Canon EOS R5 and Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1: First Impressions With Bird Wildlife Photography

I've had the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens for a couple of years now, and it's my favorite lens. Canon has recently introduced an RF version improvement of this lens in the form of a 100-500mm f/f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM lens.

In this video from Mark Smith, he gives his first impressions of both the Canon R5 and the new 100-500mm lens. The R5 is an excellent camera featuring a 45-megapixel sensor, and when paired with the RF 100-500mm lens, I'm sure it will be incredible.

Bird photography can be challenging, presenting many situations that make accurate focus difficult. Mark points out a few of these situations in this video. Mark's extraordinary storytelling abilities make this first impression video not only informative but also entertaining.

A close friend of mine recently picked up the Canon R5, and the images he has captured look fantastic. I really do believe that the Canon R5 is one of the biggest leaps in technology that Canon has produced in quite a few years.

I'm hoping to purchase the Canon R5 soon, and I really do think it's going to be my workhorse for years to come. As for the lens, I'm probably going to shoot my 100-400mm lens for a while, as the 100-500mm is a bit on the expensive side.

Mike Dixon's picture

Mike Dixon is a Muskegon Michigan based landscape and nature photographer who's passionate about anything photography or tech related.

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4 Comments

lol... very first still shot he blew out the whites on the great Egret. Gotta be careful with Canons when dealing with whites. Nailed the Osprey tho. I've got the R6 and ring adapter in hand but like everyone else I'm waiting on my 100-500 with a Wednesday week deadline. If it doesn't arrive I'll just keep using the EF 300 L with 1.4X. Not Ideal but it works OK. Here's a pic cropped down from that combo...

Cracking shots! Amazing location and photography.

I’ve been shooting the R5 for about three weeks now and it’s impressive. When the autofocus locks on it tracks great, but on several occasions trying to focus on a bird in clear blue sky it never could achieve focus and I never got a shot. I even tried on a pair of F-16’s coming in on final nice and slow and I couldn’t get it to focus. I was thinking of selling my 1DX2 but will be holding on to it a little longer.

Great video mate! When you say the 100-500m lens is a little soft, what are you comparing it to? Is that a Sony or Canon f/4 or f/2.8 you refer to? I have a Canon R5 which I currently team up with the Canon EF 200-400 f/4 lens and I am trying to figure out if the RF 100-500mm will be a step down or somewhere close to matching it with the added stabilisation? For sure a big prime would be best but they are so hard to travel with these days.