Canon EOS R5 – Big News for Filmmakers

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by Andrew CollingsApril 20^th, 2020

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In their Virtual Press Conference today, hosted simultaneously with our Virtual Trade Show, Canon pulled back the curtain a little bit more on the upcoming EOS R5, and what they revealed is nothing but incredible. 

Despite the Coronavirus running rampant, Canon still promises to deliver this exciting camera to the world on schedule, expected by the end of this year, possibly as early as summer. So let’s keep you drooling and look at what was announced.

Image Credit: Canon

EOS R5 Specs, As Previously Announced

With today’s announcement, Canon has pulled back a little bit more of the curtain on the R5. This is the list of features that we knew a month ago:

•  A new CMOS sensor.
•  It can shoot 8K video, and it can down-sample 8K videos to 4K for improved image quality.
• Dual-card slot.
• It is the first-ever Canon camera to feature in-body image stabilization (IBIS).
• The possibility to shoot stills at up to 20 frames per second using an electronic shutter. Using the mechanical shutter, you can go at up to 12 FPS.
• Support automatic transfer of image files from the R5 to the image.canon cloud platform.

Image credit: Canon

EOS R5 Specs, Updated

We can add a few things to this list, primarily on the video side of things. And they are very, very exciting updates.

• 8K/30p RAW video recording internally
• 8K/30p recording in 4:2:2 10-bit C-Log and HDR PQ internally
• 4K/120p recording in 4:2:2 10-bit C-Log and HDR PQ internally
• 4K/60p video recording over HDMI
• No-crop 8K and 4K video recording
• Dual Pixel CMOS AF in all recording modes (8K included)
• C-Log available in all internal recording modes
• Dual-card slots: 1 CFexpress and 1 SD UHS-II

Image credit: Canon

Takeaways

Their R-mount lens lineup has been rock-solid up to now, but it has lacked a true top-tier flagship camera to anchor the lineup. It certainly appears Canon has found that in their EOS R5.

We keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, for Canon to reveal the flaw, the catch, the Achille’s heel of this camera, and so far they keep failing to do so. The 8K video could easily have been limited to 8-bit 4:2:0 at a pitiful bitrate, but that seems not to be the case here. Dual Pixel CMOS AF could have been restricted to 1080p, or lower frame rates. There could have been a massive crop in 8K mode. But every time they pull the curtain back a little further, the picture only gets better. After many years of falling behind Sony, Fujifilm, and Panasonic, Canon has leapt ahead of he competition. Now all they have to do is stick the landing.

What price range would the R5 have to be for you to invest? Will this make Canon the new king of the hill, or do they still have more ground to make up? Let us know in the comments!