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
Hi guys.
If anyone sees this in amongst the chaos of the upgrade I'm after a bit of advice/info.
I've got a couple of mates who both have R7s and both are having problems with the focus pulsating regardless of lens they have, one has just bought the RF 100-500 and it's still doing it, is it something they are doing wrong?
Depends what you mean by pulsating - sometimes the AF tries to be too clever I think and results are better turning off the tracking and using it with a more traditional single point (especially in messy environments with species the AI is probably not trained for (Adders in the undergrowth for example!))
___
Find me on Flickr / All about your camera - The Getting off Auto Index
Thanks WJ from what I can gather the focus isn't locking on and they miss a lot of shots.
I'll see if I can get more info on settings
Without looking at the user guide (or digging out Mrs WJ's R7), you can tell the camera where to start tracking from I'm sure - typically in the middle of course. But I seem to remember there's a setting that starts off from where it last finished, which could well lead to all sorts of messy complications. If I get the chance later I'll have a look
Don't waste too much time pal without knowing what they are doing.
I'm mainly interested because I'm still looking to go mirrorless, they've seen loads of stuff on camera forums and YouTube about the problem and it's putting me off.
Don't go Canon then Alan :o)
Hi Alan, I have the R7, and at times it is not as clever as it thinks it is. Don't get me wrong it can take excellent shots, but not always. Firstly I think it needs very good light otherwise it cannot get the contrast to focus consistently. There are times in shaded areas with dark birds in trees, it just can't do it. It might as you say pulse, or not get it at all. I think the contrast difficulty also shows in fine details sometimes, feathers can appear like a smooth surface rather that detailed. I also find that without good light the 'birds in flight' tracking can be poor. Even though is is being tracked, when you look at the focus point in DPP, it often misses. I moved to this from a 90D, which I still have, and in poorer light can find the detail is better on the 90D. I think the R7 is not quite as clever as it is supposed to be. As you may know there are rumours of a R7II, so if you were considering one it might be worth waiting a bit, to see if the quirks are sorted. I find to get better shots I am using higher ISOs - 1600, 2000, which is mostly handled well, otherwise I give it a quick wizz with Topaz De-Noise.
This forum is still a nightmare to navigate.
Alan, I doubt there is anything your friends are doing wrong. possibly the first question I would ask, are they using the latest software. A lot of mirrorless manufacturers (Canon definitely have, for both the R7 and R5) have issued software updates to overcome many, but not all, of the AF issues users have experienced.
As BD says, the tech is not as clever as it thinks, the R5 also seems at times to be too eager to lock on to the desirted subject (I've had some cracking sky and out-of-focus sky pics), particularly with low light and dark subjects.
There's two ways I've found to reduce that issue, one is single point focusing rather than the eye tracking, the other is where feasible, to use exposure settings to allow more light (often not ideal with fast moving subjects) on to the subject.
The latter with regards to the exposure settings was shared with me from a Nikon mirrorless user at my local reserve, so it must be a common problem with modern camera tech.
Probably one of the bigger challenges currently, with the continued unsettled weather we're having, is the consistent low light levels due to the continued cloud and often wet conditions.
The only drawback if you're upgrading will be obtaining the EF/RF lens adaptor. I don't think Canon make them any longer, so you'd need to seek out a good secondhand one, or, twist the salesperson's arm into giving you a good deal to trade all the current gear for the new stuff.
Canon link: https://store.canon.co.uk/canon-mount-adapter-ef-eos-r/2971C005/
I wouldn't be put off investing in mirrorless, but what might be a good option is to visit a good camera emporium ask the questions, handle some of the cameras and make a decision from there.
I bought my lens adapter second hand on fleabay. I was lucky, not knowing much about them at the time to get the one with the control ring. It can be set to various uses, but I have it set to exposure correction, which is very useful to brighten or darken a scene while looking through the viewfinder. I would recommend anyone buying an adapter to get that type.
Thanks BD and Mike.
I asked him earlier about the software and they are both up to date.
I'm surprised one of them is having problems using a 300mm 2.8 which I thought would be ideal and the other bought a RF 100-500.
I think I'm going to wait to see if a R7S mk2 comes out.
PB I've even thought of swapping, seen a guy on Twitter the other day who had gone over to the dark side and bought Nikon and a 600mm lens and got cracking shots of a Barn Owl