I had a chance this morning to test the Canon EOS R7 against the R5 and R3. All cameras were set to roughly the same menu settings. Each was used in shutter priority (TV), shutter 1250, ISO Auto, and F/11. Each had the same 100-500mm RF lens with a 1.4x converter.
My subject stayed the same as well. Lucky for me, a fledgling eastern bluebird stayed on the same branch during my test.
All images were taken while I was seated in the same chair at the same angle. The sky was partly cloudy with lighting remaining generally the same during the test.
R7R5R3
Notice that the bird photographed with the R7 is larger in the frame. The Canon EOS R7 has a cropped sensor so the subject will appear bigger with a telephoto lens. Hence, the reason a lot of bird photographers like photographing with a crop sensor camera.
Here’s the images larger:
Eastern bluebird fledgling with the Canon R7. The bird is larger in the frame due to the cropped sensor.Eastern bluebird photographed with the Canon R5. Same bird from same vantage-point but notice that I zoomed back a tiny bit by mistake.Eastern bluebird photographed with the Canon R3.
I was impressed with the auto focus on the Canon R7. The camera was set to Flexible Zone 1, Subject, and Eye Detect. The Canon R7 never failed to acquire focus on the small bird. (Watch for my post on camera set-up.)
I’ll compare ISO in a future post but here’s a look at the Canon R7 image enlarged to 100%.
The same photo from above enlarged to 100% photographed using ISO 6400.
Posts coming up will show my set-up for the R7, file size, ISO, and night photography. Stay tuned!
First impression with the Canon R7 shows that this is going to be a great camera for bird photography.
After a long wait I finally got my Canon R3. I’ve used the Canon R5 and R6 for the past two years. Use the “search” feature here to read my reviews of those cameras.
The Canon R3 was advertised as a mirrorless equivalent to the Canon D1X. The D1 line and particularly the D1X have been my preferred camera for over 15 years.
This first review of the Canon R3 is with minimal set-up. I took the camera out of the box and set the following menu items: (1) date and time, (2) copyright, (3) Raw, (4) animal eye focus, (5) AF Servo AF Case 2, and (5) High speed release. That’s it! The bare minimum for this first test run.
Bald eagle is a nest shooting through trees in the foreground. Handheld Canon 100-500mm lens with a 1.4x extender. One point focusing on the eagle.100% enlargement showing the Canon R3 focused through all the mess on the eagle’s head and produced a sharp photos.I walked closer to the eagle’s nest. R3 focus does not get distracted by the brush.100% crop.Animal eye focus continues to stay with the eagle as it moves around the tree.100% of that image.Viewfinder Simulation allows me to under exposure to maintain the white feathers.100% enlargementThere’s a northern mockingbird in this bush. The Canon R3 locked onto the eye and held focus despite all the tangle of brush in front of the bird. No coaxing on my part. The camera did all the work.Ruby-crowned kinglet is a hyper-active little bird that never sits still. The Canon R3 found the eye and stayed with the bird as long as I could keep the bird in the frame.Uncropped image of a white-throated sparrow in the brush. The Canon R3 found the eye and stayed with the bird. This is an easy one because the sparrow wasn’t very active. The Canon R3 didn’t get distracted by any of the round leaves nearby as we’ve seen with the R5 or R6.There weren’t a lot of flying birds during my test run. The wind was blowing hard and erratic. A few black vultures flew across, though. I raised the Canon R3 and the camera immediately found the bird. No hunting or hesitation. The Canon R3 stayed with the bird as long as I could keep it in the frame.
The Canon R3 works like the Canon D1X! I feel that I finally have a D1X back in my hands but with all the bells-and-whistles of a mirrorless camera.
The Canon R3 is a big camera so it has a different feel in the hand. I’ll write about that in an upcoming post. Stay tuned.
I’ve been asked to compare noise between the R5 and R3. I’ll do that comparison in another post. Keep watch for that one.
The Canon R3 has Eye Control. This is a new feature where the camera uses my eye to determine where to focus in the frame. Can’t wait to explore that feature!
INITIAL IMPRESSION:
The Canon R3 looks and feels like a D1X
Minimal set-up is needed to get this camera up and running. Yea!!
Precise auto focus that allows us to photograph birds deep in the brush with Animal Eye activated.
Birds in flight are tracked on par with the D1X.
Exposure Simulation allows us to over or under exposure to get the picture right in the camera. This is expected in today’s mirrorless cameras.
Stay tuned as I work with the Canon R3.
Ask questions below or suggest items that you’d like to see tested. Thanks for reading!
I started pushing the AF: Eye Detection (Animal Eye Focus) feature on the Canon R5 and R6 cameras this spring. Warblers are fast moving little birds who love to feed in dense foliage. Could the Animal Eye Focus stay with a hyperactive warbler?
Magnolia warbler photographed with Canon R5 set to AF: Eye Detection
Flip through the back of my screen with me. This is a video showing each image I took and where the Canon R5 focused. Watch the red squares to see where the camera focused.
Notice in the above video that the camera focused on the bird most of the time. Things were great once it narrowed down to the eye.
Here’s another series of images. Remember, you’re looking at the back of my camera as I scroll through the images.
The Canon R5 focuses on the bird pretty well. It does very well when the bird turns its face to the camera. Notice that the camera did get confused by the foliage for an instant. Yet, it kept focus when the warbler went behind the leaves.
In this instance of the hooded warbler perched on a branch the Animal Eye Focus did a great job.
I’ve been impressed with the AF: Eye Detection on the Canon R5 and R6. The photographer has to keep the camera on the bird. That’s a skill that has to be developed. The camera does its job and we get the reward of outstanding images.
AF Screen 1
Select AF Method to Face Tracking
Select AF: Eye detection — Animal
On the back of the camera while shooting
Select AF: Eye detection
Prothonotary warbler you saw on the back of my camera in the video above.
I finally got a chance to create a star trail with my Canon R5. The star trails — and night photography in general — I’ve done with mirrorless cameras in the past have been disappointing. Not so with the Canon R5 and R6. The results are just as good as anything I created with my Canon 5D Mark IV.
Star trail, or the light left behind as the Earth rotates, Texas Hill Country on a winter night.
Star trails, like the image above, are fairly easy to do. You’ll need some equipment to capture the images and Photoshop to blend the images. You’ll also need a dark sky with an unobstructed view. The view above is pointing directly north at Polaris.
Equipment: Camera with a bulb setting, sturdy tripod, programmable shutter release like the Vello Shutterboss II, fully charged battery, storage card. The photo above is made up of 20 photos. More time, more photos, better spiral.
Set the programmable shutter release to take 99 or 399 photos at a 4 minute exposure with a 1 second interval. Attach the programmable shutter release to the camera. (Suggestion: Do this inside in the light because it’s darn hard to read the instruction book in the dark when you’re trying to shoot.)
Before walking outside, set your camera’s focus to infinity. This varies by lens manufacturer so here are some tips.
Canon traditional lens with focus set to infinity by aligning the white lines. (Nikon and other lenses align the line with the infinity symbol.)
To set the focus to infinity on a R5 or R6 mirrorless camera, go to live view. Flip the switch on the lens to MF. Turn the focus ring to align the focus with the infinity symbol. NOTE: Sony mirrorless users rotate the focusing ring until the infinity symbol appears. Stop when the symbol appears! You’ll go out of focus if you continue to rotate the focus ring.
Outside under a dark sky, put the camera on the tripod and point it at the North Star for a star spiral. Compose the photo to include some foreground or an interesting subject in the foreground.
Check your focus to make sure the lens is set to infinity. Take a couple of test shots make sure the stars are in focus. (Suggestion: take these images at a really high ISO so the exposure is quicker. Enlarge these photos on the LCD panel to check focus. Delete them when ready to start shooting.)
Set the camera to Bulb, f/3.5 or f/4.0, ISO 800, IS or VR off, MF. If your lens has 2.8 then ISO 400 might be okay. A lens with 3.5 as the lowest f/stop might mean you’ll need to use ISO 800. Take some test shots to determine what works for your camera.
Make sure the camera is locked down on the tripod. Press the “Start” button on the Vello Shutterboss II. Monitor the first couple of shots to make sure the shutter stays open for 4 minutes, closes, and then reopens. Let the camera keep shooting for at least 30 minutes but hours are better.
To process the images, follow these instructions precisely to create a layer blend in Photoshop. (1) Download the images into Photoshop Bridge or Lightroom. (2) Highlight all the images.(3) Click Tools>Photoshop>Load Files into Photoshop Layers. Photoshop should open with the images in a layer palette. Lightroom users click Photo>Edit>Edit in Photoshop Layers (4) All the photos will open into a layer palette in Photoshop. (5) Highlight all of the photos in the stack and change the blend mode to Lighten. (6) Viola!! (7) Flatten the image and save.
Make any necessary exposure, contrast or other corrections in Adobe Camera Raw or Lightroom.
I ordered my Canon R5 when it was announced in February 2020. The camera finally arrived in July 2020 and I was totally excited about the new experience of using this much anticipated camera.
Life was good — but the camera wouldn’t focus. The R5 was amazing 95% of the time. Yet, 5% of the time it just wouldn’t focus. It failed to acquire focus.
I shot some video footage so I could share my experience with others. I played with settings. I figured out workarounds. But, by November 2020 I felt like I was beating my head against the wall. Why wouldn’t this camera acquire focus.
Then, my R6 arrived. The R6 never refused to focus. It might hesitate here and there like the Canon 7D or Canon Rebel but it never refused to focus.
That’s when I realized something was wrong with my Canon R5. I contacted Canon Professional Services. They offered some suggestions to my settings — but nothing I hadn’t already tried.
Finally it was time to send the R5 to the shop. I shared my videos with Canon and talked with the technicians.
Here are changes to my settings recommended by Canon Professional Services:
AF Menu –Tab 4 – Lens electronic MF ; this is currently set to OFF. If you set it to One-Shot-Enabled the lens will manual focus by the focus ring if shutter is half depressed. This will make it behave like a long telephoto on a EOS 1D-X body
AF Menu- Tab 5 – Initial Servo AF Point for Tracking; Suggest second selection Tracking will start with the selected AF point
AF Menu – Tab 3 – Case 3 or 4 might work better for birds in flight or moving objects than Case 1
AF Menu – Tab 4 – Switching tracked subjects – might want to try “Initial Priority”
So far, so good! I’ve used the R5 for a week and it’s worked as expected. I’ll keep you posted.
Snowy plovers are only 6.25 inches tall. They are not a large bird and are easy to overlook as they blend into the beach.
I found this one yesterday on the Texas City Dike in Texas City, Texas. (Is that enough Texas’ for you?). I was walking along the shore and carrying the Canon R6 with the 100-500mm RF lens and 1.4x extender.
The bird let me get fairly close and even let me crouch down a few times.
The camera kept focus no matter how quickly the bird scurried along the beach.
All were shot with Aperture Priority, f10, shutter speed 2000, ISO 800, wide zone auto focus.
My Canon R6 arrive last week and today was the first time I had a chance to take it out for a test shoot.
I am impressed!!
My outing today was mainly to test the auto focus on the R6 compared with the more expensive R5. Conclusion: I can’t see any difference.
The Canon R6 reminds me of my Canon 5D Mark IV and I was not disappointed with the R6.
My first bird this morning was a ring-billed gull. It was just standing on the beach so not much of a challenge. Canon R6, 100-500mm lens with a 1.4x extender. Auto focus 1, Servo, one focus point.Sanderling running on the beach. Same setting as above but using wide area auto focus. The camera stayed in focus. My job was to keep the camera on the bird.Sanderling with the same settings as above. Remember, these birds seem to never stand still.Royal tern in flight. Wide area auto focus. There were 10 or 12 shots in this series as the bird flew by. All were in focus. Brown pelican going into a plunge dive. With the R6 on rapid release, I captured 10 or more shots as the pelicans did their dive. Each was in focus..
Notice that I compared the Canon R6 to the Canon 5D Mark IV when comparing auto focus capabilities. My Canon 5D Mark IV always beat my 7D Mark II in the auto focus arena. The 7D Mark II would miss a shot here and there in a series. The 5D Mark IV got all the shots in a series in focus. That’s the same thing I saw in my test today with the Canon R6. It held auto focus throughout the series without missing a single shot!
Not once today did I notice the Canon R6 hunting for the subject. I pointed the camera at the bird, the camera locked on the focus, and I clicked the shutter button. We were working as a team — the camera and me.
I’ll post a more thorough comparison of the Canon R5 and Canon R6 in the next few days. This is just the beginning.
I have to admit that historically I didn’t worry about updating the firmware in my digital SLR cameras. The cameras worked and they always worked. So why update the firmware?!
Mirrorless cameras, on the other hand, have a lot more electronics and keeping the firmware up-to-date is a good idea.
There have been three firmware updates for my Canon R5 since it was introduced. One in August, another in September, and another in November 2020. Canon wouldn’t issue these updates if they weren’t necessary. These updates fix a “bug” or tweak a setting.
Get the firmware updates from the Canon site. Sony, Olympus, and Fuji users will find the firmware updates on their camera manufacturer’s site.
Download the firmware to your computer. Then double-click to open the folder. You’ll find instructions and an EOSR5110.FIR file. The name might change with the update but the file extension remains the same.
Copy or move the EOSR5110.FIR file to an SD card. (I do this with a card reader.) Plug the card reader into your computer. Open the card reader on your computer, open the firmware update in another window, then click and drag the xxxxxx.FIR file to the SD card.
Put the SD card in the Canon R5. Turn the camera on and go to the wrench menu 5. Scroll down to Firmware Update. If you’ve done everything right, the camera will find the file and show the screen blow.
Click the OK button and you’ll see the screen below.
It’s a pretty simple process and worth doing to keep your camera in tip-top shape.
There comes a point with all good things when “too much is too much.”
Yep, same applies with camera settings. I’ve seen camera settings get tangled over the years and the only resort is to reset the camera.
This might sound like a drastic measure but it’s really not. The reset button returns the camera to factory settings. Everything is cleared out and we can start from the beginning.
Recently two friends complained that their Canon R5 had simply stopped taking good pictures. EB complained that his R5 was producing soft images. PE complained that her R5 was giving soft and noisy images.
EB called Canon and the technician suggested pushing the Reset button. After EB pushed the Reset button, the camera was back to producing lovely images.
When PE complained about her soft and noisy images I told her about EB’s experience. I also sent an email to Canon Professional Services to see what they thought about the Reset option.
“The EOS R5 does have a lot of features built into it to where the user is able to customize it for their own shooting needs. There may be some features which may change the way the camera takes pictures and sometimes if the wrong setting is set on the camera, the results may not be what some photographers are looking for. At least clearing the settings will restore the camera’s settings back to default, allowing the photographer to begin with a clean slate to customize the camera for their shooting needs.”
Canon Professional Services
I’ve seen the Reset button used over the years with great success. RE had pushed so many buttons on his Canon 600 flash that reset was the only way to make it work again. Students in class have had to resort to the Reset button when a hodge-podge of features had been set on their camera by “helpful” friends or spouses.
Nikon DSLR cameras have green buttons that reset the camera.
Our new mirrorless cameras come with settings, menu options, and features that we never dreamed of 20 years ago. It’s tempting to select everything when we first get the camera based on blog posts, friend’s advice, and YouTube videos. Yep, been there and done that.
The Reset button might be the solution when things get tangled and the camera stops producing great results.
Olympus puts their Reset button under the camera menu. Sony puts their Reset under the tool box menu.
I pass along my experiences so you’ll have a great time with your camera. Cheers!
Kathy Adams Clark 