as the large TTF screen, but the big bonus with the EVF, is you block out all the viewing intrusions that using a TTF screen came impose.
There will be more to this no doubt, as I start a new journey mirrorless, and I will be happy to share.
However, it is costly, and to make things more costly than desired, my nearest emporium haven't stock of the R5, so I've had to order from elsewhere, and not being able to go far, that means no trade in of my 5D4, which if I'm honest, I am reluctant to part with.
The new camera is on order, and should be with me in the next couple of days, all I need is for my leg to sort itself out.
Mike
Flickr: Peak Rambler
Thanks WJ.... so if I had enough hands... I could crop, zoom, back button focus, AF-C, dynamic range, auto release for birds in flight too?
Certainly looking forward to trying the viewfinder zoom, and the crop + zoom. And also experiment with back button focus... I think Trevor said it's the way to go... but maybe not all at once
PimperneBloke said:So, if I was in crop mode, could I then still zoom in even further to pinpoint focus? I guess if your subject is still, there should be no reason for out of focus shots if that is the case. I bet I can find a way though
Yes and no :). On the Canon the magnify shows you what the focus is that has been achieved by the autofocus so if you need a tweak you need to do that manually. That said the magnify button makes viewing things good too, much better than your average binoculars
The magnify button is something I need to play around with, along with quite a few more features.
More experimentation with the R5, and this housemartin pushed the R5's capabilities to the max, with the help of the 100-400 MkII (EF) lens, which facilitated heavy cropping.
What I should have done was to include the uncropped photo of the housemartin on the roof top to give some comparison, so here it is
And for ease of comparison, the cropped version
PimperneBloke said:I, too, had a chance to experiment, with the zoom function whilst looking through the viewfinder. I found it quite disorientating at first, as it wasn't a smooth zoom, it jumped, and as was mentioned, at that magnification, I quite often lost the subject by moving a smidge. I've not had chance to view the images yet.
I also experimented with DX (crop) mode, and instantly felt at home. So, next job is to compare the DX images to the full frame cropped images. Findings to follow ;o)
It is disorientating at first, but you will adjust to it.
I wasn't prepared for all the, very pleasant, surprises my camera has offered and shown. It is a whole new and exciting world, probably more exciting than the move from film to digital. I think for me, the only leap in camera tech that comes close is when Minolta introduced the Minolta Dynax 7000i. Bob will almost certainly remember that one.
You had to insert a programming card as to what type of photography you were doing, sport, landscape, portrait, etc. It was exciting tech at the time, but limited in that each mode required the appropriate card to be inserted.
But it was good.
Mirrorless surpasses that, by leaps and bounds.
I'll get it right this time, the proper two photos that should have appeared in the previous post.....
Ed D said:Hi Mike,
I haven't tried the focus stacking as yet.
I don't know if Bob has, or can offer any info on it.
If i'm honest, I doubt I've ventured more the 5% of the R5's features, but I am bowled over with what I have done, to the point I would describe the camera tech as awesome. Not because it's Canon, but the tech which will be shared across other brands as well.
I'm retired and struggling to find the time to play with all these features!
But I will, especially when my leg allows me, which at the moment, is not faring too well.
I'm not sure what timescale the delivery of your R7 is supposed to be, but if it's any consolation, my camera emporium struggled to locate my R5, not helped by the global semiconductor shortages. Everytime they thought they had located one, it had been snapped up by another store. But back then, not even Canon themselves had stock, which they currently do as I type, and likewise the R7.
As for liking the camera, change that to loving it. As I said, it has bowled me over, in a fantastic way, I don't think I've ever been so excited about new camera tech as this has taken me. I mentioned earlier how the Minolta Dynax 7000i gripped me, and that was a 35mm film camera where you used programming cards depending on what type of photography you wanted to do, which was innovative a the time.
Early DSLR's never had that effect on me, though i was happy to make the move when my budget allowed, but mirrorless, I'm smitten.
I think you'll be just as taken up with the R7, and look forward to sharing your excitement.