Big test
PERFORMANCE: ISO
can see that it is impacting on the overall quality of the shot, but it is still very, very respectable and totally usable. Quality remains high as you progress up to ISO 8000 and 10,000. By 12,800, the grain effect is more evident and shadows lose some density and that quality fall-off continues at the highest speeds. To sum up, though, the EOS R5 impresses with its digital noise performance, even more so considering that this is a 45-megapixel camera.
With the EOS R5 having a new sensor, I had no idea of how it would fare in the noise performance stakes, but as it happens, I’m very impressed. Bearing in mind that no noise reduction had been applied in processing, there’s even more potential for better-quality results, viewing the shots on-screen at 100% grain was visible at ISO 3200, but it was fine and very smooth with barely any impact on fine detail. Move to the ISO 6400 shot and noise is more evident and you
The EOS R5’s native range is 100-51,200 with expansion giving the equivalent of ISO 50 and H at 102,400. I shot several full ISO sets and the one shown was shot at NT Horsey Windpump in the Norfolk Broads. It was twilight and the exposure needed for the ISO 100 shot was 1sec at f/8. The camera was fixed to a Gitzo Traveler tripod and the high ISO and long exposure noise reduction were turned off. The Raws were processed in Lightroom with default noise reduction.
100
800
1600
6400
3200
12,800
ABOVE The control layout of the EOS R5 will be very familiar to current Canon users with the provision of quick command dial, good buttons and a focus lever. Overall handling rates highly and the camera is a pleasure to use
too, so you can swipe through a series of shots and pinch to zoom in. The EOS R5 has dual card slots, CFexpress and SD UHS-II, and how data is recorded can be customised to suit your needs. For this test, I used a Lexar 128GB 1750MB/s CFexpress card and a Lexar 2000x SD card. It’s fair to say that if you want the very highest levels of performance from the EOS R5, you need to use those expensive CFexpress cards – the Lexar 128GB CFexpress card is £249. If you want to shoot 8K or 4K 120p, that is only possible with CFexpress cards, although the less-demanding 4K 30p can be recorded to SD UHS-II cards. If you’re thinking that XQD cards will work, they don’t. At least, my Sony
XQD cards didn’t – they fit, of course, but you get an error message. To check out for myself the heat issue mentioned at the start of this review, I set the camera to shoot 8K 30p IPB with the Lexar CFexpress card. Starting with a cool camera at an ambient temperature of 20°C, my sample had the heat warning showing at 16mins 20 secs and the camera shut down after 18 mins. Turning the camera back on immediately with the overheat symbol flashing on the video screen, no more videoing was possible, but I could switch to stills and shoot at continuous high as normal. After about ten minutes, the camera had cooled sufficiently to allow one minute of video, although the overheat
51,200
25,600
102,400
Issue 82 | Photography News 19
photographynews.co.uk
Powered by FlippingBook