# Canon R5 - Is there anything I should know/consider before buying?



## tjm1989 (Dec 31, 2021)

Hello everyone,

This is my first time in the forum and buying a high-end Canon Camera. I have had my eye on the Canon R5 for the past year for both photography and video, and I am finally ready to buy it. I plan on getting the R5 with the RF 24-105mm lens to get started. 

It will be used primarily for photography, but I also regularly film drone footage and want a camera I can also use for Vlogging, Youtube, and A-Roll footage to go with my Mavic 3 drone shots. 

My question is: Is there anything I should be considering before buying? Should I be waiting for another future camera that I may not be aware of? Is there another camera that is just as good for less money? I have extensively researched the R5 and feel it is the one for me, but I wanted to run it by the experts before pulling the trigger next week.

Also, is Amazon a safe place to buy it? I can get a 7% discount on the camera and lens through a friend's work discount, but I would get that directly through Canon.com and not any authorized re-sellers. I am usually more inclined to purchase through Amazon because of their excellent return policy should anything be wrong with the camera. I would be inclined to forgo the 7% for that peace of mind, but I would love your inputs!

Thanks so much.


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## koenkooi (Dec 31, 2021)

Get extra batteries


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## Czardoom (Jan 1, 2022)

If you have researched the camera and found it to be the one you think will work best, then don't - DON'T - depend on opinions from an internet forum. There are no experts here. A few helpful people, yes, but also lots of people with agendas. Canon does not give much advance notice about future cameras although you will find lots of specualtion and rumors that the majority of people here treat as fact - further complicating things. 

Amazon is a good choice because of their excellent return policy, but I would make sure that the actual seller is either Amazon or Canon opr an authorized Canon dealer. You will find other sellers that may be selling "non-USA" products that would not have the USA-Canada warranty.


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## privatebydesign (Jan 1, 2022)

B&H is an excellent option if you use their PayBoo card, it gets the sales tax discounted, has free shipping, and an excellent return policy. The thing I don’t;t like about Amazon is it is more expensive (because of the sales tax discount) and I get confused between Amazon themselves and third party sellers without the same integrity as Amazon themselves.

100% agree with Czardoom too, don‘t listen to others much because most of what they say is just unhelpful nonesense.

If you want/need 8k then the R5 is fantastic, if you don’t need that resolution for specific purposes take a long hard look at the R6, everybody that owns that camera loves it!

And yes, get batteries especially if you are doing much video!


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jan 1, 2022)

I would pay attention to the limitations of 8K or other super high bit rate photography. 
You will have a limited amount of time (~20 minutes) before the camera overheats and shuts video off for a lengthy cool down. It can be used for stills during that period. The CF express memory cards type B that are needed to do 8K also get quite hot and will reduce speed or shut down. They are expensive as well. You also need to pay attention to the size of card and brand. They are a new technology and some of the slower cards will not support 8K video. Figure $420 for a 325GB Pro-Grade type B Cobalt which is probably the least expensive of the cards you would want to get. Card prices go up sharply as you buy larger ones. It's a whole topic by itself.

For most users, that is not an issue, but some have thought that they could record long sequences of 8K video and find that it's not possible.


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## TukTuk (Jan 1, 2022)

tjm1989 said:


> Also, is Amazon a safe place to buy it? I can get a 7% discount on the camera and lens through a friend's work discount, but I would get that directly through Canon.com and not any authorized re-sellers. I am usually more inclined to purchase through Amazon because of their excellent return policy should anything be wrong with the camera. I would be inclined to forgo the 7% for that peace of mind, but I would love your inputs!



Amazon (USA) price + state taxes - 5% Amazon CC ... I prefer to use some B&M stores ( http://downloads.canon.com/dealer/canon-ad-12-20-2021.pdf ) across my state line ( so that I can drive there in 30-60 min if needed ) which still do not charge me my state tax and I can use my 2% cashback credit card, plus some of their coupons/etc...


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## TukTuk (Jan 1, 2022)

tjm1989 said:


> RF 24-105mm lens to get started.



may you be blessed with a good copy vs copy-to-copy variations


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## TukTuk (Jan 1, 2022)

privatebydesign said:


> B&H is an excellent option if you use their PayBoo card, it gets the sales tax discounted, has free shipping, and an excellent return policy.



they are moving to a different card, so if OP does not have PayBoo already - he has to wait for a while till B&H rolls it out ... plus it is a store card... you do not have a usual CC protections - just good B&H reputation... I 'd rather have both store reputation and CC protection if push comes to shove


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## privatebydesign (Jan 1, 2022)

deejjjaaaa said:


> they are moving to a different card, so if OP does not have PayBoo already - he has to wait for a while till B&H rolls it out ... plus it is a store card... you do not have a usual CC protections - just good B&H reputation... I 'd rather have both store reputation and CC protection if push comes to shove


They are moving to a different bank to supply the cards, PayBoo is and will be continuing seamlessly. It is a good proven option if you want to save on the total purchase price.


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## TukTuk (Jan 1, 2022)

privatebydesign said:


> They are moving to a different bank to supply the cards, PayBoo is and will be continuing seamlessly. It is a good proven option if you want to save on the total purchase price.


did you read what I wrote ? "if OP does not have PayBoo already - he has to wait for a while till B&H rolls it out " ... if he does not have Payboo - he can't get it anymore... he has to wait till a new card will roll out (which may or may not be called Payboo, with the same bank or not).

quoting from B&H


We are no longer accepting new applications for this credit card.​
Thank you for your interest in this card. We will be introducing a new and improved credit card program in the second half of January 2022. Please check back in January for details.
*Note: We will continue to accept payment with existing cards for orders placed through January 17, 2022.*


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## tjm1989 (Jan 1, 2022)

Thank you everyone! And a Happy New Year. I appreciate the feedback and guidance on this.

Couple of additional questions for you all.

1. I don’t have the BH Store Card and plan to use my own credit card with cash rewards and interest free. I like the idea of buying from Amazon for their return policy but probably would prefer BH as I always fear about getting counterfeit items from Amazon. If I get from Amazon, I plan to buy the one listed as “shipped and sold by Amazon.” I can buy directly from Canon and save 7.5% through employee discount (so basically tax free). But wondering if anyone here has had experience buying from Canon directly? I hear their return/exchange policy in the event of issues is not friendly like Amazon for example.

2. Can you recommend the best SD/CF Express Card for this camera? I am traditionally a Sandisk guy, but I have had the Lexar ones recommended also. Lexar UHS II 128 GB V90 is currently on Amazon for $100.00 and the 256GB CF Express Type B is listed for $269.00. My concern is.. counterfeits. Can I trust SD and CF Express Cards from Amazon if shipped and sold by them? I received Amazon gift cards for the holidays that would basically cover half of the SD card costs, but fear getting counterfeits. If I go through BH Photo for these same cards, I am looking at almost double the cost. Any thoughts on best cards for this camera? I will be wanting cards that unlock the full video capability. Also.. say I buy the R5 from BH with the lens, any chance they would do some kind of discount if I buy the SD cards also? I’ve not used them before.. so not sure if they do this type of thing.

final question, someone above mentioned getting “a good copy vs copy-to-copy variations” of the 24-105 lens. What is this in reference too? Is there a known issue with this lens?

Thanks again!


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## privatebydesign (Jan 1, 2022)

deejjjaaaa said:


> did you read what I wrote ? "if OP does not have PayBoo already - he has to wait for a while till B&H rolls it out " ... if he does not have Payboo - he can't get it anymore... he has to wait till a new card will roll out (which may or may not be called Payboo, with the same bank or not).
> 
> quoting from B&H
> 
> ...


I read it. According to B&H the new version is not with the same bank, it is due in a couple of weeks, and will also be called PayBoo. “ And YES, the name will still be Payboo®!”

I was offering a well respected alternative, that’s all. If the purchase isn’t for a week then, maybe it is worth waiting another week for, maybe not. I don‘t try to put myself in the mind of the poster.






B&H's PayBoo Card announcement


Thought I would share contents of an email I just rec'd from B&H this morning, explaining that current bank supporting PayBoo card will change in Jan 2022. Here's the content of B&H's email. Dear Valued Customer, In May 2019, B&H introduced our Payboo® loyalty program credit card that offers...




www.canonrumors.com


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## TukTuk (Jan 2, 2022)

tjm1989 said:


> final question, someone above mentioned getting “a good copy vs copy-to-copy variations” of the 24-105 lens. What is this in reference too? Is there a known issue with this lens?



it seems QC for 24-105/4 is not as for 24-70/2.8 - but then more of them sold and more to people who might have worse shooting technique and 4x zoom is rarely better than 3x one ... it is just you will run more into complains about 24-105 in various fora ... that's it... so w/ that lens I 'd rather go shop near local B&M to be able to return pronto vs mailing it back - but that's me being paranoid may be


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jan 2, 2022)

tjm1989 said:


> Thank you everyone! And a Happy New Year. I appreciate the feedback and guidance on this.
> 
> Couple of additional questions for you all.
> 
> ...


Here is everything you never wanted to know about CF express cards. There is a link to SD card tests as well. It's not simple, you trade off performance in one area for performance in another. Larger cards seem to have better performance. Note the endurance testing they mentioned. Only two brands had issues, Lexar and one other. Lexar is no longer the same company it once was, it was sold and the cards are different, just the same brand name. 









CFexpress Cards - Camnostic


Using the Canon EOS R5, the best selling CFexpress cards are measured and compared against real-world performance factors.




camnostic.com





Card readers again vary widely, when talking the fantastic speeds of CF express, any variation has an impact. Heat generated by a CF express card can mess with a card reader, so look for one with a metal heatsink, all plastic is not good. If you use a mac, get thunderbolt. I bought a ProGrade reader to go with my ProGrade card. I'd use the same logic with a different brand of card unless their reader had some known flaws. That link I sent also discusses readers. Even the cable and computer port affect read speed. I have an old PC so my read speeds are way off what is possible. 

Your 24-105mm L is a good choice. As for variation in lenses, every lens is slightly different. The grinding and assembly of lenses in the price range of the 24-105L is mostly done by machine and is as good as can be done by machine. Just a few millionths of an inch can make a visible difference. However, most of us can't detect the tiny difference that experienced lens testers find. When you get into the more expensive lenses, they are hand finished to incredible accuracy that can't be measured directly. Even then, elements are trial fitted to find the combination that works best. Thats why you pay the big bucks.

Zoom lenses are a compromise, characteristics vary with focal length and distance to the subject. Fixed or Prime lenses tend to sidestep the issues that zoom lenses have and can be very good. I find that the convenience of a zoom generally outweighs its flaws.

The bottom-line is don't worry about differences, they all meet the specification so the right way to look at it is that a few of the lenses exceed the specification. You should, of course, carefully check images from any new lens because most issues are caused during shipping, hard knocks can throw things out of alignment. Adorama and B&H usually pack lenses pretty well. That's where Amazon might be a failure, I avoid buying lenses from them due to the way they pack things.


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## tjm1989 (Jan 3, 2022)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> Here is everything you never wanted to know about CF express cards. There is a link to SD card tests as well. It's not simple, you trade off performance in one area for performance in another. Larger cards seem to have better performance. Note the endurance testing they mentioned. Only two brands had issues, Lexar and one other. Lexar is no longer the same company it once was, it was sold and the cards are different, just the same brand name.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thank you for taking the time to explain that! I plan to buy from B&H over Adorama. Thanks for the support in making this purchase.


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## Bdbtoys (Jan 3, 2022)

Here are some things right from the spec sheet...


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## Bennymiata (Jan 4, 2022)

I have the R5 and the 24-105, and it's an excellent combination.
I have an Angel bird 1TB cfe card and a Lexar UHS II 256GB card and they work perfectly.
Get the best and biggest cards you can afford. You will need them.
You'll also find the 1080p recording is really very, very good, so much so that even fussy customers of mine can't tell the difference from 4k.
You'll love the R5 once you get it set up the way you like. The eye focus is just fantastic, even with birds and animals.
Don't have any recommendations as to where to buy as I live in Australia and I buy from a local B&M store.


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## Greywind (Jan 4, 2022)

If you have considered to use R5 as an A-roll camera then you probably use 4K HQ, 120p and 8K modes. 
Then you probably reached the thermal limitation, I suggested that you get the Kolari version of Canon R5.
The Kolari version has thermal modification allowing you to shot 4K HQ unlimited, and 8K and 4K120p in very low downtime.
I could confirm on this because I modded my own R5 and got the above result. I'm a camera repairman myself so I do not recommend you to DIY this yourself.
The Kolari version is provided with warranty from their own. And actually the thermal modification is reversible so if you have a reliable repairman nearby, you could ask for the modification.


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## tjm1989 (Jan 7, 2022)

Thank you everyone for your inputs! Much appreciated.


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