"So after 3.5 weeks with the R5 and a handful of sessions shooting birds in flight, I’m noticing two things that are not on the good side for the R5–rolling shutter when shooting in the electronic shutter mode, or a “slideshow” of shooting in mechanical shutter mode.
I’ve noticed that I get notable rolling shutter distortion on the surroundings when I’m panning with a bird in flight. I’ve had this happen when photographing Barn Swallows, Dickcissels, and Killdeer. When they fly above things that are vertically oriented (grass, sedges, flowers, etc) the surroundings slant/lean in the direction I’m panning.
To combat this, I can go to mechanical shutter mode, but then I seem to get the “slide show” effect which essentially makes my EVF function at 12 Hz. As I’ve said in other spots, this is not a big deal for birds which are relatively small in the frame, but when I shoot birds which are larger in the frame, it’s much more difficult to track them (as compared to the 1DX3 and the A9 I used to own). Because of the slideshow effect. Even if I can stay on the bird, it’s difficult to keep it centered in the frame. 20fps electronic shutter improved on this, but it still seems like a 20 Hz slideshow.
I found the A9’s live feed with the electronic shutter as well as the faster readout speed to be better for keeping the bird in the frame. (I owned the A9 and the 200-600 for about 7 months and used it fairly extensively. I used the 1DX3 primarily with my 600iii, and I’ve recently sold it as well. I never used a Sony 600 with the A9 and I never used a 200-600 on a Canon... ;-) I’m set to receive the 100-500 this week. I’m hoping the improved resolution of the R5 over the A9 makes this a better in flight combo than the A9/200-600, which is excellent.) The eye AF on the R5 does seem to make a difference.
At the end of the day, I’m still enjoying the R5/600iii better than I did the 1DX3/600iii and also better than the A9/200-600. The bird’s eye AF on the R5 really makes a notable difference on birds in flight." ...Show more →
I think that's a fair assessment and the more that I familiarize myself with the R5, the more these things tend to play out. Generally, against a cloudless sky, the e-shutter isn't a problem. Panning against a largely homogenous background and it's not an issue either. For sports, I'd be in mechanical mode or in any circumstance that there are vertical elements. Tradeoff?
20fps and silence versus 12fps and noise. Is rolling shutter worse than the a9, yes though it's better than the a7riv. That one drawback has to be weighed against the increased resolution, ability to crop and other features. If I had to summarize the camera, it is a hybrid of the a9 and a7riv with amazing eye tracking AF.
Today, I was playing with a 100-400 is ii + 2x TC. It was amazing in the context that the AF system was able to detect swimming ducks and perched bird's eyes and track astoundingly accurately though the IQ of this combination is lousy. With the 1.4x, this combination is quite good. Still, I prefer my primes.
p.65 #3 · Sony-shooters thoughts on the Canon R5/R6
1bwana1 wrote:
I think most people here on FM appreciate any opinions posted in a polite constructive manner. This, whether it favors one brand or another. Any progress in the ICL Camera imaging ecosystem will eventually benefit all.
The way Canon micromanaged R5/R6 release, in combination with some quirky issues in the way the cameras work, has in my opinion made it hard for most of us to get a good grasp of the cameras. the professional reviewers are all over the place with opinions on these two cameras. So much hype, rumour, and unverified reporting.
In the end it will be opinions posted by users such as yourself that help us understand the place that these cameras occupy in the market, and whether that place is something we are interested in acquiring for whatever need we need to fill.
I am in no way interested in switching system. I am very happy with my current a7RIII/A9 cameras, and don't feel limited in any way. Still, I always enjoy watching the industry evolve, and technology advance.
I am grateful to you for taking the time to post your experiences with the R5, and to those who challenge them. This is the path to understanding them. ...Show more →
Generally, that's true and if you see my posts they are usually polite and constructive. Pour gasoline on my comments for no reason, and you'll get burned.
p.65 #4 · Sony-shooters thoughts on the Canon R5/R6
1bwana1 wrote:
Those who are disrespecting T. Northrup because he criticises the R% may want to take a look at this.
His Wife is switching to the R5. Her logic for the switch is at least reasonable.
Nah, I really don't care what Tony has to say but she's still worth shooting.
p.65 #5 · Sony-shooters thoughts on the Canon R5/R6
Holger wrote:
Pretty much agree. We have a similar setup and are more than happy. I see nothing for us to incite a switch at all. I would loose a lot of money for no improvement (likely the opposite) for the way we shoot. We have the DR and resolution (A7riv/A7riii) Canon hardly matches (only by cheating with NR) or the ultimate speed (A9ii/A9), we have all the lenses we require and Sigma is providing additional fantastic glass at fantastic prices (35/1.2, 85/1.4, 14-24/2.8 etc.) in addition to fantastic lenses Sony is providing esp. recently (20/1.8, 24GM, 12-24GM, 400/2.8, 600/4, 135GM, 50/1.4 etc.). Most people can't even live up to the capabilities of their present gear (me included).
I can fully understand, however, that people switch if they have health issues and the Canon ergonomics suits them better to avoid issues, if they are collectors or just want the newest and shiniest, or desperately think to need a special lens or feature to get a certain shot or not which only Canon is able to pull off at the moment and money plays no role (unlikely most of the time). They should stand behind their decision and just pull the trigger loosing money or not and not lament back and forth, here. It is their life and if they are happy this is fine - great. A lot better if people are happy, good for their peer group, spouse, too. ...Show more →
'Most people can't even live up to the capabilities of their present gear'. So true and in play everytime I pick up a camera.
p.65 #6 · Sony-shooters thoughts on the Canon R5/R6
randomguy wrote:
Oh yeah, I'm switching. By the way, buy our buying guide 20% off!
Yeah, these people need content constantly. "I'm switching" is an instant view bump. Because you get both the fanboy and hater clicks. You just have to take it for what it is. These people have managed to make a living doing this so you have to respect them for that (I guess). I just don't get the switching mentality in 2020. Couple years ago this would not be the case but today I just don't get it. If you can't take great images with any of these current models regardless of brand then that's a you thing. If your a Pro and a new camera can save you time which saves you money over the long haul. Then sure I can see that as a business decision. Absolutely makes sense. But for enthusiast and hobbyist (which is the vast majority of the market) I hate to break it to you.Your images are not going to look any better. Although I have never been a Canon guy I'm glad like others they are finally stepping up their game. It's hard to imagine needing anything more than what I got already. But that's Sony's job I guess. To invent things I didn't know I needed or wanted
p.65 #9 · Sony-shooters thoughts on the Canon R5/R6
nhsonyshooter wrote:
Yeah, these people need content constantly. "I'm switching" is an instant view bump. Because you get both the fanboy and hater clicks. You just have to take it for what it is. These people have managed to make a living doing this so you have to respect them for that (I guess). I just don't get the switching mentality in 2020. Couple years ago this would not be the case but today I just don't get it. If you can't take great images with any of these current models regardless of brand then that's a you thing. If your a Pro and a new camera can save you time which saves you money over the long haul. Then sure I can see that as a business decision. Absolutely makes sense. But for enthusiast and hobbyist (which is the vast majority of the market) I hate to break it to you.Your images are not going to look any better. Although I have never been a Canon guy I'm glad like others they are finally stepping up their game. It's hard to imagine needing anything more than what I got already. But that's Sony's job I guess. To invent things I didn't know I needed or wanted ...Show more →
Never put better- ' If you can't take great images with any of these current models regardless of brand then that's a you thing.'
But just think what the a9iii and a7r v will be like now with Canon finally in the game.
p.65 #10 · Sony-shooters thoughts on the Canon R5/R6
MedicineMan404 wrote:
Never put better- ' If you can't take great images with any of these current models regardless of brand then that's a you thing.'
But just think what the a9iii and a7r v will be like now with Canon finally in the game.
That cripple hammer was not an easy thing to lift but Sony made Canon bend over pick it up and at a minimum, bring it up to eye level...
So kudos to Sony and that's coming from a Canon shooter...
p.65 #11 · Sony-shooters thoughts on the Canon R5/R6
nhsonyshooter wrote:
Yeah, these people need content constantly. "I'm switching" is an instant view bump. Because you get both the fanboy and hater clicks. You just have to take it for what it is. These people have managed to make a living doing this so you have to respect them for that (I guess). I just don't get the switching mentality in 2020. Couple years ago this would not be the case but today I just don't get it. If you can't take great images with any of these current models regardless of brand then that's a you thing. If your a Pro and a new camera can save you time which saves you money over the long haul. Then sure I can see that as a business decision. Absolutely makes sense. But for enthusiast and hobbyist (which is the vast majority of the market) I hate to break it to you.Your images are not going to look any better. Although I have never been a Canon guy I'm glad like others they are finally stepping up their game. It's hard to imagine needing anything more than what I got already. But that's Sony's job I guess. To invent things I didn't know I needed or wanted ...Show more →
p.65 #12 · Sony-shooters thoughts on the Canon R5/R6
MedicineMan404 wrote:
Never put better- ' If you can't take great images with any of these current models regardless of brand then that's a you thing.'
But just think what the a9iii and a7r v will be like now with Canon finally in the game.
It's hard in general to really see what direction Sony is going to go. They are coming to a cross roads. They have had the segmentation of the A7, R, S and A9. I just don't see how they can continue that in the future. The S is the easy one as far as focusing on the video user. The R is also relatively easy as the MP king. But I'm curious how they are going to balance the A7iv and A9 in the future. I guess the A9 could get a MP bump without dipping into A7riv pockets. But is that going to be enough to make people who have an A9ii move up? But how are they going to market the A7iv and make it competitive to Canon with out stepping on one of the other Sony options. It is going to be a tricky balancing act. Both the future A9iii and A7iv are what I'm interested in as a second body. It will be interesting to see how Sony sorts it out.
p.65 #13 · Sony-shooters thoughts on the Canon R5/R6
The A9II AED FW update can't come soon enough.....I will write a longer review of the R5 hopefully by day's end....I need some time to clarify my thoughts which means I have to go out and shoot the Sony cameras this morning after 7 straight hours of R5 yesterday.....
p.65 #14 · Sony-shooters thoughts on the Canon R5/R6
nhsonyshooter wrote:
It's hard in general to really see what direction Sony is going to go. They are coming to a cross roads. They have had the segmentation of the A7, R, S and A9. I just don't see how they can continue that in the future. The S is the easy one as far as focusing on the video user. The R is also relatively easy as the MP king. But I'm curious how they are going to balance the A7iv and A9 in the future. I guess the A9 could get a MP bump without dipping into A7riv pockets. But is that going to be enough to make people who have an A9ii move up? But how are they going to market the A7iv and make it competitive to Canon with out stepping on one of the other Sony options. It is going to be a tricky balancing act. Both the future A9iii and A7iv are what I'm interested in as a second body. It will be interesting to see how Sony sorts it out....Show more →
Basically Sony just has to keep the stacked sensors in the A9 series and not in the A7 series and they should be able to continue to differentiate those two series while still having the A7 compete with the R6. The A7IV can get the new processor, the new card slots and the AED Mark II update and have 12FPS MS and it should match what the R6 can do. Then the A9III gets a MP bump to the mid-30s with stacked sensor and continued blackout free EVF. The R5/6 are good in ES but they still aren't a live feed and you notice as the birds get faster and closer to you. Also leaning background structures and some distortion of wings will be a thing in the R5/6 ES where as the A9III will still eliminate that stuff.
Aug 23, 2020 at 07:12 AM
osv2 Offline • • • • [X]
p.65 #15 · Sony-shooters thoughts on the Canon R5/R6
nhsonyshooter wrote:
It's hard in general to really see what direction Sony is going to go. They are coming to a cross roads. They have had the segmentation of the A7, R, S and A9. I just don't see how they can continue that in the future. The S is the easy one as far as focusing on the video user. The R is also relatively easy as the MP king. But I'm curious how they are going to balance the A7iv and A9 in the future.
i think that the real question is, which camera will be the first to get a ff global shutter? that'll be the biggest game-changer since the a9-series got stacked sensors.
canon isn't going to have a ff global shutter anytime soon, they can't even make stacked sensors, so will it be an expensive sony cine body? or a low-rez a9/a7s*? i can't see a high-rez a7-series body getting the first global shutter.
p.65 #16 · Sony-shooters thoughts on the Canon R5/R6
RoamingScott wrote:
If a youtuber makes an “I’m switching to X camera!” video, that’s a hint that they’re clickbaiting you. These people exist to make money from your ad views.
The Northrups made a huge deal about switching to Sony not that long ago. They’ll switch again when there is money to be made.
p.65 #17 · Sony-shooters thoughts on the Canon R5/R6
armd wrote:
It is bright, great resolution, smooth, and tracks well without any appreciable blackout in e/first curtain modes. If it is sleight of hand, so be it, but it is great "applied technology" which blows the doors off of the a7riv (whose blackout and freeze was annoying) .
I almost only shoot the A7R4 in the Hi mode rather than Hi+, because while there is a bit of blackout, the lag is much less than Hi+, which to my understanding behaves like most other mirrorless cameras by displaying the previously captured frame. This was first used in the A6300, and I dont think any other manufacturer does the same thing (I could be wrong) - this is from the DPR review: New sensor and AF system aside, one of the camera's most noteworthy features is the ability to shoot an 8 fps burst with a live feed of what you are shooting (as opposed to the stop-motion playback of images typically associated with fast burst rates on mirrorless cameras). This live feed during continuous shooting, and the relatively short associated blackouts, are mirrorless firsts and should make it easier to follow the action while you shoot.
I think I would prefer an experience similar to a DSLR (Ok, the blackout is more noticeable than modern DSLRs) than a slightly
laggy experience - what is your take on that?
p.65 #18 · Sony-shooters thoughts on the Canon R5/R6
Here are my R5 vs Sony thoughts I jotted down after using the camera for 7 hrs yesterday. We did not have a lot of good subjects to really test everything but it is what it is. I'll get to play with it again in the future and hopefully try it on some other subjects. If you have questions I can try to answer them but this is very limited experience with the R5 so far.
AED is remarkable. I couldn’t believe how far away it would narrow down to a head square. I used it both in Auto and User Selected point. I wish I could have both of those options on a different back button but you can use C modes to switch quickly via the M-Fn C-mode toggle option.
The Sony RTT surely competes but the R5’s AED makes things even easier. I could literally look away from my flipped out LCD and check my email and trust the Auto AED to be tracking the birds head while I was shooting a Yellowlegs foraging, spinning in the water, head in and out. I think out of 200 shots maybe 4 had a slight focus shift. I’ve looked away from my Sony’s LCD also and you can sort of trust it but the RTT can drift and it then won’t recover. The AED is always making adjustments (some not good…see next) but it will get back on the head without any input or AF-ON pumping. The AED did show times off odd behaviour, jumping around too much when backgrounds got really close (like a rocky shore with specular highlights) and sometimes couldn’t “see” the tiny sandpipers at first. But that was in Auto…switch over to USSP and “bam” there it goes onto the head.
Where the R5 falls behind the A9 is when tracking BIF against complicated backgrounds. I saw this in a few different scenarios. First time I was tracking a mallard that flew against a row of houses. The AED kept pumping back onto the houses (dancing squares) and then back to the birds. When the birds got against sky it then nailed them. Another time I had an Oystercatcher take off from the ground over specular highlight rocky low-tide shore. The AED couldn’t see it with all the distractions, it came up high enough to be against sky and the AED grabbed it, a second later it came down lower and as soon as the background got complicated the AED lost it again. This is the biggest difference I found vs A9 RTT. With A9 RTT it does sometimes have difficulty picking it up against a background as the R5 AED did at first but if the A9 RTT gets the lock against the sky it will never let it go against a background. I’ve always said the A9’s stickiness is its greatest strength and one of its biggest weaknesses as if it gets what you want you have nailed the shot…but if it grabs something else you might as well put the camera down till the next flight pass. The R5 makes more decisions and jumps back and forth which means it will lose a subject as background changes. The R5 AED tracking doesn’t get distracted by the bird passing behind sticks and things (nor does the A9) so in that case both are excellent.
Ergonomics:
I had thought the R5 would be a much better camera to hold than the Sony. It isn’t any better. The grip size in the hand is essentially equal. The buttons on the A9II/A7RIV are better. The R5’s are like an A9/A7RIII/A7III…small and hard to tell if you are hitting the correct one and which one you are hitting (especially between * and focus option buttons). The feel of the wheels I found sort of similar or close enough I didn’t care one way or the other. The two ways the R5 grip is better than Sony A9II is there is more space between fingers and lenses and my pinky can just fit on the grip without the BG on. With the A9II my pinky is about 1/2 on and on the A9 it is only a sliver on. I would always use a BG on either camera and my fingers are skinny so I’ve never found an issue with tight space between Sony lenses. So for me the A9II wins for ergonomics but it won’t for everyone.
R5 Pros:
* AED which makes shooting everything other than the most challenging BIF easier, almost brain dead easy….
* Top LCD
* More space between grip/lens
* Longer grip to support pinky
* Three wheels where I can have ISO on top rear wheel without pushing a button every time I turn on the camera for My Dial
* MS sound (this is such a nice shutter...best I've heard)
* MS frame insertion at 12FPS
* Faster card writing speeds with no issues as it writes even with the USH-II SD card (CFe is of course faster still but I was surprised that it didn’t seem a lot faster…you still could watch the red light for a few seconds after just a 30 shot burst with CFe)
R5 Cons:
* Can't decrease FPS in ES...this really annoys me...but I think the R5 would end up being a MS camera for me anyways
* Can’t have AED USSP and Auto recognized and therefore assigned to two different buttons (need to utilize C modes or my Menu)
* Can’t have ES/MS toggle assigned to a button (need to use C modes or My Menu)
* Gets confused with complicated backgrounds while tracking and shooting
* Can’t get AED out of Zone or any other AF mode (I had thought you could out of Zone but I guess only Human Head Face detect works as it never activated on the birds?). Eye-Detect is greyed out once in Zone AF but Human/Animal is still selected so I thought it would still see the bird as a subject or the head but it doesn’t.
* Batteries drain in parallel meaning you always have to charge two no matter how short your session.
* Leaning vertical lines in the background in ES and an always present risk of wing distortion in ES.
* Very hard to see the white outline that flashes while shooting in ES, no fake ES sound option. Unless I cram my eye socket onto the EVF I can’t visualize the outer white frame and I need to look towards it instead of at my subject.
A9II Pros:
* More sticky erratic/fast bird tracking
* Can initiate RTT out of any AF mode from Single point (Small Flex Spot) all the way up to Wide (Full sensor Auto)
* Can assign a button to instantly change any regular AF mode into RTT (I use my lens button for this)
* Selectable FPS in ES
* Better buttons, especially the AF-ON
* Batteries in grip drain in sequence not in parallel
* ES, blackout free….the R5 ES is pretty darn good for not being a true live feed but the A9(II) experience is still better. More noticeable as subjects get faster and closer to the camera
* Four different choices of how shooting in ES is displayed and option for fake ES sound. For those with an A9 I’d recommend the blue option #2 which flashes a blue box over whatever shape your AF point is. Even when in Wide it is easier to see the flash around the outside of the frame compared to the R5’s white frame flash.
A9II Cons:
* Doesn’t have AED
* Shorter grip, grip tighter to lens (not for me personally but it is a thing)
* MS uses Live feed with real shutter blackout which I think is more difficult to track than the frame insertion of the R5 (but who would use MS on an A9?)
* Card writing speeds (really this is more an A7RIV con as the A9 it never affects me but for sure the R5 writes faster)
* No top LCD (personal preference)
If you own all Sony: Stick with Sony
If you own all Canon: Buy an R5 or R6
If you shoot Sony but kept a lot of Canon lenses OR if you are starting from scratch: A9II if you want to have the world’s best AF Tracking for fast/erratic subjects in ES. R5 for pretty much everything else. R5 for the best AF tracking if not having to erratically pan/track a fast BIF. If you are wanting higher MP I’d choose R5 over A7RIV (I think the R5 does basically everything better than the RIV). If you want lower MPs I’d choose A9II over R6 (of course those are vastly different price points) but only if you are really after challenging flight stuff otherwise R6 should be a great value if 20MP is enough.
p.65 #19 · Sony-shooters thoughts on the Canon R5/R6
arbitrage wrote:
Here are my R5 vs Sony thoughts I jotted down after using the camera for 7 hrs yesterday. We did not have a lot of good subjects to really test everything but it is what it is. I'll get to play with it again in the future and hopefully try it on some other subjects. If you have questions I can try to answer them but this is very limited experience with the R5 so far.
AED is remarkable. I couldn’t believe how far away it would narrow down to a head square. I used it both in Auto and User Selected point. I wish I could have both of those options on a different back button but you can use C modes to switch quickly via the M-Fn C-mode toggle option.
The Sony RTT surely competes but the R5’s AED makes things even easier. I could literally look away from my flipped out LCD and check my email and trust the Auto AED to be tracking the birds head while I was shooting a Yellowlegs foraging, spinning in the water, head in and out. I think out of 200 shots maybe 4 had a slight focus shift. I’ve looked away from my Sony’s LCD also and you can sort of trust it but the RTT can drift and it then won’t recover. The AED is always making adjustments (some not good…see next) but it will get back on the head without any input or AF-ON pumping. The AED did show times off odd behaviour, jumping around too much when backgrounds got really close (like a rocky shore with specular highlights) and sometimes couldn’t “see” the tiny sandpipers at first. But that was in Auto…switch over to USSP and “bam” there it goes onto the head.
Where the R5 falls behind the A9 is when tracking BIF against complicated backgrounds. I saw this in a few different scenarios. First time I was tracking a mallard that flew against a row of houses. The AED kept pumping back onto the houses (dancing squares) and then back to the birds. When the birds got against sky it then nailed them. Another time I had an Oystercatcher take off from the ground over specular highlight rocky low-tide shore. The AED couldn’t see it with all the distractions, it came up high enough to be against sky and the AED grabbed it, a second later it came down lower and as soon as the background got complicated the AED lost it again. This is the biggest difference I found vs A9 RTT. With A9 RTT it does sometimes have difficulty picking it up against a background as the R5 AED did at first but if the A9 RTT gets the lock against the sky it will never let it go against a background. I’ve always said the A9’s stickiness is its greatest strength and one of its biggest weaknesses as if it gets what you want you have nailed the shot…but if it grabs something else you might as well put the camera down till the next flight pass. The R5 makes more decisions and jumps back and forth which means it will lose a subject as background changes. The R5 AED tracking doesn’t get distracted by the bird passing behind sticks and things (nor does the A9) so in that case both are excellent.
Ergonomics:
I had thought the R5 would be a much better camera to hold than the Sony. It isn’t any better. The grip size in the hand is essentially equal. The buttons on the A9II/A7RIV are better. The R5’s are like an A9/A7RIII/A7III…small and hard to tell if you are hitting the correct one and which one you are hitting (especially between * and focus option buttons). The feel of the wheels I found sort of similar or close enough I didn’t care one way or the other. The two ways the R5 grip is better than Sony A9II is there is more space between fingers and lenses and my pinky can just fit on the grip without the BG on. With the A9II my pinky is about 1/2 on and on the A9 it is only a sliver on. I would always use a BG on either camera and my fingers are skinny so I’ve never found an issue with tight space between Sony lenses. So for me the A9II wins for ergonomics but it won’t for everyone.
R5 Pros:
* AED which makes shooting everything other than the most challenging BIF easier, almost brain dead easy….
* Top LCD
* More space between grip/lens
* Longer grip to support pinky
* Three wheels where I can have ISO on top rear wheel without pushing a button every time I turn on the camera for My Dial
* MS sound
* MS frame insertion at 12FPS
* Faster card writing speeds with no issues as it writes even with the USH-II SD card (CFe is of course faster still but I was surprised that it didn’t seem a lot faster…you still could watch the red light for a few seconds after just a 30 shot burst with CFe)
R5 Cons:
* Can’t have AED USSP and Auto recognized and therefore assigned to two different buttons (need to utilize C modes or my Menu)
* Can’t have ES/MS toggle assigned to a button (need to use C modes or My Menu)
* Gets confused with complicated backgrounds while tracking and shooting
* Can’t get AED out of Zone or any other AF mode (I had thought you could out of Zone but I guess only Human Head Face detect works as it never activated on the birds?). Eye-Detect is greyed out once in Zone AF but Human/Animal is still selected so I thought it would still see the bird as a subject or the head but it doesn’t.
* Batteries drain in parallel meaning you always have to charge two no matter how short your session.
* Leaning vertical lines in the background in ES and an always present risk of wing distortion in ES.
* Very hard to see the white outline that flashes while shooting in ES, no fake ES sound option. Unless I cram my eye socket onto the EVF I can’t visualize the outer white frame and I need to look towards it instead of at my subject.
A9II Pros:
* More sticky erratic/fast bird tracking
* Can initiate RTT out of any AF mode from Single point (Small Flex Spot) all the way up to Wide (Full sensor Auto)
* Can assign a button to instantly change any regular AF mode into RTT (I use my lens button for this)
* Better buttons, especially the AF-ON
* Batteries in grip drain in sequence not in parallel
* ES, blackout free….the R5 ES is pretty darn good for not being a true live feed but the A9(II) experience is still better. More noticeable as subjects get faster and closer to the camera
* Four different choices of how shooting in ES is displayed and option for fake ES sound. For those with an A9 I’d recommend the blue option #2 which flashes a blue box over whatever shape your AF point is. Even when in Wide it is easier to see the flash around the outside of the frame compared to the R5’s white frame flash.
A9II Cons:
* Doesn’t have AED
* Shorter grip, grip tighter to lens (not for me personally but it is a thing)
* MS uses Live feed with real shutter blackout which I think is more difficult to track than the frame insertion of the R5 (but who would use MS on an A9?)
* Card writing speeds (really this is more an A7RIV con as the A9 it never affects me but for sure the R5 writes faster)
* No top LCD (personal preference)
If you own all Sony: Stick with Sony
If you own all Canon: Buy an R5 or R6
If you shoot Sony but kept a lot of Canon lenses OR if you are starting from scratch: A9II if you want to have the world’s best AF Tracking for fast/erratic subjects in ES. R5 for pretty much everything else. R5 for the best AF tracking if not having to erratically pan/track a fast BIF. If you are wanting higher MP I’d choose R5 over A7RIV (I think the R5 does basically everything better than the RIV). If you want lower MPs I’d choose A9II over R6 (of course those are vastly different price points) but only if you are really after challenging flight stuff otherwise R6 should be a great value if 20MP is enough....Show more →
Thanks for your impressions. This seems to reflect what I was hoping users would find which is why I wanted the R5 as a replacement to my A7R3 to go alongside my A9 instead of the A7R4.
p.65 #20 · Sony-shooters thoughts on the Canon R5/R6
Arbitrage, thank for the detailed review. It has ignited my curiosity for R5 again. Currently have A7r4 and few Sony lenses but my primary shooting is travel and family photography with some wildlife/BIF thrown in the mix. Do you think R5 would be better suited for that?
I might have missed it but what are these abbreviations? AED, RTT, USSP?
