I’ve been putting this post off because I don’t like to talk about it. But it’s been nagging at me because I told readers I was going to cover this topic, so I couldn’t put it off any longer.
In the past I’ve praised the many virtues of the Canon R5 but it also has some significant and unfortunate quirks. I know of at least three personal friends and Facebook friends who have purchased the Canon R5 at least in part based on my experience with it, and several others who are seriously considering it. So it’s probably past time that I present a more complete picture of my time with the R5.
A series of events involving the R5 five days ago at Bear River MBR was the catalyst for today’s post.
1/2000, f/5.6, ISO 1600, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
This Marsh Wren was the first bird I photographed that morning. ‘He’ was close, in warm morning light and out in the open. I took 110 photos of him and I remember being excited because I knew he’d given me some delightful poses and it was fun being assured so early in the morning that I wasn’t going to get bird-skunked that day.
But every last photo I took of the wren was soft. This one, and two or three others, were sharp enough to almost be useable but…
most of the rest were dreadfully soft, like this one, and they shouldn’t have been. To say that I was disappointed is an understatement. For reasons that would take too long to explain, I’m confident it was a camera issue and not a lens or operator issue.
I had the same problem once again that morning while I was photographing Solitary Sandpipers but all of the rest of the photos I took that morning that should have been sharp, were sharp. And it wasn’t the first time something similar has happened. Roughly once a week I get a cluster of soft photos of the same bird that should have been sharp.
And I wasn’t done with camera problems that morning. About an hour after I photographed the wren, my R5 froze up. Everything, and I do mean everything, just stopped working. It’s happened in the past a few times but those times all I had to do was turn the camera off and back on to fix it. This time that didn’t work, even though I turned it off and on repeatedly. I ended up having to remove the battery, let the camera ‘rest’ for a few moments and then reinstall the battery.
Freeze-up is a known problem with the R5. It was supposed to have been fixed by the latest firmware update, which I have installed, but it obviously hasn’t worked in my case. My R5 hasn’t frozen in the five days since then but I just never know when it might happen again.
Are these two problems a royal pain in the ass? Definitely. Are they bad enough to make me regret purchasing the R5? Definitely not. Overall, I love my R5. Its virtues far outweigh its flaws. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t occasions when I want to run over it with my pickup.
When it comes right down to it I can’t imagine being without my R5, quirks and all.
Ron
Do you have it set to continuous focus? In addition to, animal eye tracking.
Also, I have had the freezing in other older Canons occasionally. Already used to shutting it off and pulling battery out for a few seconds.
You and and have talked about this. Like you, my R5 will loose focus, freeze and sometimes not be able to lock on focus at all in any back button mode. The active points will search and search sometimes resting for a moment but moving before I press the shutter button. Mine will also overheat which your R5 doesn’t. I have found when it overheats I change batteries and put a ambient temperature battery in, the camera works again and cools down. Yes I only use Canon batteries designed for the camera. It is all very frustrating, ask Mia about our conversation while we were shooting together. I lost shots she got. I have two photography friends who have a R5 and never had a problem despite using them a lot. I have another person who I follow who has had two bodies that had issues, she returned them. Her third is not having any issues at all. I know the early release of the R5 had more issues, I have often wondered if my camera was on sale at B&H for $500 less because it was a model series with issues. It was not marked as such.
April, you’ve had significantly more problems with yours than I’ve had with mine. Even when I do have problems they don’t happen very often. That morning at Bear River was highly unusual for me.
I can well imagine that you turned the air a bright cerulean blue that morning. And every other time these quirks raise their ugly little heads.
Intermittent faults are the worst.
It says great things for the camera over all that you still love it.
My much less exacting self enjoyed the wren any way.
I do enjoy that first wren shot, EC. Once I get past the softness, that upside down pose is still fun to see.
Very interesting (and frustrating) about your camera’s quirks. At the vet clinic I worked at last, we could count on pretty much all our equipment (computers, infusion pumps, lab machines, etc) going haywire at the same time – usually on Thursdays. We called it the “Thursday Gremlins” and we just had to sigh and wait for them to get bored and move on.
3 passable out of 110 shots – that’s kind of the ratio I was reading about frog eggs – 1 out of 100 might make it to a frog! The one you showed us is pretty great!
Carolyn, I guess I should look at it in the way you describe. At least I got a few shots that were sharp enough to be enjoyed. Barely…
“Random intermittent” is the most powerful reinforcement schedule, unless we’re talking cameras (or other appliances — I’m looking at you, dishwasher! *grumble grumble*). I can imagine your frustration, especially when those failures coincide with a special opportunity in front of your lens.
Yup, dishwashers are one of the worst offenders in that department, Marty. But in my experience, vehicles are the worst of all.
Ron. Everything about your Wren photo up there is perfect…the background context showing depth, birdie fluffball facing down, head position and catchlight, feet hanging on…love it.
Thanks, Susan. “Everything” but sharpness…
Thank you for posting ‘the rest of
the story’ on your R5. Can’t imagine the disappointment on seeing all the soft wren images. With the bird eye focus feature the R5 has been an incredibly delightful team mate for you. Unfortunately with electronics our expectation is 100% perfect performance at all times.
Kathleen, that’s part of the reason it was so frustrating. Canon’s eye recognition had the active focus point right on the wren’s eye and they were still soft.
I too like that first wren photo.
It is so strange the way one R5 can behave differently than another (Steven Kessel’s post). You would thing two of the exact same solid state devices with identical software would perform equally. Guess there is something about these things – and so many other things – that is beyond my understanding. I guess that is why it makes those random flaws such a pisser.
A pisser indeed, Michael. Two words I hate in the context of malfunctioning cameras, appliances and vehicles are “random” and “intermittent”.
Amen
That is really interesting that the pros of the R5 are so good that you can live with these negatives. I am sure you and other R5 users are reporting these problems to Canon and I am pretty certain that they are and will be working hard to find out why they are happening and taking steps to correct them.
Do you always carry a back up camera?
“Do you always carry a back up camera?”
Yes, two of them. But since I bought the R5 I’ve never used them, except occasionally when I want to use the smaller lens attached to one of them.
Ron:
I have two R5 bodies and one of them freezes routinely. The other has never frozen. It’s always the same when the camera freezes, I have to remove the batteries, count to 5, and reinstall them. Then, everything’s fine for a few hundred or a couple thousand images.
As for the soft images, my experience is similar to yours. It usually happens when there is little contrast between the subject and the background. I’ve got my camera set so that one back button operates “animal eye” focusing and the other is for zone focusing. Sometimes switching back and forth between the modes assures a sharp image.
Best regards, Steve
Very interesting about your two R5’s, Steven. Sounds like luck of the draw…
My camera is set up the same for focusing as yours are.
🙁 NOT amusing! Such a wonderful photo opportunity to have “blown” by camera focusing issues and THEN to have it topped off by more than a few seconds freeze! The “joys” of “computers”…… Hopefully there is a solution coming in short order.
Wren sure is a cutie blurred or not….. 🙂
Thanks, Judy. That morning I used several cuss words I didn’t even know I knew…
Sadly a lot of things are this way. You have to decide if the good outweighs the bad. It happens to all of us. I would probably get another camera, but that’s just me. I have tools that I use, that I’m sure would drive someone else crazy with the quirks they have. Anyway, I enjoy your posts. I’m a big fan of birds, and love to see them in pictures, and real life.
“I would probably get another camera”
Jimmy, I have to live on a teacher’s retirement so for me that’s out of the question. Besides, overall I’m quite happy with the R5. So far at least.
How like life, Ron. Not even our best – thoughts, friends, love, work – is without dramatic flaws.
Love your messy little wren. S(h)e had a rough morning too, looks like.
Thanks, Sallie. I think the wren is a juvie, which may have contributed to its messy appearance.