Canon T5 Performance


Timing and Performance

Mixed performance from the Canon T5.

Startup/Shutdown

Power on
to first shot

~0.5 second

Time it takes to turn on and capture a shot.

Play to Record,
first shot

~0.2 second

Time until first shot is captured.

The Canon Rebel T5 turned in a fast startup time of about half a second, and switching from Play to Record and taking a shot was even faster at only about 0.2 second.


Shutter Response (Lag Time), Optical Viewfinder, 18-55mm IS II

Full Autofocus
Single-point AF

0.308 second

Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture.

Full Autofocus
Auto Selection AF

0.163 second

Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture.

Full Autofocus
Single-point AF
TTL flash enabled

0.274 second

Time to capture while forcing flash to fire. Metering pulses from flash often slow shutter response.

Manual Focus

0.122 second

For most cameras, shutter lag is less in manual focus than autofocus, but usually not as fast as when the camera is "prefocused".

Prefocused

0.113 second

Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button.

Shutter Response (Lag Time), Live View, 18-55mm IS II

Full Autofocus
Live View
"Quick Mode"
(Phase Detect)
Single-point

1.240 seconds

Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture. This is phase-detect autofocus, the camera drops the mirror to focus, then raises it to grab the shot.

Full Autofocus
Live View
FlexiZone AF
Single-point

1.617 seconds

Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture. This is using contrast-detect AF.

Prefocused
Live View

0.093 second

Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button.

The Canon Rebel T5's full autofocus shutter response was a touch slower than average these days when using our standard single-point AF test, at 0.308 second. Interestingly, allowing the camera to choose the focus point reduced AF shutter lag to only 0.163 second, which is very fast for an entry-level DSLR. Enabling the built-in flash resulted in full AF lag of 0.247 second on average, which pretty good. Shutter lag with Manual focus was good, at 0.122 second, but "Prefocusing" the camera by half-pressing and holding down the shutter button before the final exposure resulted in a lag time of 0.113 second, a little slow for a consumer DSLR.

As expected, the Canon Rebel T5's AF lag time in Live View mode was quite a bit longer than using the optical viewfinder, and not as fast as models with Canon's newer hybrid AF systems. We measured about 1.2 seconds using "Quick Mode" (phase-detect AF). The T5's FlexiZone AF mode (contrast-detect) was noticeably slower than "Quick Mode" at about 1.6 second. Prefocused shutter lag in Live View mode was surprisingly quick though, at only 0.093 second, which is faster than with the optical viewfinder.

To minimize the effect of different lens' focusing speed, we test AF-active shutter lag with the lens already set to the correct focal distance.

Cycle Time (shot to shot)

Single Shot mode
Large/Fine JPEG

0.36 second

Time per shot, averaged over 12 shots, 5 seconds to clear.

Single Shot mode
RAW

0.36 second

Time per shot, averaged over 6 shots, 8 seconds to clear.

Single Shot mode
RAW + Large/Fine JPEG

0.48 second

Time per shot, averaged over 4 shots, 9 seconds to clear.

Early shutter
penalty?

No

Some cameras don't snap another shot if you release and press the shutter too quickly in Single Shot mode, making "No" the preferred answer.

Continuous mode
Large/Fine JPEG

0.33 second (3.00 frames per second);
12 frames total;
5 seconds to clear*

Time per shot, averaged over 125 shots, then slowed to an average of 0.67s or 1.5fps when buffer was full.

Continuous mode
RAW

0.33 second (3.01 frames per second);
6 frames total;
8 seconds to clear*

Time per shot, averaged over 6 shots, then slowed to an average of 1.33s or 0.75fps when buffer was full.

Continuous mode
RAW + Large/Fine
JPEG

0.38 second (2.61 frames per second);
4 frames total;
10 seconds to clear*

Time per shot, averaged over 4 shots, then slowed to an average of 2.44s or 0.41fps when buffer was full.

Flash recycling

1.7 seconds

Flash at maximum output.

*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s UHS-I SDHC card. Slower cards will produce correspondingly slower clearing times. Slow cards may also limit length of bursts in continuous mode. ISO sensitivity and noise reduction settings can also affect cycle times and burst mode performance.

Shot-to-shot cycle times in the Canon T5's single-shot mode were quite good for a entry-level DSLR, at 0.36 second for large/fine JPEGs, 0.36 second for RAW mode and 0.48 second for RAW + large/fine JPEGs.

Continuous mode speeds were however quite slow even for an entry-level model these days, at about 3.0 frames-per-second when shooting JPEGs or RAW files, falling to 2.6 frames-per-second when shooting RAW+JPEG files. That's not a lot faster than single-shot mode.

Measured buffer depths in continuous mode were fair for an entry-level model when shooting large/fine JPEG frames at 12 frames, but quite shallow when RAW files were included. We were only able to capture 6 RAW frames or 4 RAW + large/fine JPEGs before the frame rate slowed. (Note that in our cycle time testing we shoot a target consisting of a fine-grained digital noise pattern, designed to be very hard to compress. This gives us worst-case buffer capacity numbers for compressed files: You're likely to see greater buffer capacity when shooting more normal subjects.) Buffer clearing was fairly quick for its class, though.

The Canon T5's flash took an average of 1.7 seconds to recharge after a full-power discharge, which is very good.


Bottom line, the Canon Rebel T5 offers mixed performance. Startup time, mode switching, single shot cycle times and autofocus speeds when using the optical viewfinder were quite good, however autofocusing in Live View mode was sluggish, and burst mode was slow with shallow buffers, especially when shooting RAW.

Battery

Battery Life
Mediocre battery life for a lithium-ion DSLR design.

Operating Mode Number of Shots
Lithium-ion Rechargeable Battery,
(CIPA standard, Optical Viewfinder)
500
Lithium-ion Rechargeable Battery,
(CIPA standard, Live View LCD)
180

The Canon T5 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a charger. Battery life is not too bad for an entry-level model, but still a bit below average when using the optical viewfinder, and of course Live View mode draws more power reducing battery life to less than half. We recommend you pick up a spare battery and keep it freshly charged and on-hand for extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the Canon T5 is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))

 

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