digiDirect's video: Canon EOS R5 R6 - Hands-On Review

We review the Canon EOS R5 and R6, including testing some of the overheating claims on the R5. Learn more about the Canon R5: https://bit.ly/30jJTnz Learn more about the Canon R6: https://bit.ly/30fVO5A Like us on Facebook: http://fb.com/digidirect Follow us on Instagram @digidirect and Twitter @digidirect_AU Intro - 0:00 Build - 0:44 Sensor & Image Quality - 2:50 Image Stabilisation - 4:29 Autofocus - 5:35 Autofocus tests - 6:47 Video - 7:15 Overheating & Image Quality tests - 8:28 Conclusion - 12:03 Today we’re looking at the brand new Canon R5 and R6! These are major new releases from Canon, essentially like when they introduced the 5D and 6D, except for mirrorless. Throughout most of this video I’m going to focus on the R5 because the R6 is basically just the R5 but missing a few features, but we’ll highlight those as we go. Body The R5 and R6 are solid cameras with great build quality, and they feel great in the hand. They have the scroll wheel and joystick from the 5D, and both have fully articulating screens. The R5 has a top LCD screen, the R6 does not. They both have mic and headphone jacks, USB and HDMI. Both have dual card slots, although on the R5 it is one SD and one CFExpress, on the R6 it is dual SD slots The menu and touchscreen implementation on these cameras are great. I was able to pick them up and dive into their more complicated settings right away. Great job overall. Sensor & Image Quality Inside the R5 is a 45 MP sensor, which is very high resolution for a ton of detail and quality. That’s very apparent from the images, there is an exceptional level of detail, and the L-series RF lenses do a great job of resolving that detail to it’s maximum potential. The R6 has a 20 MP sensor, and this is one of the major differences between the two models. That’s not to say picture quality is not still good on the R6 - it certainly is - but it’s not going to resolve the same amount of detail as the R5. Image Stabilisation One big feature on both of these cameras is the introduction of 5-axis in-body image stabilistion. The exact stabilisation rating depends on which lens you’re shooting with, but with most RF lenses you’ll be looking at 8 stops of IS. In practice, it does a fantastic job. Overall, an excellent implementation that provides great stability and flexibility. Autofocus Another very strong point on both of these cameras is the autofocus system. Both cameras sport the same upgraded Dual Pixel AF II system, which is a souped up version of Canon’s headline autofocus system, and this is the best we’ve ever seen it. The cameras have 100% AF coverage with improved face and eye detect, and they also introduce animal eye detect, which is new. Tracking movement is also handled extremely well, as you can see from these difficult bird shots. You can also shoot at up to 12 fps with mechanical shutter or 20 fps with electronic shutter. On top of all this, this autofocus performance carries over into all forms of video shooting, without exception. Video Speaking of video, the R5's headline feature is that it can shoot 8K Raw internally, and 4K 120p.nThe R6 tops out at 4K 60. The video performance here is incredible. The footage is gorgeous, the colours are great. My particular favourite was 4K 120. Add the image stabilisation on top of that, and shooting exceptional looking footage is almost trivially easy.The camera also has C-Log for colour grading, zebra stripes, peaking and punch-in features, and so on. Overheating -Now, lets address the elephant in the room. Does the R5 overheat? Answer - yes, primarily in 8K and 4K 120p. I was able to shoot 18 minutes at 8K before the camera overheated. And once that happens, its going to take a fair amount of time before it cools down enough to shoot at normal levels. Similarly, overheating can occur in 4K 120, usually after about 15 minutes of shooting. That's bad, but there’s a few reasons why I think it might not be as bad as it sounds at first blush. Those 18 minutes of 8K RAW took up 340 gb on my memory card. It’s a huge amount of data, so even if the camera didn’t overheat, you’d still need a very robust storage system before you’d be able to consistently shoot all of your footage 8K. For 4K 120, in pracice you won't be shooting that much due to the slow motion, so you can avoid overheating. In my practical testing I didn't get it to the point of overheating. The overheating never affected my ability to shoot in 4K 30. So be aware of this in light of how you choose to shoot, although I would hazard a guess that for most people this is not going to be as impactful as many might believe. One other downside is that the cameras have 29 minute record limits, even in 4K 24, which is a bit unfortunate if shooting for long periods. Conclusion In conclusion, these are both exceptional cameras, even considering the overheating. If they suit your shooting needs, these get my highest recommendation