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Archive 2024 · R5 Mk II has BETTER dynamic range than R5

  
 
wolf33d
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p.1 #1 · R5 Mk II has BETTER dynamic range than R5


The R5 II has actually a better dynamic range than the R5.

I can't believe that all reviews only focus on shadow recovery. Yes, the R5 has slightly better shadow recovery than the R5 II (like maybe half stop when using DPreview tool to compare), but what nobody seems to point out is that the Mark II has dramatically better highlight recovery, letting you expose much higher than the R5, and giving you overall more dynamic range because if you expose higher you don't need to recover as much shadows.

Lesnumeriques.com is a well regarded French website that tested precisely that in the lab. Below is a comparison of highlights recovery for R5 and Mark II. The mark II is like 3 stops better.

Funny thing is as an R5 owner and landscape photographer myself, I always found highlight recovery to be very poor, forcing me to underexpose a lot, more than on my previous Nikon and Sony bodies. Turns out, after checking most competitors (A7R V, A1,...) reviews on Lesnumeriques, they all have much much better highlight recovery than the R5. The Mark II is now back in the same ballpark as the others.

Link with results (source lesnumeriques.com): https://imgur.com/a/sNmjq40

This really makes me question sites likes photonstophotos but honestly just looking at their results showing the R5 has more DR than the D810 even at 64 iso, (which as a previous D810 owner and current R5 owner) could not be further from the truth, now I won't even pay attention to those sites.

Don't get me wrong I love my R5, I have always been happy about this body for pretty much everything except for that highlight recovery performance and now I understand why. At least it's reassuring to see that Canon wasn't crazy and made the new version better, not worst.





Nov 15, 2024 at 08:36 PM
jedibrain
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p.1 #2 · R5 Mk II has BETTER dynamic range than R5


I don't have the II, but I've been pretty happy with my R5 original. I was in Arches, and I exposure bracketed everything because of the overcast skies looking flat, figuring I'd have to blend in post. But very few required it as the highlight recovery was enough for the vast majority.

The photons to photos tests are technically accurate. But much like the R5 vs R5II the results are sometimes not as noticeable in practice. Very few real.scenes can recreate the test conditions

Brian



Nov 15, 2024 at 09:38 PM
EB-1
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p.1 #3 · R5 Mk II has BETTER dynamic range than R5


The link is bad.

EBH



Nov 15, 2024 at 10:41 PM
snapsy
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p.1 #4 · R5 Mk II has BETTER dynamic range than R5


EB-1 wrote:
The link is bad.

EBH


If you manually copy and paste the link into the URL bar it'll work.

The comparison is flawed. The baseline exposure on the R5 is much brighter than the R5 II, so the R5 is already starting closer to highlight clipping vs the R5 II of the same subject. That gives the false impression that the R5 II has better highlight recovery.

Highlight recovery differences are a function of metering anyway so it's not really a thing on modern sensors.



Nov 15, 2024 at 11:25 PM
takowasa
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p.1 #5 · R5 Mk II has BETTER dynamic range than R5


wolf33d wrote:
The R5 II has actually a better dynamic range than the R5.


Proof of this claim is requested, as the link you gave below does not work:

I can't believe that all reviews only focus on shadow recovery. Yes, the R5 has slightly better shadow recovery than the R5 II (like maybe half stop when using DPreview tool to compare), but what nobody seems to point out is that the Mark II has dramatically better highlight recovery, letting you expose much higher than the R5, and giving you overall more dynamic range because if you expose higher you don't need to recover as much shadows.

Lesnumeriques.com is a well regarded French website that tested precisely that in the lab. Below is a comparison of highlights recovery for R5 and
...Show more

So, if we're going to talk about DR, then we need to photograph the same scene with the same lens and the same settings with both cameras. We then need to measure the results from the RAW files directly or process the RAW photos in exactly the same way (which, even using the same RAW converter, will not necessarily be the case, as the RAW converter may well process files from different cameras differently). And, yes, we do need to do this with the RAW files because who knows what kind of processing the jpg engine is doing. Did the site you visited do this?

This really makes me question sites likes photonstophotos...

As you should, but not for the reasons you're suggensting.

...but honestly just looking at their results showing the R5 has more DR than the D810 even at 64 iso, (which as a previous D810 owner and current R5 owner) could not be further from the truth, now I won't even pay attention to those sites.

Again, claims like what you're making require considerable support.

Don't get me wrong I love my R5, I have always been happy about this body for pretty much everything except for that highlight recovery performance and now I understand why. At least it's reassuring to see that Canon wasn't crazy and made the new version better, not worst.

I'm going to go out on a limb and make an unsubstantiated claim -- any differences in DR between the R5 and R5.2 are likely going to be the absolute least of reasons to choose one over the other, except, of course, for people for whom even a 1/3 stop in DR makes or breaks the photo (and, to make another unsubstantiated claim, I'm betting that such people represent less than 1% of the people who choose the R5 series cameras).

But if you're of the opinion that the R5 gives 1/2 stop more in the shadows at the expense of 3 stops in the highlights over the R5.2, well, I can comfortably say that simply is not true.

In any case, if you can fix the link, I'm sure we'd all like to see what they did and how those results indicate what you are claiming.

Oh -- just saw this after I posted:

snapsy wrote:
The comparison is flawed. The baseline exposure on the R5 is much brighter than the R5 II, so the R5 is already starting closer to highlight clipping vs the R5 II of the same subject. That gives the false impression that the R5 II has better highlight recovery.

Highlight recovery differences are a function of metering anyway so it's not really a thing on modern sensors.


Yeah -- that would pretty much be the reason.



Nov 15, 2024 at 11:30 PM
EB-1
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p.1 #6 · R5 Mk II has BETTER dynamic range than R5


EB-1 wrote:
The link is bad.

EBH

snapsy wrote:
If you manually copy and paste the link into the URL bar it'll work.

The comparison is flawed. The baseline exposure on the R5 is much brighter than the R5 II, so the R5 is already starting closer to highlight clipping vs the R5 II of the same subject. That gives the false impression that the R5 II has better highlight recovery.

Highlight recovery differences are a function of metering anyway so it's not really a thing on modern sensors.


I'm glad you see it, but I get this.

data
error "Imgur is temporarily over capacity. Please try again later."
success false
status 403

I'm pretty sure that Claff is more meticulous than most and would need to see a better controlled comparison. I only have about 70K frames on R5 IIs, but over 250K on R5s. The R5 II is definitely more noisy at high ISO but not that much to make it a less viable camera. With DXO I'm seeing not much practical difference.

EBH



Nov 16, 2024 at 12:13 AM
thedutt
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p.1 #7 · R5 Mk II has BETTER dynamic range than R5


wolf33d wrote:
Link with results (source lesnumeriques.com): https://imgur.com/a/sNmjq40



Copy-paste link does work - this is rather interiguing if true, but at what ISO levels and how much is the difference. Do you have the link to article? The image is just for one ISO and it does not state which ISO.





Nov 16, 2024 at 12:14 AM
ronno
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p.1 #8 · R5 Mk II has BETTER dynamic range than R5


Well, that solved this riddle.
I’ve been using the R5 for ages, and recently the R5II - and no way the newer camera has two or three more stops DR in highlights which no one discovered until just now.
No way.
(See below)

snapsy wrote:
The comparison is flawed. The baseline exposure on the R5 is much brighter than the R5 II, so the R5 is already starting closer to highlight clipping vs the R5 II of the same subject. That gives the false impression that the R5 II has better highlight recovery.

Highlight recovery differences are a function of metering anyway so it's not really a thing on modern sensors.




Nov 16, 2024 at 01:29 AM
wolf33d
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p.1 #9 · R5 Mk II has BETTER dynamic range than R5


I do not know why Imgur links don’t work but it works if you copy and paste them directly.

Les numeriques is the most respected testing website in France.

Link to R5 review:
https://www.lesnumeriques.com/reflex-hybride/canon-eos-r5-p56513/test.html

You have to click on the toggle to switch to “surexposition” in the section “Latitude d'exposition”.

Link to Mark II:
https://www.lesnumeriques.com/reflex-hybride/canon-eos-r5-mark-ii-p75320/test.html

They use the same settings for all cameras. They could be lying or made a mistake but then why do my field experience corroborate their testing?

As far as takowasa asking me to support my claim of the D810 having higher DR than the R5,
I thought it was a well known fact in the industry and I don’t have the D810 anymore to prove it, but maybe this will do (screenshot from DPR lab test clearly showing much more noise in the R5 for 6 stop recovery).

https://imgur.com/a/IBtYQpc

I hope we can all agree on what we see here unless you tell me DPreview also screwed up their settings.. . Photons website is clearly wrong when showing the D810 and 850 having less DR at 64 iso than the R5. Those 2 have the best DR in the FF market by a long shot, Medium Format being the call if you want more.

I experienced something for years. Saw a test that put light on this experience, thought I would share.
I don’t need any further debate you all can think what you want about all of those cameras I respect that. On my end, my R5 has poor highlight recovery. Poorer than even my old D5200. It doesn’t prevent me from enjoying it due to its many pros or making good photos. Just a cons I have had to work with.

Cheers



Nov 16, 2024 at 02:02 AM
snapsy
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p.1 #10 · R5 Mk II has BETTER dynamic range than R5


wolf33d wrote:
I do not know why Imgur links don’t work but it works if you copy and paste them directly.

Les numeriques is the most respected testing website in France.

Link to R5 review:
https://www.lesnumeriques.com/reflex-hybride/canon-eos-r5-p56513/test.html

You have to click on the toggle to switch to “surexposition” in the section “Latitude d'exposition”.

Link to Mark II:
https://www.lesnumeriques.com/reflex-hybride/canon-eos-r5-mark-ii-p75320/test.html

They use the same settings for all cameras. They could be lying or made a mistake but then why do my field experience corroborate their testing?

As far as takowasa asking me to support my claim of the D810 having higher DR than the R5,
I thought it was a
...Show more

Image sensors are linear devices. There is no concept of a "shadow" or "highlight" for sensors. Those are simply terms used to decribe the distance and direction of a tone from middle gray or relative to the sensor noise floor. Most cameras meter so that middle gray is at 12% to 18% of linear light, which means they have log2(100/12)=3.05 to log2(100/18)=2.47 number of stops of "highlight headroom".

For example, all of us have taken photos of a sunrise or sunset. To keep the sun from clipping we decreased the exposure, for example by increasing the shutter speed. This allowed us to capture the extra stops of "highlights" from the sun. In doing so we metered middle gray several stops lower than its usual position, since the middle gray portion of the scene will be underexposed due to the exposure change we made to fit more highlights. This means our photo has more stops of highlights relative to the relocated middle gray, ie more "highlight headroom". It also means we have the equivalent fewer stops of shadow footroom, since in order to restore the midtones to how we saw them we have to raise the midtones/shadows back to their original position from their underexposed position, which means we have fewer shadows below that we can dig into before reaching the noise floor.



Nov 16, 2024 at 02:32 AM
Cliff L.
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p.1 #11 · R5 Mk II has BETTER dynamic range than R5



Photons website is clearly wrong when showing the D810 and 850 having less DR at 64 iso than the R5. Those 2 have the best DR in the FF market by a long shot, Medium Format being the call if you want more.



Actually, the Photons to Photos data lines up pretty well with my own results - I was pleasantly surprised to discover the R5 does provide more dynamic range than any of the Nikon cameras I've owned.



Nov 16, 2024 at 09:53 AM
takowasa
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p.1 #12 · R5 Mk II has BETTER dynamic range than R5


wolf33d wrote:
I do not know why Imgur links don’t work but it works if you copy and paste them directly.

Les numeriques is the most respected testing website in France.

Link to R5 review:
https://www.lesnumeriques.com/reflex-hybride/canon-eos-r5-p56513/test.html

You have to click on the toggle to switch to “surexposition” in the section “Latitude d'exposition”.

Link to Mark II:
https://www.lesnumeriques.com/reflex-hybride/canon-eos-r5-mark-ii-p75320/test.html

They use the same settings for all cameras. They could be lying or made a mistake...


I don't see where they show the exposures of the photos. Specifically, the same scene luminance, the same f-number, and the same exposure time.

...but then why do my field experience corroborate their testing?

For the same reasons that [some] nurses will swear that more babies are born on a new moon, which is simply not the case.

As far as takowasa asking me to support my claim of the D810 having higher DR than the R5,
I thought it was a well known fact in the industry and I don’t have the D810 anymore to prove it, but maybe this will do (screenshot from DPR lab test clearly showing much more noise in the R5 for 6 stop recovery).

https://imgur.com/a/IBtYQpc

I hope we can all agree on what we see here unless you tell me DPreview also screwed up their settings.. .



You'll notice that the D810 photo was shot with an exposure time of 1/200 and the R5 with an exposure time of 1/320. Assuming all else equal, that gives the D810 a 2/3 stop light gathering advantage, which translates into a noise advantage (as we would expect for ISO 64 vs ISO 100). But this is not the same as DR. Noise and DR are related, of course, but the DPR example you posted does *not* demonstrate higher DR of the D810 at ISO 64 than the R5 at ISO 100. It *does* demonstrate lower noise for 2/3 stop more exposure for the D810, which we would expect (all else equal, which is not necessarily true).

Photons website is clearly wrong when showing the D810 and 850 having less DR at 64 iso than the R5.

PTP gives "photographic DR" which is different than "engineering DR". Thus, PTP results should be interpreted knowing the different between PDR and EDR and how those differences manifest themselves in the photos. You might be surprised to see just how different the two can be.

Those 2 have the best DR in the FF market by a long shot, Medium Format being the call if you want more.

The D850, so far as I'm aware, is the best FF body with regards to both noise and DR.

I experienced something for years. Saw a test that put light on this experience, thought I would share.
I don’t need any further debate you all can think what you want about all of those cameras I respect that. On my end, my R5 has poor highlight recovery. Poorer than even my old D5200. It doesn’t prevent me from enjoying it due to its many pros or making good photos. Just a cons I have had to work with.


Find a photo developed from RAW of the same scene taken with the same exposure using the R5, D810, and D5200 using the same settings in development. It will not be as you remember.

Cheers

Either way, does any of this make a difference to your photography? Are you taking photos with an R5 that are lacking with regards to DR and hoping that, in the future if you upgrade to an R5.2, this will no longer be an issue, or, at the very least, less of an issue? It will not. If the bodies meter scenes differently, then it may *appear* to make a difference as a result of one body exposing scenes differently than another, for better or worse. But in terms of photos of a given scene with a given exposure, no, the R5.2 does not have greater DR than the R5, although the differences are likely to not be meaningful to 99% or more of photographers choosing either of those two cameras.

In any event, yes, cheers to you as well! Enjoy your R5 and don't fret over the DR differences between it and the R5.2.



Nov 16, 2024 at 02:10 PM
Scott Stoness
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p.1 #13 · R5 Mk II has BETTER dynamic range than R5


Interesting discussion - I agree that a proper analysis has to have the same fstop, lens, shutter speed, and mode (not electronic or electronic). Shooting at a lower shutter speed will give more hi-light headroom. [Noting that the effective iso does not match the dialled ISO in any event. The labels are close but not reliable, which may affect the test results.]

I don't care as much about dynamic range at iso 100 as dynamic range at iso 12k or 25k. They are all close.
At iso 100, which is typically landscape on a tripod or daytime, the dynamic range is controllable by shooting AEB and blending.

For wildlife I often get pushed to iso 12k or 25k ISO to keep my shutter speed up for shooting at near dark (dusk and dawn). I did some tests when I first got my r5ii and conclude that R5 had better noise at 12k iso and 25kISO, but that after using adobe AI enhance that they were hard to tell apart. Eg r5ii required more noise processing to get the same results at the same settings. You can search my username and for 25kiso in this forum to see the difference.[I also found that r5ii is way better at film vintage lens for colour cast.]

What r5ii does better is 30fps, variable fps, lessened bent backgrounds with panning, aeb in electronic, precapture clog2...) making the R5II better than r5 for most applications. However, the R5 has better noise at very high iso, way cheaper, performs better in the cold, does not need expensive new batteries, and is very good at a/f, fps, dynamic range, clog3 such that aside from BIF and Video usages they are pretty much the same. So buy what you can afford and figure out the strategy to manage dynamic range based on your sensor and if you are buying new, buy the R5, unless you are BIF or video focussed or have the money to have the best.

The d850, r5, and R5ii dynamic range are so close that other features are far more important like fps, clog2, buffer clear.

Edited on Nov 21, 2024 at 04:29 PM · View previous versions



Nov 20, 2024 at 02:42 PM
EB-1
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p.1 #14 · R5 Mk II has BETTER dynamic range than R5


Scott Stoness wrote:
At iso 100, which is typically landscape on a tripod or daytime, the dynamic range is controllable by shooting AEB and blending.


Bracketing exposures is fine for single shots or small pans, but total images multiply fast when focus bracketing is also needed. For example a 3x24 pan with 10 focus stack and 3 exposure bracket is 2160 frames. I'd rather have more DR and avoid exposures if feasible.

EBH




Nov 21, 2024 at 01:00 AM
thedutt
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p.1 #15 · R5 Mk II has BETTER dynamic range than R5


This actually saved my day today. I have been chasing a snowy in Duluth for the past 5 days; Not used to shooting in the cold, I ended up switching off my histogram view yesterday to clean up the viewfinder for better composition and I paid for it dearly today when the perfect show presented itself. I think I overexposed by 2 stops or so at ISO 1250 and camera review showed that I had blown highlights everywhere; Snow was blown, snowy wings were blown, yet after adjustements in Lightroom, the photos were recoverable. I think I prefer the ability to recover blown highlights vs better shadow details.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DEwGFhmtdbF/?igsh=M3BhaXA3NW5hcmRk



Jan 13, 2025 at 12:13 AM





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