Cameras


Canon Australia Confirms EOS R5 Specs

March 13, 2020

By Jacqueline Tobin

Though made public via development announcement earlier this year, the Canon EOS R5, which made its debut at WPPI 2020, has come under criticism from some in the photo space despite the camera’s specifications not being fully available yet. Most of those criticisms are based on the idea that Canon will somehow cripple major features, like the R5’s ability to shoot 8K.

Today, Canon Australia clapped back at the naysayers by releasing a press release that confirms that the R5 will indeed live up to expectations.

“These additional details come exactly one month since Canon released the development announcement of the EOS R5 and shut down speculation that some of its revolutionary specifications are ‘a fantasy’.”

Canon Australia

Canon’s initial development announcement stated that the new R5 would feature in-body image stabilization, up to 8K video, two card slots, and up to 20 frames-per-second continuous shooting with an electronic shutter.

According to the company’s latest statement, the Canon R5 will not only be able to shoot 8K, but will do so both internally and also using the full width of the sensor up to 30p. This confirmation now puts the R5 capabilities above the popular Panasonic S1H as the hybrid camera that will have the most video capture resolution available. Additionally, Canon stated that their Dual Pixel CMOS Autofocus will be usable while shooting in 8K, another unexpected boon.

Canon Australia also confirmed that the R5 will be able to subject track both animals and people, using “advanced animal AF” to recognize dogs, cats, and birds, relying not only on the eyes of the animal but also the face and body of when the eyes are not visible.

Being skeptical of major advancements in technology is not unusual, but apparently Canon Australia was tired of seeing rumors fly and grow without all the facts. There are still a lot of important things we don’t know about the R5, like the quality of the new sensor, the reliability of the autofocus (even with the new claims), or the megabit/bit depth of the high-resolution video.

Additionally, we still have not been given a date of availability for the new system. Those caveats aside, given how confident Canon Australia’s press release reads, it’s likely that we will continue to be impressed.