Canon EOS R5 First Shots: Lab sample images from Canon’s new high-end full-frame mirrorless camera

posted Thursday, July 23, 2020 at 2:28 PM EDT

Click here to browse our Canon R5 First Shots

Canon's souped-up, IBIS-sporting, 8K-shooting EOS R5 camera has arrived at IR Galactic HQ, and as always, its first stop was down into the test lab for First Shots. Featuring an all-new Canon-designed 45-megapixel CMOS sensor with a fixed optical low-pass filter and on-chip phase-detect, the new Canon R5 is the highest-resolution EOS R-series model to date. In fact, it's one of Canon's highest-resolution models ever after the 5DS/R DSLRs. Paired with that new sensor is Canon's latest-generation DIGIC X image processor, which in addition to providing the computing needed for high-res video recording, sophisticated AF features and the in-body image stabilization, it also gives the R5 a rather wide ISO range. The camera features a native ISO range of 100 to 51,200, but it can be expanded in both directions, down to ISO 50 and up to ISO 102,400.

As always with our First Shots series of lab sample images, we use our standardized Still Life target to provide a visual way to assess a camera's image quality performance across its full ISO range. We have both straight-out-of-camera JPEGs to view as well as the corresponding RAW files (though please note that given the just-released nature of the R5, many if not all RAW file converters are unlikely to open them at this time). Further, we have First Shots series with the R5's default level of in-camera noise reduction, as well as with NR processing fully disabled.

Below we have a quick side-by-side comparison of the Canon R5 against one its primary competitors, the Nikon Z7, which features a similar image resolution at 45.7MP. To see how the EOS R5 stacks up against pretty much every other camera we've lab-tested, check out our Comparometer.

Canon R5 vs. Nikon Z7