Canon EOS R Series Cameras

I borrowed an R6 from my local camera shop on Saturday for a wonder around Cambridge. Looking at the results the demo body I had seems to over expose, especially shots a gull on the river. Is this a problem with the demo body? Is it simply unable to decide between the murky river water and the plumage? I must confess with it only in my possession for a couple of hours I didn’t go through all the menus fully.
 
Hi @GordonM

Not sure anyone will be able to make informed comments without seeing the shots, knowing which metering mode you were using and what part of the image you were metering from. In general, no camera is going to be able to meter on its own with 100% or even 50% accuracy. With all other things being equal, a small, light subject on a much larger dark background will always lead the camera to overexpose the subject as its trying to make the background grey. In theory centre-weighted metering will go a little way to alleviate this but its never going to get it right all ( most?) of the time on its own and how well it manages really depends on so many other factors. I'm guessing from your description that a light bird on a large dark background falls into this category.

You need to use your judgement in compensation, and I doubt the R6 is any different from any other camera in this respect.

On the plus side: if they let you borrow it, you must have an honest face :)
 
Last edited:
Hi wooster
I'm not sure it's an honest face, but I did work for the owners Grandfather, although that was 20 years ago!
It's something that threw me, as I've used Canon since 1978 and my 7D mkII seems to be more accurate - the R6 seemed to be at least 1/3 stop, more like 2/3 stop no matter what I was shooting, even general street shots on what was a failry flat day lighting wise.

Hi @GordonM

Not sure anyone will be able to make informed comments without seeing the shots, knowing which metering mode you were using and what part of the image you were metering from. In general, no camera is going to be able to meter on its own with 100% or even 50% accuracy. With all other things being equal, a small, light subject on a much larger dark background will always lead the camera to overexpose the subject as its trying to make the background grey. In theory centre-weighted metering will go a little way to alleviate this but its never going to get it right all ( most?) of the time on its own and how well it manages really depends on so many other factors. I'm guessing from your description that a light bird on a large dark background falls into this category.

You need to use your judgement in compensation, and I doubt the R6 is any different from any other camera in this respect.

On the plus side: if they let you borrow it, you must have an honest face :)
 
Hi wooster
I'm not sure it's an honest face, but I did work for the owners Grandfather, although that was 20 years ago!
It's something that threw me, as I've used Canon since 1978 and my 7D mkII seems to be more accurate - the R6 seemed to be at least 1/3 stop, more like 2/3 stop no matter what I was shooting, even general street shots on what was a failry flat day lighting wise.

Well, maybe you made an impression that's lasted through the years. You have a good, honest, Scottish name anyway ;)

Interesting about the exposures. I wonder if it's a setting somewhere in the menus that had been changed on the camera before you picked it up? I haven't heard of metering being difficult with the R6 before. I used to always overexpose my Fuji's by 1/3 stop as a starting point becuase i felt they underexposed, but I have a friend who says he reckons they're bang on, and I've read in forums people saying they overexpose so ......

I'm going to have a look at my R5 out of interest. If the sky was blue I'd point it there and look at the histogram but it's sadly overcast :)
 
I regularly watch a channel on YT called DIY Perks, where Matt makes innovative use of technology to make interesting devices, re-purposing parts of devices to make something else, or improve something.

Anyway, what has this to do with Canon! He has put out a video today looking into the overheating problem of the R5 whilst recording 8k video. At first he starts with water cooling, :oops: :$ but ends up with what I think is a very innovative solution. He gives an insight into Canon's cooling solution, or lack of it, for the R5, and comes up what I think would be the best option for their existing design. Anyway, I don't want to spoil too much. ;)

 
Has anyone done any wifI tethering in their R5/R6?

I can do it no problems, but I want to be able to review the images on the back of the camera now and again, which it doesn't allow. Have I missed something here?
 
Has anyone done any wifI tethering in their R5/R6?

I can do it no problems, but I want to be able to review the images on the back of the camera now and again, which it doesn't allow. Have I missed something here?
in what app/software I've just connected using camera connect, remote live view shooting, and can view images on phone and camera, if you mean EOS utility sorry never used it.
 
Anyone else struggle with the viewfinder, especially on bright sunny days? Even with it turned right up I quite often cant see the focus point change colour or some of the info around the frame, especially when I'm in a hurry. Is there a viewfinder extension / goofy-looking viewfinder cup thing available anywhere? i can find lots for the 5d but none for the r5.
 
Anyone else struggle with the viewfinder, especially on bright sunny days? Even with it turned right up I quite often cant see the focus point change colour or some of the info around the frame, especially when I'm in a hurry. Is there a viewfinder extension / goofy-looking viewfinder cup thing available anywhere? i can find lots for the 5d but none for the r5.
I still tend to use the viewfinder rather than the flip out screen... old habits etc. However, there are lots of LCD screen loupes available - one of these might help.
 
Is there a way of disabling the rear dial totally? Mine has stopped working completely in any fashion and wondered if it's a setting first before I contact WEX about the problem. Thanks.
 
Is there a way of disabling the rear dial totally? Mine has stopped working completely in any fashion and wondered if it's a setting first before I contact WEX about the problem. Thanks.

I don't have my camera to hand but maybe have a look in custom settings and see what function is allocated to it? It might have none?
 
Could you reset the camera to default and see if it solves the issue? WEX could probably help over the phone pretty quickly.

Does it control the shutter in manual all right?
 
Last edited:
Definitely broke. Started working a couple of times and stopped. Five minutes into a wedding too. Lol.

I had it wrong too, this body is from Panamoz. Fingers crossed their repair/warranty is as good as the service to get you the camera.
 
Bummer. Hope they sort it out quickly. I have read good things about their after-sales service though so you should be all right on that score
 
My only negative is I get a sore eye using the electronic viewfinder. Never did with an optical one!
Is it possible the diopter isn't set optimally for you?

I've now joined the R5 team :D Not had a lot of chance to try it out properly yet, but did try some birds in flight and found the auto focus amazing. I've set it up for the 'double' back focusing to switch between animal eye detect and the usual continuous. I just need to develop some muscle memory for the buttons now.

The exposure seemed spot on for me. I use manual mode with auto ISO and evaluative metering.

I slightly raised the exposure in this shot of pintails - a huge crop but still more than 2000 pixels across.

201129133828-BCR_0179_2_DxO.jpg
 
Last edited:
Yes right, the 600 F4. The R5’s animal eye tracking managed to find the Kingfisher’s eye in between the twigs. That was a welcome surprise.
That's impressive. I haven't managed to get close enough for it to find a birds eye yet.

I tried the eye focusing on footballers yesterday - too many of them, so mostly I reverted, but the double back focusing works so well. I was struggling a bit at the end because my fingers were so cold, and I did replace the battery before it emptied. Like the 5D4, I found that the fps starts to drop as the battery depletes. I haven't shot a whole match for a while and I'd forgotten I usually replace the battery at half time... so I would say the battery life was pretty good.
 
Your doorstep is obviously a lot different to mine!

It’s a small stream running through a mixed industrial and residential zone. There has been quite a bit of construction the past few years. I’m guessing there was something in the budget for an environmental project.
 
That's impressive. I haven't managed to get close enough for it to find a birds eye yet.

I tried the eye focusing on footballers yesterday - too many of them, so mostly I reverted, but the double back focusing works so well. I was struggling a bit at the end because my fingers were so cold, and I did replace the battery before it emptied. Like the 5D4, I found that the fps starts to drop as the battery depletes. I haven't shot a whole match for a while and I'd forgotten I usually replace the battery at half time... so I would say the battery life was pretty good.

Very cool, I’m looking forward to testing it out on sports. Not sure when that will be. Battery life does seem pretty good. It’s definitely my best all rounder. I’m curious how it will compare with 1DXM2 for sport.
 
I went and had a look at Petapixel.com to see what was on there about the R5. Back in August, an article was posted with the heading Simple Hack Proves Canon EOS R5 Overheating is Artifical' and cited both the article mentioned above as well as explaining how the process that is believed by some to be in place; once interrupted, this then allows the camera instantly to resume shooting with virtually no time for the heat to have dissipated. I am not an engineer; it does seem however that there is something fishy about all this. I have been a Canon user for a very long time. I find this disappointing and will be hanging on to my 1DX2. I have even thought of getting a 2nd hand one to keep it company at matches.
 
Not sure which article you’re referring to. I don’t do much video, but I did do a clip of a penalty being taken and shot stills for the whole match pretty continuously with no issues. If you shoot a lot of video then I guess overheating might be a worry.

One thing I’ve noticed is that quite bizarrely, when I’m taking action shots, I seem to be making a much better job of getting my horizontals and verticals lined up nicely than I usually do! [emoji23]
 
I've only had the overheating once, when shooting 8K video continuously. Other video shooting, external recording all day long and stills have been no issue.
 
Fingers crossed Russ. I wonder how may R5's they get in a shipment ?
About time for you Russ hope everything goes well for you ?
Cheers guys, it's been a very long wait - but nearly over! Can't wait to try the eye focus system on birds in flight :)
- Neil, I didn't ask the question, but I do feel that Canon UK hasn't received its fair share over the last few months compared with some other countries I read about.

Russ
 
I've just discovered there is an update for the firmware on the EF 100-400 ii lens. Mine is updated now so I look forward to seeing if it makes a difference.

I tried the 1.4 iii extender today on the EF 100-400 ii lens on the R5. This extender has sat unused in the cupboard for a very long time.
I think this is a pale buzzard but I could be wrong. I forgot to tweak my AF mode for BIF :rolleyes: it was left on the general mode 1.

20201217BCR_1890_3_DxO.jpg20201217BCR_1897_2_DxO.jpg
 
Great News - Wex have just informed me that they are expecting their next shipment of R5s on Friday, and I MIGHT get my traded-in pre-order (placed 26 August) in time for Xmas!!!

Fingers crossed

Russ

Any news yet?

I’m about 3 weeks behind you on the date of my WEX R5 order. So it’ll be interesting to see when you finally get yours.
 
Any news yet?

I’m about 3 weeks behind you on the date of my WEX R5 order. So it’ll be interesting to see when you finally get yours.
Hi James - my R5 arrived this morning (y)(y)(Wex obviously had an earlier delivery than they told me).
- the bad news is that Mrs Rustydon (Scrooge!!!) now says it's for Christmas, so it's being wrapped unseen as I write:(

At least its here!

Russ
 
Back
Top