Gear Archives - iJourneys

Best Camera for Street Photography 2022

Which is the best camera for street photography 2022?

I have been using my mirrorless Canon EOS R with a 35mm lens for street photography for a couple of years. It is quite discreet and certainly smaller than most DSLRs. However, I want a camera that is even less intrusive to document this phase in our lives of lockdowns and pandemics.

These notes document my personal search for the best street camera available now. Hopefully, they will be of value to other street photographers

What Type of Camera for Street Photography 2022

To start I am dismissing DSLR’s because they are too big and bulky. They also make you look like a professional photographer. Those people who notice you wonder if you are from the press, or maybe you are someone in authority. You are not going to fade into the background with a camera and lens that is worth thousands of pounds.

I don’t want a big camera but I don’t want a very small camera. So small that the settings are fiddly to find. Again this just draws attention to yourself.

There is a lot of discussion as to whether a telephoto lens works in street photography. My view would be definitely not. If you are using a long lens to photograph people in an urban setting you are a sniper not a street photographer.

Furthermore, a telephoto means that it takes longer to compose the shot and then it’s gone. Much better to use a wide angle lens and then crop during post. That means a big sensor! It also means preferably a full frame sensor to take advantage of the increased dynamic range required to draw out detail especially in low light.

A tilting LCD screen is also useful, but preferably it is handy to learn how to shoot without looking through the viewfinder or down at the screen. Another reason for cropping in post.

Wide angle lenses also add so much more emotion and drama as shown in the image above. This picture was taken during the Covid lockdown in the UK, close up with a 35mm lens.

Phone cameras are ideal for street work, but the small 12MP sensor restricts how the image can be cropped. I also want the control of RAW. Especially when converting an image to monochrome.

Conclusion

The camera should be small and unobtrusive but not too small. It should have a big full frame sensor and a fixed prime 35 or 28mm lens.

Which Cameras Are in the Frame for Street Photography

It is surprising that there are only three cameras

Leica Q2

Leica Q2 Street Photography Camera Choice

Obviously, Leica is in the frame. It has been the street camera of choice since Cartier Bresson and is the camera chosen by the master street photographer Joel Meyerowitz

The Leica Q2 is a compact camera with a fixed 28mm lens and a whopping 47.3 MP full-frame sensor. The full spec’ is here.

In a review, the DPReview gave the camera a gold award.

The Leica Q2 is nearly as competent as a fixed-lens digital camera can be. It’s built very well, it handles very well, it’s capable of excellent image quality and it’s a joy to use. We wish Leica would address the lackluster JPEGs, but the Raw files are excellent. It all comes at a price, of course, but the Q2 really is a wonderfully engaging photographic tool that will appeal to photographers of all kinds.
DPReview

However, the Leica Q is priced at an amount that I just could not justify: £4500 / $5695. I also feel that I would be being a tiny bit showy offy, buying a camera with that red dot.

Fujifilm X100V

The Fujifilm X100V is a real contender for Best Camera for Street Photography. If you hold the camera in your hands it just has the feel of real quality.

It is quite heavy. All the vintage looking dials are sturdy and beautifully machined. The grip is sure and secure without being oversized, and you feel that you could easily spend several hours walking the streets with this camera.

This is the spec’ for the Fujifilm X100V:

26.1 МР Ѕеnѕоr
Х-Тrаnѕ СМОЅ APS-C sensor
Fіхеd 23mm lеnѕ (35mm еquіvаlеnt)
Аdvаnсеd Нуbrіd Vіеwfіndеr (ОVF & ЕVF)
Тwо-wау 3″ tіltіng LСD tоuсh ѕсrееn
Vеrѕаtіlе аnd соmрасt
17 Сlаѕѕіс Fuјіfіlm fіlm ѕіmulаtіоn mоdеѕ
Вluеtооth аnd Wі-Fі соnnесtіvіtу

Price: £1299 / $1399

DPReview also award this camera gold.

The X100V is an engaging, well-built camera that produces beautiful images, has best-in-class video, excellent autofocus and optional weather-sealing. Meaningful updates like a tilting touchscreen, updated viewfinder and redesigned lens have us largely looking past its imperfections. Assuming you like the 35mm-equivalent focal length, it makes a strong case as a photographer’s carry-everywhere compact that’s good for all kinds of photography.
DPReview

The APS-C sensor does not fit the ideal profile, but reviewers assure us of beautiful RAW images

This may be unfair but there are still doubts about whether Fujifilm RAW files can be processed successfully in Lightroom and Photoshop. I have come up against this problem before albeit on older Fujifilm cameras.

Fujifilm camera owners recommend that RAW files are processed in Capture 1 but you may not want to change your workflow.

Ricoh GRIII

This camera has cult status. It is small, it does not have a viewfinder, but it has a zen like quality and is built for street photography. There is even a street photography version of the camera.

There is a front rubberised grip and the magnesium body feels sturdy and purposeful. The matt black look is very discreet.

There is autofocus but to make focussing even more instant for street photographers there is a version of zone focusing. This allows you to pre-set a focusing distance to which the camera automatically ‘snaps’ at a full shutter button press. It can also be set up to work at the touch of the rear screen.

Recently Ricoh have launched the GRIIIx which has a 40mm lens. This is better for street portraits whilst the 28mm remains better for urban scenes

This is the spec for the Ricoh GRIII

8.3mm f2.8 lеnѕ (28mm іn thе 35mm fоrmаt)
APS-C 24.24 МP Ѕеnѕоr
Ніgh-ѕрееd аutоfосuѕ ореrаtіоn uѕіng а hуbrіd АF ѕуѕtеm
3-Ахіѕ shаkе rеduсtіоn sуѕtеm
Соmрасt аnd ruggеd dеѕіgn. Ѕuреrb іmаgе quаlіtу аnd роrtаbіlіtу
Fast ѕtаrt-uр tіmе оf аррrох. 0.8 ѕесѕ
3.0″ LСD mоnіtоr wіth quick tоuсh-ѕсrееn ореrаtіоn
Price £799 / $936

DPReview gave this camera a silver award.

If you shoot street, documentary, or just want a genuinely pocketable travel camera with excellent image quality, and if you can afford the admission price, just buy one!
Fred Abery Petapixel

The downsides are no viewfinder, no flippy screen and the battery life is only around 200 shots.

However, it is the minimal aesthetic and the quality of the images that make this camera so special. Special enough to have a fanatical following including the renown Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama and German freelance photographer Samuel Lintaro Hopf, who has used Ricoh since 2013.

Then there are the GRists. Go over to their community webpage and suck up the vibes, and dont tell me you dont want one.

The Best Street Camera for 2022

So where does that leave us with fixed lens compact cameras which are so right for street photography?

Well, for most camera makers their attention is elsewhere, concentrating on mirrorless cameras. Compact cameras have largely been replaced by mobile phones. The compact cameras that remain are aimed at the travel market with catch-all mega zoom lenses.

So well done to Leica, Fujifilm and Ricoh who have stuck with the tradition of the street camera. This stretches back to the 1930s and Brassai, Cartier-Bresson, and Helen Levitt and now thanks to them, proudly continues into 2022.

Canon R1 Spec’ Rumour

by John Gough

The rumour mill is beginning to turn with the news that Canon will soon announce a new flagship camera, the Canon R1. What we want to know is. What will the spec’ look like? To understand that we look at the Canon R3, the Sony A1 and the Nikon Z9

A Replacement for the Canon EOS-1D X Mark III?

Is this a replacement for the Canon EOS-1D X Mark III? This camera is a professional’s favourite. For those news and sports photographers that are still sticking with a DSLR then nothing can replace it. That is sadly because Canon is unlikely to produce a Mark IV.

Buoyed by the success of their mirrorless range which started with the R and RP in 2018. Canon has gone on to successfully launch the R5 and R6 which neatly replace their DSLR counterparts, the 5D and the 6D.

More recently Canon has introduced the R3 which is designed for sports and wildlife photographers.

Those flippy mirrors are becoming a thing of the past and the R1 will complete the range most likely replacing the 1DX.

What is the Canon R1 Spec?

As the Canon R1 has not even been announced, (we are expecting that later this year or early next with a 2022 Q4 rollout). The expected spec’ has to be one that will compete with the new Sony A1 and upcoming Nikon Z9. So what could it look like?

Sensor

There was disappointment that the Canon R3 has a 24MP sensor. The R3 is designed for sports photographers, who require lower resolution images that can be quickly streamed back to newsrooms. The Canon EOS-1D X Mark III has a similar 20MP sensor for the same reason.

The Canon R1 is going to be a more general workhorse, so more likely to compete with Sony and Nikon. The A1 has a 50.1MP sensor and the Z9 45.7MP. So the Canon R5 45MP CMOS sensor could be a contender, but expect Canon to push a new sensor to around 50+MP for their flagship offering.

Frame Rates & ISO

Frame rate is important for professional photographers. As a celebrity emerges from a night club you don’t want to get stuck with slow exposures. You need a high ISO and a fast frame rate. Looking at the R3, it has a top ISO of 102400 and a shutter frame rate (electronic) is 30fps.

However, the R1 will have to pull the stops out to catch the 120fps (restricted to 11MP) on the Nikon Z9. The Z9 achieves this with a processor which has the world’s fastest scan rate with what is claimed to be virtually no rolling-shutter distortion. Nikon claim this is equivalent to a mechanical shutter, which is why there is no mechanical shutter in the Z9.

Can the R1 make the same quantum leap? will it also have no mechanical shutter?

AI

What is beginning to set all cameras apart is AI. The R3 has eye controlled AF and subject tracking. What started with just eyes and faces has blossomed into planes trains and automobiles. The goal is to see the subject (any subject) in the viewfinder and let the camera track it in 3D i.e. from every angle. Sony, Nikon and Canon are all moving in a similar direction, which will win out will depend on their mastery of AI.

Other Stuff

What would we like to see?

We like the voice note recorder in the Z9. Surely the technology exists to turn to text and include with the image metadata.

If a camera has low light capability then illuminated controls and an illuminated viewfinder would be welcome.

Should we have to fiddle with the ISO. My phone just works whatever the light. Surely a restricted light mode would be useful.

We are just assuming weather sealing to the standard of the Canon EOS-1D X or better. Why not waterproof like mobile phones are?

If it can be manufactured so that it is really robust, we like the four-axis LCD touchscreen that tilts horizontally and vertically on the Z9. We can add that to our wish list.

Canon R1 Price

Let’s set some benchmarks. The Canon R3 is $5999 / £5879, the Sony A1 is $6498 / £6499, the Nikon Z9 $5496 / £5299. So the A1 and the Z9 are comparable with the R3.

The Canon EOS-1D X Mark III is currently $6499 / £6999. So expect the R1 to be fifteen hundred to two thousand dollars and pounds above the R3.

For that price, Canon is going to have to build a phenomenal camera, and it should be if they follow this spec’.

Canon September News

by John Gough

Finally this week after considerable prelaunch publicity the Canon R3 was announced in a burst of Canon September News. We had got most of the details right, except we did not know the price which will be £5879 in the UK, putting this camera clearly in a professional space.

Canon R3 Specification

A recap on the specification.

24MP Stacked CMOS Dual Pixel AF sensor
30 fps Electronic shutter
Eye Control AF and a 5.69M-dot electronic viewfinder
AF with subject recognition for humans animals and vehicles.
Low light capability: AF rated as working down to -7.5EV (with F1.2 lens)
Both CFexpress Type B and UHS-II SD slots
Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
Canon’s new Multi-Function Shoe to which new accessories e.g. flash and mics can be fitted.
A one piece magnesium alloy body design, integrated with a grip section
Weather and dust resistance which is the same as EOS-1D.

Will the 24MP sensor be enough? This is what we wait to see.

Canon R3 Eye Control

This is a feature that cannot be demonstrated because you have to see it with your own eyes! In the video below from the irrepressible Chris Nichols and Jordon from DPReview, do their best, but we cant wait until these guys get their hands on a production model to see how it really performs. However, it feels like we are at the start of a new big change in camera design, and the old joysticks etc for moving the focus point around a screen, will seem so twin lens reflex in just a few years time.

That is if eye control works of course. If it does for wildlife shooters, this is a gamechanger.

Other Canon September News

It looks as though Canon is looking at both ends of the market, with the launch of the RF16mm f2.8 lens for just £319.

Excellent for vloggers, but also amazing for stills photographers with so many creative possibilities. As a documentary and street photographer, I cant wait to get my hands on it.

I use the RF35mm every day.

This video from Gordon Laing gives a preview

There is also a new 100-400 RF zoom at f5.6-f8 at £699. It seems a bit slow but considering the stabilisation on the latest R5, R6 and R3 then you have to ask why we need big glass. On the other hand, this lens may be a compromise too far. Let’s wait for the reviews.

Below Gordon does another excellent preview of this lens.

Canon’s Remarkable Prediction

Thinking about both ends of the market, there was an interesting snippet on Canon Rumours. Which was that Canon will announce a new R camera in January that is “going to annoy a lot of the [Canon] fanboys”.

What could this mean? A Canon R MkII, or a new Canon RP. My thinking is the latter as Canon may want to take on Olympus and Fuji with a smaller but fully functioning full frame or APSC mirrorless camera. This could replace the M-Series and bring their mirrorless cameras together in the R Series.

Remember you heard it here first!

Velvet Lensbaby Lenses

by John Gough

Velvet Lensbaby Lenses create glowing ethereal effects in camera, which are often difficult to reproduce in Photoshop. By changing the aperture the effect can be controlled from pin sharp to very soft.

Lensbaby was started in 2004 by Craig Strong & Sam Price in Portland, Oregon. The Lensbaby Velvet 56 arrived on the market in 2015, followed by the Velvet 85 and the Velvet 28. The series is available for multiple camera mounts: Nikon, Canon, Sony, Pentax, and Fuji cameras.

Lensbaby Velvet Soft Focus

Soft focus was once considered a technical flaw. However, it has now become a creative tool for photographers. In the past, it was only possible to achieve this by putting Vaseline on a UV filter! Lensbaby changed all that.

Many photographers also experiment with vintage lenses to attain a charming dreamy look. Velvet lenses do the same thing. The more you open the aperture the dreamier the effect becomes. Starting at the edges and working into the centre, the blur becomes more exaggerated with each aperture ring click. As the aperture is opened, the depth of focus also decreases and at ƒ/2.8, the whole image is a gentle mist.

At these wide apertures, it can look as though the image was painted. Lensbaby advocates insist this look cannot be created in Photoshop. However competent you are with layers and Gaussian blur. This unique effect may be down to the glow the lens will impart in some lighting conditions.

These are some examples collated on this Pinterest board.

Practicalities When Using a Lensbaby

When using a Lensbaby lens it is back to basics, because your camera will not recognize the lens. The lens has no electronic coupling. As a result, the aperture cannot be changed using the aperture control on the camera. To change the aperture it is back to using the aperture ring on the lens.

The lens works best in manual mode, although aperture priority can work on some cameras.

The focus is also manual. This is easiest with a mirrorless camera or using live view on a traditional DSLR. Note that the camera will not store camera settings with the metadata.

The Velvet also does not have an automatic diaphragm, which on modern cameras opens the aperture to its widest setting once the lens is mounted on the camera. As a result, the lens aperture closes as you stop down, and the view gets increasingly dark.

Which Velvet Lensbaby to Choose

Lensbaby Velvet 56

Although this is primarily a portraiture lens, the lens is a ‘nifty fifty’ with glowing ethereal characteristics. It has a 1:2 macro ratio, making it perfect for misty flower photography.

Lensbaby Velvet 85

A short telephoto portrait lens, capable of 1:2 macro photography with a minimum focusing distance of just 24cm. So ideal for nature close ups.

Lensbaby Velvet 28

A wide angle lens ideal for landscapes and travel, but with a 1:2 macro facility.

Why Buy a Lensbaby Velvet

There is a movement back to simpler photography. Creating effects that can be created in camera, and which do not need layers of Photoshop in post production. Techniques like ICM, multiple exposure and vintage lenses.

The Lensbaby range is right on trend. If occasionally we do not always want to see our world with hard, sharp, twenty twenty vision, then the Velvet Lensbaby takes us back to a more gentle era.

Canon EOS R3 Features

by John Gough

We have researched all we know about the Canon EOS R3. The launch is about 2 months away, for what will be Canon’s fastest mirrorless full frame camera. The EOS R3 is going to be the go to camera for sports and wildlife professional photographers for years to come. To get this right, Canon is going for some pretty awesome features.

Although the R3 will probably be too expensive for many amateurs, some new features do give us an indication of how camera technology is progressing and what we might expect further down the line for Canon mirrorless cameras.

Canon EOS R3 Features:

So let us look at what is new.

Stacked CMOS Sensor on the EOS R3

The R3 will be the first EOS camera to feature an entirely new stacked BSI CMOS sensor. The advantage of this type of sensor is the fast readout speed. This boosts the camera’s maximum shooting rate. With no mirror constantly flipping up and down, mirrorless cameras are pushing burst shooting rates ever upward, but now with this sensor they have just got quicker.

Faster readouts also mean faster autofocus. So fast that it happens in the blinking of an eye. This means shooting 30fps with full AF/AE tracking using the electronic shutter. Canon claim that even at this speed there will be ‘minimal distortion’ of the type usually caused by a rolling shutter.

So this begs the question why do we need a mechanical shutter?

Eye Control AF with the EOS R3

Yes, autofocus in the blinking of an eye. Look at a subject and the AF will follow your eyeball and focus on what you are looking at! This feature is going to be the most talked about subject of all. in the R3 reviews.

The original technology was first seen in the 22-year-old Canon EOS-3 film camera, but never progressed to digital. One of the problems was the tracking of eyes through glasses. What about sun glasses?

This is the rear of the Canon EOS R3 and it can be seen just how big the viewfinder has to be to accommodate this technology.

Capturing Movement with the R3

Canon insists that the R3 can master fast movement. This will not only interest sports photographers in the Grand Prix arena, but wildlife photographers capturing birds in flight. Canon eye tracking is already good with the R5. It will be amazing to see an improvement in this area.

Canon R3 Sensor Size

Rumour has it that the R3 will be priced around $6000. Below the Sony A1. Why? Well the A1 has a 50.1MP sensor. We don’t know the size of the R3 proposed sensor, but it could be that the R3 will have a smaller sensor. Perhaps as low as 20MP to enable sports photographers to quickly transfer images from the touchline.

UPDATE: We are now pretty confident that the sensor size will be 24MP

Just a thought, but what if the size of a sensor in the future is no longer linked to image quality? What if Canon’s new sensor is low in megapixels but has stunning image quality? Maybe through the use of new technology, perhaps even AI as employed on camera phones? There has been considerable research going on into this phenomena over the past few years. What if Canon has cracked it?

Canon EOS R3 Summary

What is quickly becoming apparent is that the R3 is an expensive specialist camera with awesome technology. It is not an amateur camera. We will not be seeing many at the local camera club outing to Clacton. However, what we can expect is that many of its new features will be headed for a Canon camera near you in the near future.

Scanning Old Slides

by John Gough

Scanning old slides to your computer? I had been meaning to do this for years, but the pandemic lockdown has given me the opportunity.

There are boxes of old slides in my loft. Taken well before the dawn of digital. I no longer have a projector, so the only way to bring these pictures to life is to scan them. Creating digital copies that I could access on my PC.

Scanning Old Slides: The Options

How? The options are, you can do it yourself or have your slides converted to digital files by a commercial scanning service.

Commercially Scanned Slides

There are scanning services like Digital Converters. Send them your slides and they will professionally convert your old slides to digital images. The cost is about £350 for 1000 slides.

Each slide is scanned as a high resolution image. Digitally corrected for exposure, colour and sharpness, and converted to JPEG. The files are streamed to the cloud or returned on a DVD or memory stick.

This is obviously the route to choose if you have high quality slides.

Scanning Old Slides Yourself

My slides are mostly family snaps, so based on the principle of garbage in garbage out. I decided to scan my slides myself.

On YouTube, there are several tutorials about setting up your camera to photograph slides and there are apps for your phone. However, taking an image of each slide individually seemed unnecessarily time consuming

So I decided to buy a cheap slide scanner. Researching online it seemed that they did a reasonable job quite quickly. I also thought that in the future I could use the same scanner to process old negatives.

Slide Scanners

Scanners are listed on Amazon here. I purchased this scanner.

The scanner had good reviews, the output was to a standard SD card and the display was large enough to view the images clearly.

How to Scan Slides to a PC

I used a setup with a scanner connected to the USB port on a laptop. The laptop has an SD card reader, so the transfer from scanner to PC was just one step. (N.B. The SD card is not included with the scanner)

There are various film holders included with the scanner. The slide holder fits into a slot on the side of the scanner. The slides are pushed into the holder and the holder pushed into the scanner.

I found I could process around fifteen slides in about five minutes.

The image is captured on the SD card as a JPEG. When the image is transferred to the PC I used Lightroom just to crop, adjust the colour balance, exposure and saturation.

I removed dust spots, and looked to improve the sharpness and noise level.

So what do the results look like?

This was taken on holiday in Cornwall,

and this taken at Wimbledon in the seventies. (Note that even back then I was more interested in the camera than the tennis)

The results are not too bad really. Decent exposure and detail considering these slides are over forty years old!

10 Reasons to Buy the Canon R5

by John Gough

Let’s face it you need some really good reasons to buy a Canon EOS R5. If you are not buying this camera for its video capability, and I am not. If you are not a professional photographer who needs the dual card slots and rugged build. How do you justify a spend of £4100 (Dec 2019) on a stills camera (body only)? I could buy a second hand car for that or at least five iPhone 12s. So let’s run through 10 reasons to buy the Canon R5.

R5 IBIS….Is it a Reason to Buy?

I know other camera makers have got there first, but fair enough Canon has caught up with in-body-stabilisation. Remarkably the 5-axis IBIS system achieves up to 8 stops. That is virtually like shooting in the dark. (Reason 1) Couple this with the remarkable ISO on this camera (Reason 2), and there is now no need to buy big glass for low light photography. The EOS R5 stabilisation and ISO can take care of it.

So How Good is the R5 IBIS?

Look at this real world example from Bluewater Photo

We took full advantage of this feature and even shot some of our photos as low as 1/13th of a second. Even at those speeds the images were as crisp as if they had been shot at the camera’s sync speed. IBIS also allows you to expand the limits of your camera by allowing you to shoot at lower shutter speeds instead of having to raise your ISO. The added detail and peace of mind that there will be no motion blur makes Canon’s IBIS system one of its top features.

So How Good is the R5 ISO?

For this, we have to cross to the pre-eminent camera reviewer Ken Rockwell. This is what he says:

As seen at normal image sizes below, the R5 pretty much makes the same images from ISO 50 (L) to ISO 25,600. ISO 50 is a “pull” ISO, and thus has more highlight contrast. This usually increases perceived highlight detail, and can lead to clipped highlights if you have too much subject contrast, as in the case of the window reflection in the glass of the clock face. ISO 51,200 starts to have some chroma mottling (colored green and magenta blobs) and ISO 102,400 (H) gets blotchier and grainier and the shadows are lighter than they should be, but still quite usable if I need it for normal-sized images.

What this means in practice is that you can shoot ISO 25,600 with little or no effect on image quality, and beyond that, up to ISO 102.400 the images are still useable. Follow the link above to see Ken’s example high ISO images.

The RF Flange…Is it a Reason Buy?

Two of my favourite lenses are the RF 35mm f1.8 macro, which has 5 stops stabilisation but has 7 stops on the R5, and the RF 24-240mm f4-6.3 which increases from 5 stops to 6.5 stops. These are both quality lenses but not wildly expensive and in my view are as sharp as any Canon EF lens. (Reason 3)

This is because of the redesigned flange on the R series cameras. This means that because these cameras do not have a mirror assembly the lens mount can be placed closer to the sensor. From 44mm on EF lenses to 20mm on RF lenses.

Why does this mean better lenses at a lower price point? Well, it allows for a large element to be placed at the rear of the lens, which reduces the scope for optical aberrations and means lenses can be designed with fewer overall elements, which means they can be made smaller and with less glass.

R5 Sensor….Is it a Reason to Buy?

The Canon EOS R5 has a 45MP CMOS full frame sensor. If you want to find out how good it is. Head off to DXOMARK where sensors from the major manufacturers are reviewed and rated. The R5 sensor is rated at 95. Is that good? Yes. How does it compare with other Canon sensors? It is the best. The 5D Mark IV scores 91 and the R6 scores 90. Is it the best sensor in its class? No the Luminex DC-S1R scores 100 and is the best. Some Nikon and Sony cameras also beat the R5. But!

Let’s dig deeper.

If you dive into the data here. Then it is apparent that in terms of dynamic range the R5 sensor is up with the best. Colour sensitivity is as good as the best at higher ISOs but there is a fraction more noise at lower ISOs. However, at higher ISOs the R5 performs as well as the Luminex.

As for sensor performance, the EOS R5 sensor represents a high water mark for Canon. Maximum dynamic range is competitive with the best in class, and the R5 sensor offers a useful advantage at some crucial ISO settings over its rivals. It also has excellent color and low noise at high ISOs, which all go toward making the Canon EOS R5 one of the most well-rounded performers in this important category. It may have taken a while to get here, but the Canon EOS R5 looks set to be the one to beat.

If you are a specialist photographer doing more studio work. Then you may want to hold off until the rumoured high megapixel R5 (96MP?) is launched next year. Otherwise, DXOMARK has proved that the R5 sensor is the best Canon yet, and a great allrounder in all lighting conditions. (Reason 4)

AF Capability… Is it a Reason to Buy?

The top line is that this camera can lock onto an animal’s eye, and hold focus as the animal moves while shooting at 20fps. That is a 45MP file being produced every 0.05 seconds. As a result the R5 is the world’s highest pixel-rate camera at 900 MP/s. (Reason 5)

This camera is capable of shifting pixels faster than any other camera, utilising the video capability of DIGIC X processor, and the new RF mount which can move data ten times faster than the older EF mount.

The autofocus will detect people, bird and mammal faces and eyes. Recognising and tracking these subjects as they move around a scene. Even if a subject turns away from the camera, their head continues to be tracked so that their face is sharp when they turn back towards the camera.

The autofocus can even do this in low light down to -6EF which is roughly the light provided by a half moon.

We are now half way through the 10 reasons to buy a Canon R5. Convinced yet?

Electronic Viewfinder

You may be wary of moving to an Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) from a traditional DSLR with a mirror. Have no fear the R5 is here.

The R5 EVF has a resolution of 5.76m dots and a 120fps refresh rate. This is getting much closer to the sort of detail you would expect from a traditional through the lens experience. (Reason 6).

There is also a flippy screen (Reason 7) which allows you to take pictures from those hard to get low and odd angles.

R5 Weather Sealing

There is weather sealing and there is weather sealing. It is not very exciting but the weather sealing on the R5 is reckoned to be as good as the Canon 5D Mark IV. (Reason 8)

Back in 2018 imaging-resource.com tested four ‘pro’ cameras for their weather sealing characteristics.

They subjected the cameras to a 15 minute rainstorm and 15 minutes of mist with fine water droplets. (That fine rain that soaks you through according to Peter Kay.)

This is the result:

Sony needs to up their environmental-sealing game if they want to compete in this high-end/professional market segment. We’d feel differently if all the cameras failed the test; we would have concluded that the test was just too harsh for the current state of the market, even though it was a reasonable representation of conditions a camera might be exposed to. That wasn’t the case, though; the D850 had a very minor problem with leakage into its viewfinder, that seems to be entirely solved by using the BS-3 hot shoe cover – and the 5DIV and E-M1II had no problems whatsoever.

It’s about the balance of risks. You probably never intend to stand in the rain in a muddy field in the Lake District shooting the landscape. Probably you will never be at the ocean edge on a beach in California photographing kiteboards. You will no doubt try and avoid the dust storms of Kuwait and Syria. However, there will come a day when you are thankful for the Canon professional level weather sealing in the R5.

R5 Voice Memo Recorder

Second lastly a small feature. There is a blue microphone button on the top left at the back of the camera which records spoken notes. (It can also be configured to rate exposures). This is a unique feature and can record voice memos up to 30 seconds. To play the memo (you will see a [♪] icon if one was recorded for an image), tap the mic button to start.

(Reason 9) This has to be a must for photojournalists, sports photographers and travel writers.

Bluetooth

The R5 has both WiFi and Bluetooth. The camera uses an always on Bluetooth low energy connection to connect to smart devices, allowing images to be browsed edited and transmitted on phones and tablets from anywhere. (Reason 10) Send images directly to a client or post immediately on social media.

This is the last of the 10 reasons to buy a Canon R5

Summary

Ten good excuses to part with a lot of money. 10 reasons to buy the Canon R5. However remember a new camera is not going to make you a better photographer, but the R5 may just give you the edge

Camera Wrist Strap

by John Gough

I often read posts like this on Facebook where unfortunately someone has dropped a very expensive camera. When they could have saved themselves a lot of anguish by using a camera wrist strap:

A very, very sad day for me 😞 The unthinkable happened and I dropped my 5D Mark Iv today. Now the camera shows Err 20 and the mirror gets stuck when I press the shutter – it gets stuck midway and doesn’t lift all the way up. I bought the camera brand new off of Ebay and according to Canon the serial number indicates this product was not intended for sale in the United States and is ineligible for registration and support in the U.S. Has anyone had experience with an issue like that? I don’t know where to send my camera to be fixed. It’s brand new with less that 700 shutter count. Any advice or reputable repair service referral within the US is greatly appreciated!

We all walk around with several thousand pounds of gear in our hands. I have come close to dropping mine several times.

Long camera straps can be cumbersome, so I opt to always tether my camera to my wrist with a camera wrist strap.

Recommended Camera Wrist Strap

This is what I recommend:

It is paracord that fits quite discretely around the wrist.

If it is too thick to go through the eyelet on your camera then try these connectors.

In these troubling times, stay safe and keep your camera safe.

Canon R5 Reviews: 5 Things We Learnt

by John Gough

Reviewers are finally getting their hands on the EOS R5, the new mirrorless full frame flagship from Canon. The Canon R5 reviews are just beginning to come in (August 2020), following the release of production versions at the end of July.

We knew a lot of stuff about this camera and its sibling the Canon EOS R6 from the drip drip of information from sites like CanonRumours. Then there was the big Canon specification reveal earlier in the month, where the mind blowing features of this camera were fully revealed.

Ken Rockwell describes the full specification here.

So what have we learnt from reviewers putting the R5 through its paces in real world situations?

Canon EOS R5 Does Not Catch Fire

When we reviewed the spec’ of the Canon EOS R vs R5 vs R6 we suspected that the much trailed 8K video could cause the camera to overheat, and surprise surprise it is true.

Well sort of.

There are endless vlogs out there discussing whether the R5 overheats when shooting 8K video.

Tony Northrup got heated about the issue in this video

However, it was followed by a disclaimer in this video, because it turns out that it was the CFexpress card that was to blame?

This article from canonwatch confirms there is no issue. Personally, I think it is irrelevant. The only time I would be likely to use 8K video, would be if I caught sight of a unicorn.

The video from Tony Northrop, however, does confirm that the quality of the 45MP sensor on the R5 blows the competition out of the water. Especially at low light and in terms of dynamic range.

Talking of water.

Weather Sealing: How Good is Good?

Weather sealing is too often taken for granted. We are told the weather sealing on the R5 is good, but how good? There should be a weather sealing standard. Then we could properly compare cameras and lenses.

However, this video from the excellent Chris Niccolls at DP Review describes that the weather sealing on the R5 is equivalent to the Canon EOS 5D IV. Now that is good. The 5D IV should represent the gold standard. I have friends who are landscape photographers who stand out in all weathers with their trusty 5D IV. I have yet to hear any complaints.

Of course, Chris has not tested the camera in a shower, but then it does cost over £4000.

Shoot 8K Video Stills

We thought it was theoretically possible to get decent still pictures from a burst of 8K video, but Digital Camera has proved that on the Canon EOS R5 it really works.

Not much has been said about the Frame Grab function. but on the R5 it is possible to flip through the 8K footage in camera. Highlight the frame required. Then select and produce a 35MP image.

Digital Camera was very impressed with the quality of the image. The downside is that it is a JPG, so there are not the opportunities to process shadows and highlights in post.

There are not yet any Canon R5 reviews that demonstrate this feature working. However, it is important because this could fundamentally change photography in the future.

Imagine a time when photographers use video stills rather than photographed stills. Imagine a time when an AI algorithm selects the video still on your behalf.

The R5: Balanced on a Gimbal

The in body stabilisation (IBIS) on the R5 has been tested and applauded by many reviewers. IBIS works with lens optical stabilisation to achieve 8 stops (Canon claim). Testers have found that although it may be difficult to achieve that exact spec’, the system works well. Down to 1/4 of a second they say.

To see how well. The gimbal comment came from this video from no life

Shoot Like a Wildlife Photographer

It goes without saying that the R5 autofocus has face and eye detection. Afterall that is available on the Canon EOS R (with the latest firmware upgrade).

Animal eye detection, however, is a whole new ball game. Canon has used Deep Learning to ‘train’ an algorithm how to recognise animal eyes,

“It’s been taught,” explains Mike Burnhill, technical support manager for Canon Europe. “You put it into a computer, it creates the algorithm that’s then loaded into the camera. So it’s different from AI – AI is a continual learning; deep learning is basically, it teaches itself, and gives you an end result that is then loaded into the camera.”

The result has been tested by Jared Polin at FroKnowsPhoto.

This amazing video demonstrates how the R5 can track and lock on to an animal eyeball It is truly incredible. I have seen a video with it working on fish!

What’s Next?

This camera is a bridge between the mirror up traditional DSLR and mirrorless cameras. Canon obviously see their future as mirrorless. They will not want to continue to develop both systems.

The R5 will tick most boxes for most professionals, and Canon will want to see them beginning to make the transition. As professionals change, the enthusiast market will follow.

This is an important camera for Canon.

Canon EOS R vs R5 vs R6

by John Gough

Canon with great fanfare announced two flagship cameras last week. The Canon EOS R5 and the Canon EOS R6. They join their range of mirrorless full frame cameras which include the Canon EOS R and EOS RP. The R5 and R6 are not on sale yet but are available for preorder.

We ask which would you choose when selecting between the Canon EOS R vs R5 vs R6

Would You Preorder?

Both new cameras are available for preorder before the cameras go on sale at the end of the month. (July 2020). Unusually the cameras have not been available to independent reviewers. There is now some suspicion that Canon may have launched too early and there is now some kind of hitch, but that aside.

Would you preorder the R5 or R6 just based on what we know about their specification?

Furthermore, if you were already a Canon EOS R user would you preorder and replace your existing camera?

Specification: Canon EOS R vs R5 vs R6

The new EOS R5 and R6 certainly have some brilliant new features. 8K video is the big new innovation on the R5. No other camera has this. Remember though, I will be looking at these cameras as a stills photographer who does a little bit of video.

Processor

The R5 has been described as a computer with a lens. Certainly, the new DIGIC X processor will have to be beefy to handle 8K video. Whether it can do so without overheating? We await the reviews to find out.

Sensor

The EOS R seems to be the Goldilocks of the three cameras, with a sensor that is neither too big nor too small at 30MP. The RAW files from the R5 45mp sensor could be too big for many workflows. This may mean upgrading hardware. The smaller 21MP sensor on the R6 is after all a similar sensor to the Canon 1D X III, which has worked well for thousands of professional photographers.

In Body Stabilisation

Motion sickness is when you pull up that special shot in Lightroom only to find that there is camera shake. Stabilisation has been on lenses for years, but now Canon has a system on the EOS 5 and 6 that can provide 8 stops of compensation, by combining both systems. Handheld shots at low shutter speeds will now be even more possible and passable.

AF

Following the firmware upgrade to the EOS R. All three cameras now have similar face and eye AF detection capability.

Shoot in the Dark

The low light performance of the EOS R was already impressive at EV-6. The EOS R6 takes that a tad further to EV-6.5, coupled with an impressive maximum ISO of 102400. Add in IBIS, and the EOS R6 really can shoot in the dark.

EVF

Could it be that eventually, an electronic viewfinder will see the world more clearly than a traditional DSLR via mirror and prism? It must be getting close with the impressive 5.69 million dot resolution on the miniature OLED display on the R5.

Video Replaces fps.

Is video now good enough for stills? The 8K video on the R5 could be the biggest game changer for photography this decade?

Each frame in an 8K video is a 35 megapixel still image.

The fps on the R5 and R6 are impressive especially for sports and wildlife photographers. However, why not take a burst of 8K video and choose your optimal image from hundreds of frames. This is possible on the R5 which has a frame grab function that enables you to take high-resolution 35.4MP stills from 8K footage.

How well will this work? Again we await the reviews.

Card Slots

The EOS R has just one card slot. This was a contentious issue when the camera was first launched. Canon has however made amends. The R6 now has 2 SD card slots. The R5 has an SD card slot and a CFexpress card slot. A CFexpress card is however very expensive, a 256GB card could set you back £500.

Decision: Canon EOS R vs R5 vs R6

If I was choosing which camera to buy based on price, then the R wins hands down. It may be a couple of years old, and although it started out a bit shakily because it was a revolutionary step for Canon, it has now become a favourite of many photographers. If you are not bothered about IBIS. Plus if you can survive with just one card slot. Then the R is the choice.

What though if you already have an R and are looking to upgrade? Is it the R5 or the R6? There is no doubt that if you are a stills photographer, if you go for the Canon EOS R5, you are buying a lot of video capability that you may not need.

However, if you are a wildlife or sports photographer then the 8K to stills option on the R5 may be revolutionary. If that works it would make the R5 a worthwhile purchase.

If you go for the Canon EOS R6 you get most of the spec of the R5 but without the video capability. Although the sensor is smaller than the other two. It is a proven performer from the Canon 1D X III, but without the workflow concerns of the 45MP sensor on the R5.

For a photographer rather than a filmmaker. The R6 has a lot of photography capability, for two thirds the price of the Canon EOS R5. We await the reviews but the Canon EOS R6 is the choice.