My first day with the Canon EOS R5

The eternal late bloomer, I know I’ve been a little late joining the mirrorless camera party. Finally, two weeks ago I dusted off my credit card and took the plunge by ordering the Canon EOS R5. It arrived at my local post office earlier than anticipated, which was a nice surprise. 

It also happened to be the evening before I was scheduled to shoot a downhill mountain bike race. I only had about an hour that evening to familiarize myself with the camera after work. 

Needless to say, I was a little uncertain about how I would perform with it in a high-paced environment with no real practice. But I was also really excited to try it out!

Out of the box

One of the main reasons I was looking to upgrade was for better low-light capabilities (I was previously shooting the 7D Mark II). I did some test shots in my dark living room late at night and was impressed with the results, right up to ISO 51,200. So far, so good! 

I also spent time familiarizing myself with the focusing system and general menu settings. I was happy to see large zone vertical and horizontal options for the AF selection areas, as well as the face + tracking option which has seen a lot of positive press.