The Canon EOS R5 Mark II is Canon's best camera ever, but I'm not replacing my R5 – and the reason may surprise you
(Image credit: James Artaius)
After using it extensively, I can say two things about the Canon EOS R5 Mark II with absolute confidence: it is the best Canon camera I've ever used, but I will not be upgrading from my original EOS R5.
The latter is in no way intended as shade against the former. The R5 Mark II is an absolutely almighty camera; it's so good, in fact, that some people are questioning whether it's more deserving of the flagship moniker than the Canon EOS R1.
Again, this is a camera with a 45MP stacked sensor, 180MP in-camera upscaling, 8K 60p video, 30fps continuous burst shooting, 15 frames of pre-continuous shooting, Eye Control AF, utterly phenomenal predictive autofocus, supremely smooth 8.5-stop image stabilization… so why am I not upgrading my R5 for this beast?
It's simple: the Mark II is just too much camera for me.
Indeed, the OG R5 is probably too much camera for me. After all, it's still a 45MP monster with 8K 30p video, 20fps burst shooting, astounding autofocus and ludicrously good 8-stop image stabilization. Those specs are still crazy good.
One of the reasons I bought the R5 in 2020 is because it was ridiculously overpowered – and honestly, it's still ridiculously overpowered in 2024. And while the Mark II ups the ante to even more ridiculous levels, I barely used a fraction of the power of the original.
If I still shot as much basketball as I used to, buying the Canon EOS R5 Mark II would be a no-brainer (Image credit: James Artaius)
Frankly, I'm not good enough / my work isn't demanding enough for the extra grunt of the EOS R5 Mark II. I wish that they were, because I would love to own this camera – it really is jaw-droppingly good. But given that what I shoot these days is 90% portraiture, I just don't need it.
Get the Digital Camera World Newsletter
The best camera deals, reviews, product advice, and unmissable photography news, direct to your inbox!
I used to shoot a lot more sport, namely basketball – which actually benefits tremendously from the new Dual Pixel Intelligent AF, with its predictive Action Priority algorithms. And if I still shot it as much as I used to, then upgrading would be an absolute no-brainer; the improvements are so good that they would single-handedly justify the price of admission for me.
I would genuinely love to have Canon's in-camera Neural network Image Processing, because the ability to instantly upscale any image to 180MP (or crop into an image and then upscale it to rescue the lost resolution) is a game-changer, as is the ability to denoise an image by two stops.
But while those things would be nice to have, I don't need them.
If I didn't already own the OG R5, and I was upgrading from a lower-level camera, then absolutely I'd go for the new model and the extra firepower it possesses. As it stands, though, I've already got more firepower than I need. And it's okay to admit that!
The editor of Digital Camera World, James has 21 years experience as a journalist and started working in the photographic industry in 2014 (as an assistant to Damian McGillicuddy, who succeeded David Bailey as Principal Photographer for Olympus). In this time he shot for clients like Aston Martin Racing, Elinchrom and L'Oréal, in addition to shooting campaigns and product testing for Olympus, and providing training for professionals. This has led him to being a go-to expert for camera and lens reviews, photo and lighting tutorials, as well as industry news, rumors and analysis for publications like Digital Camera Magazine, PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine, N-Photo: The Nikon Magazine, Digital Photographer and Professional Imagemaker, as well as hosting workshops and talks at The Photography Show. He also serves as a judge for the Red Bull Illume Photo Contest. An Olympus and Canon shooter, he has a wealth of knowledge on cameras of all makes – and a fondness for vintage lenses and instant cameras.
