ARTICLE

"The Canon EOS R5 redefined the way I shoot": outdoor adventures reimagined

Kalliokiipeilijä roikkuu käsiensä varassa Saksan Alpeilla, kuva on otettu alkuillasta.

Luonto- ja seikkailukuvaajat Ulla Lohmann ja Robert Marc Lehmann testasivat Canon EOS R5 -kameraa haastavissa kuvausolosuhteissa. Kuva otettu Canon EOS R5 -kameralla ja Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM -objektiivilla (124 mm:n polttovälillä, 1/500 s, f/7.1 ja ISO1600)

© Ulla Lohmann / Canon-lähettiläs

For most photographers who shoot in the great outdoors, their dream camera would be light and portable, but robust and weather-sealed to cope with rain and dust. It would ideally incorporate all the latest technical developments in key areas such as resolution, autofocus, low-light performance and Image Stabilization.

So when German nature, conservation and adventure photographers Ulla Lohmann and Robert Marc Lehmann became the first to shoot with Canon's new flagship full-frame mirrorless camera, the Canon EOS R5, both seized the opportunity to test its headline features against this wish-list. What did they think of its 45-megapixel resolution, shooting speed of up to 20fps, 8 stops of Image Stabilization and 8K video, plus advanced animal subject tracking AF?

Mies meloo punaista kanoottia.

Ulla matkusti 150 kilometriä maalla, vedessä ja jopa ilmassa – ja käytti Canon EOS R5 -kameraa eri tyyppisten kuvien ottamiseen. Kuva otettu Canon EOS R5 -kameralla ja Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8L IS USM -objektiivilla (15 mm:n polttovälillä, 1/13, f/22 ja ISO100).

© Ulla Lohmann / Canon-lähettiläs

Varjoliitäjä korkealla Saksan Alppien yläpuolella.

Varjoliito ei ole vain uhkarohkea urheilulaji, vaan myös loistava keino ottaa upeita ilmakuvia. Ulla otti mukaansa Canon EOS R5 -kameran korkealle Alppien yläpuolelle. Kuva otettu Canon EOS R5 -kameralla ja Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8L IS USM -objektiivilla (15 mm:n polttovälillä, 1/200, f/9 ja ISO640).

© Ulla Lohmann / Canon-lähettiläs

Canon Ambassador and adventure photographer Ulla's journey took her on a 150km circular trip around the Benediktenwand in the German Alps, accompanied by her husband and their young son. She travelled on various modes of transport: on a bicycle, in a canoe, on foot and by paraglider. Along the journey, she used the Canon EOS R5 to photograph landscapes, rock climbers abseiling into a waterfall, aerial views from the paraglider, and more.

Meanwhile, nature photographer Robert travelled to Feldberger Seenlandschaft near Neubrandenburg in north-east Germany, a region celebrated for its lakes and forests. There he photographed a range of wild birds in flight, such as the sea eagle, heron and kite, plus smaller birds such as the kingfisher.

Ilmakuvassa näkyy kaupunki ja sitä ympäröivä maaseutu.

"Kamera tarjoaa uskomattoman määrän yksityiskohtia", kertoo Ulla. Kuva otettu Canon EOS R5 -kameralla ja Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8L IS USM -objektiivilla (35 mm:n polttoväli, 1/640, f/9 ja ISO250).

© Ulla Lohmann / Canon-lähettiläs

Higher resolution for greater detail

The Canon EOS R5 builds on Canon's respected EOS heritage and the innovations of the EOS R System, and both photographers got to grips with the camera very quickly. "For me the Canon EOS R5 is the perfect size," Robert says. "It's well-built, and everything is where you want it."

Ulla agrees. "It felt very robust and well-made, and I felt at home with it straight away. I was able to customise it for myself, to configure it for my own needs, and once I'd done that I was able to be very fast in using it."

Ulla was delighted with the Canon EOS R5's 45-megapixel resolution. "The detail you get on this camera is just incredible," she says. "For me, it showed in one particular aerial landscape shot which I took from a paraglider. When I zoomed in on this image afterwards I could clearly see very small details, even the writing on a house thousands of metres below.

"I was shooting JPEGs as well as RAW images and the JPEGs are really good straight out of the camera. Another great advantage is the high dynamic range of the files. They're so good, I don't need to shoot HDR images."

With increased resolution comes greater file sizes, but Robert found that the camera handled them easily. "I shot about 7,000 images, which adds up to a lot of data, but the CFexpress cards make it super quick – you can transfer 100GB within a minute, or 1TB in under 10 minutes.

"The ISO capabilities of the new sensor are also amazing," Robert adds. "I used the camera up to around ISO24,000 and the images are great."

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Haikara kala nokassaan, lähdössä lentoon, näyttää aivan kuin juoksevan vedenpinnalla.

Edistyksellisen eläinten tarkennuksen seurannan ansiosta Canon EOS R5 -kamera tunnistaa koirat, kissat ja linnut niiden kehon, kasvojen tai silmien perusteella. Kuva otettu Canon EOS R5 -kameralla ja Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM -objektiivilla (400 mm:n polttovälillä, 1/3200 s, f/6.3 ja ISO12800).

© Robert Marc Lehmann

Haikara laskeutuu veteen siivet kaarella ja jalat levällään.

Robert pystyi pysäyttämään haikaran liikkeen Canon EOS R5 -kameralla ja uudella Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM -telezoom-objektiivilla – vaikka lintu näyttääkin leijuvan, se on laskeutumassa veteen. Kuva otettu Canon EOS R5 -kameralla ja Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM -objektiivilla (324 mm:n polttovälillä, 1/2000 s, f/6.3 ja ISO12800).

© Robert Marc Lehmann

Amazing autofocus

The main thing Robert tested on his shoot was the Canon EOS R5's ability to shoot fast-moving birds in flight. He found that the camera's capability to shoot at up to 20fps with electronic shutter, combined with the new animal tracking AF and eye-tracking AF feature, was an extremely effective combination.

Maastopyöräilijä tekee ilmahypyn, taustalla näkyy aurinko. Kuva on otettu alhaaltapäin, ja sitä kehystävät rinteessä kasvavat punaiset unikot ja heinäkasvit.

Filming 8K and oversampled 4K on the Canon EOS R5

In the first Canon EOS R5 video shoots, Martin Bissig and Ivan D'Antonio explored how its 8K capabilities reduce shooting time and expand creative options.

"I was in a boat on a lake, shooting subjects such as a heron going in to catch a fish, or the sea eagle or kite in the air, and there was no room for error at all," he says. "We had heavy rain, and visibility was poor – I had situations where you'd say it was almost impossible to track a bird. It's easy enough for a camera to do that in a bright sky, but if you have a dark bird against a background of trees, it's hard for the autofocus to track. But not with this camera – it stays on the animal all the time. For example, from a sequence of 50 images in a row of a sea eagle in flight, I was thrilled to see that every single image I shot was in focus."

Ulla also turned to the animal-tracking AF when photographing swans. "The camera didn't lose focus if there was something in the foreground, even shooting through dense reeds," she says. "It just kept on tracking the focus, which I thought was amazing. You can really rely on it."

Merikotka lentää matalalla veden pinnan yli ja kantaa kalaa kynsissään.

Robert sanoo, että hän oli "suorastaan innoissaan" automaattitarkennuksen suorituskyvystä jopa huonolla säällä ja heikoissa kuvausolosuhteissa. Kuva otettu Canon EOS R5 -kameralla ja Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM -objektiivilla (176 mm:n polttovälillä, 1/4000 s, f/5 ja ISO2500).

© Robert Marc Lehmann

Robert Marc Lehmann kuvaa veneessä Canon EOS R5 -kameralla.

Robert kuvasi nopeasti liikkuvia lintuja epävakaassa veneessä, mutta sai silti otettua kauniita ja teräviä kuvia Canon EOS R5 -kameran sisäisen kuvanvakaimen sekä edistyksellisen kuvauskohteen seurannan ja automaattitarkennuksen ansiosta.

© Robert Marc Lehmann

Ground-breaking Image Stabilization

Also helping to ensure Ulla’s shots were sharp, even when shooting handheld and in low light, was the Image Stabilization. The Canon EOS R5 is the first Canon camera to offer 5-axis In-body Image Stabilization and deliver up to 8-stops of IS when used with compatible lenses.

Pushing her kit in order to get the image she dreamed of, Ulla even used the Canon EOS R5 to shoot long exposures handheld – a technical feat born of necessity. "At one point I was canyoning – abseiling down narrow gorges and jumping down waterfalls. It's very adventurous terrain, and you can't take a tripod with you. You also cannot put the camera on the rocks because they are wet," she says.

Kiipeilijä laskeutumassa alas kalliojyrkännettä Saksan Alpeilla, kuvattu sinistä taivasta vasten.

Ulla otti tämän kuvan käsivaralla – samalla kun hän itsekin laskeutui köyden varassa alas vuorenrinnettä. Kuva otettu Canon EOS R5 -kameralla ja Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8L IS USM -objektiivilla (15 mm:n polttovälillä, 1/1250, f/9 ja ISO500).

© Ulla Lohmann / Canon-lähettiläs

Ulla found herself in the water, in a wetsuit, putting the weather-sealing of the Canon EOS R5 to a serious test as she photographed people abseiling into a waterfall.

"I wanted to use a longer exposure to take images with a blurry waterfall behind while the people in the foreground were still in focus. It worked really well and I was able to shoot exposures of one second or more handheld and still get sharp images.

"The camera redefined the way I shoot, because before I was shooting several images when I wanted to make sure one of them was sharp, but now I can shoot only one and know it will be sharp."

Vesiputous osuu kiviin, kuva otettu pitkällä valotusajalla putoavan veden sumentamiseksi.

Ulla käytti pitkää valotusaikaa, jotta vesiputous näkyisi sumeana, mutta etualan yksityiskohdat kirkkaina ja selkeinä. Kuva otettu Canon EOS R5 -kameralla ja Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8L IS USM -objektiivilla (46 mm:n polttovälillä, 0.3 s, f/18 ja ISO100).

© Ulla Lohmann / Canon-lähettiläs

Ulla Lohmann kuvaa Canon EOS R5 -kameralla yllään sininen märkäpuku ja punainen kypärä.

Ullan seikkailu oli haaste sekä hänelle että Canon EOS R5 -kameralle.

© Ulla Lohmann / Canon-lähettiläs

Using RF and EF lenses

To shoot his wildlife images, Robert paired the Canon EOS R5 mainly with the new Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM lens. "Previously I used the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens, and I was always craving that extra 100mm of focal length," he says. "I know people will say that f/7.1 is too slow, but if you need to you can shoot with high ISO and the images are perfectly fine.

"The Canon Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM lens is the perfect wildlife tool, and I think it's going to change everything."

Robert also used a range of other lenses, including his Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III USM and his Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Extender 1.4x, both attached to the Canon EOS R5 with an EF-EOS R Mount Adapter. "I wanted to see whether the autofocus worked as well with these lenses and found they worked perfectly, without any loss of quality," he says.

For her shoot, Ulla used zooms including the Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8L IS USM and Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8L IS USM, but also used primes such as the Canon RF 85mm F1.2L USM for portraits. "I found all these RF lenses to be incredibly sharp and fast," she says, "and they work really well with the Canon EOS R5."

Kuningaskalastaja oksalla, taustalla sumennettu vihreä metsä.

"Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM on täydellinen objektiivi luontokuvaukseen, ja se on muuttanut tapani valokuvata", kertoo Robert. Kuva on otettu Canon EOS R5 -kameralla ja Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM -objektiivilla (500 mm:n polttovälillä, 1/500 s, f/7 ja ISO4000).

© Robert Marc Lehmann

Uivan joutsenen kuva heijastuu tyynestä vedenpinnasta.

Ullan kuva joutsenesta antaa hyvän käsityksen Canon EOS R5 -kameran laajasta dynaamisesta alueesta ja tehokkaasta automaattitarkennuksen seurannasta. Kuva otettu Canon EOS R5 -kameralla ja Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8L IS USM -objektiivilla (15 mm:n polttovälillä, 1/200, f/9 ja ISO640).

© Ulla Lohmann / Canon-lähettiläs

Video capabilities

As both Ulla and Robert are filmmakers as well as stills photographers, they both used the Canon EOS R5 to shoot some video of their travels.

"For me the video feature is very important," says Ulla, "because it means I can deliver high resolution footage in 8K to production companies with small kit. I don't need a big camera and crew, and I can go to areas where not many people can go and bring back high-resolution footage. This is definitely a game-changer."

When filming the wild birds in action, Robert extensively used the camera's 4K 120fps slow-motion feature. "When I used slow motion before, on a Full HD camera, it wasn't really pin-sharp," he says. "But on the Canon EOS R5 the 4K slow-motion looks incredible. It's also great to be able to shoot video while looking through the electronic viewfinder and see how it's going to look. It's like a real video camera, and the in-body Image Stabilization makes shooting really steady."

Kirkas ja selkeä ilmakuva, tyyni vedenpinta ja saaria puiden peittämien rinteiden ympäröimänä.

EOS R5 on ensimmäinen Canon-kamera, joka tarjoaa 5 askeleen sisäisen kuvanvakaimen. Yhteensopivien objektiivien kanssa saadaan aikaan jopa 8 askeleen kuvanvakautus. Näin kuvista tulee aina teräviä ja selkeitä – myös varjoliitimen kyydissä kuvattaessa. Kuva otettu Canon EOS R5 -kameralla ja Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8L IS USM -objektiivilla (15 mm:n polttovälillä, 1/320, f/9 ja ISO400).

© Ulla Lohmann / Canon-lähettiläs

Game-changing kit

Despite working in sometimes challenging conditions, both Robert and Ulla were very impressed with the Canon EOS R5's performance. "I was often shooting in really heavy rain with some big storms, but it was good because then you can really test a camera," Robert says. "Yes, I could have shot similar pictures with my Canon EOS-1D X Mark III, but the essence of the Canon EOS R5 is that you can shoot the same kind of images but it's way easier, the resolution is much higher and the camera is a third of the weight. So it's definitely a camera I will use."

Looking back on her trip, Ulla says the Canon EOS R5 enabled her to shoot images she couldn't have dreamed of capturing before. "The camera really re-imagines the way I shoot and pushes my own creativity because it can do so many things," she says.

"The Canon EOS R5 puts a smile on my face when I'm working with it, because it performs so well and is so much fun to use. Images I thought were not possible to take before are now possible."

David Clark

Ulla Lohmann’s kitbag

The key kit pros use to take their photographs

Canon EOS R5 -kamera ja Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8L IS USM -objektiivi, taustalla vesiputous.

Camera

Canon EOS R5

A professional full-frame mirrorless flagship camera offering photographers and filmmakers high-resolution stills and 8K video. "It puts a smile on my face because it performs so well and is so much fun to use," Ulla says. "It redefines the way I shoot."

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