Thomas Heaton Trades a 5D Mark IV DSLR for a Canon M5 Mirrorless Camera

Thomas Heaton put out a new YouTube video a few days ago that many photographers, especially those who hike out to destinations, will have a lot of interest in. Heaton is downsizing not only the amount of equipment for his next landscape photography adventure, but he’s also trying out Canon’s APS-C mirrorless system that’s on loan from Canon. As we see in the video, he does have some reservations about using the M5 system over the 5D Mark IV and specifically going from the L-series glass to the less robust lenses with the Canon M5

Heaton goes through the rest of his photography kit attempting to shave off weight by changing up or replacing nearly every piece that he uses to capture his images. By downsizing his camera bag, Heaton says he should be down a couple kilos worth of weight which adds up for every step out on the trail. By the end of the video we see Heaton explain how he puts together the rest of his hiking bag and the systems he uses to know where everything is when seconds count or when just keeping his camera safe when hiking.

I hope when we see the images that Heaton captures out on his trip that it shows just how great a “lower end” camera can be. Many times we rely on a more expensive kit to enable us to produce images when a bit more technique could do the same, save weight, and keep a bit more money in our pockets. Especially when we can use that cash to take the trip we’ve been wanting to but couldn't afford with the money we spent on the tools in the first place.

JT Blenker's picture

JT Blenker, Cr. Photog., CPP is a Photographic Craftsman and Certified Professional Photographer who also teaches workshops throughout the USA focusing on landscape, nightscape, and portraiture. He is the Director of Communications at the Dallas PPA and is continuing his education currently in the pursuit of a Master Photographer degree.

Log in or register to post comments
17 Comments

I like Thomas Heaton's videos, probably mostly because of his accent :-) but I've never learned anything from him and don't really care what he shoots with. If you're reading, Thomas, by watching the plethora of articles on Fstoppers, regarding the subject, you could save even more weight by switching to a phone camera which, as everyone knows, is better than every other camera put together! ;-)

Nice click bait bullshit as usual. You either didn't watch the video or you left out the fact that this system was loaned to him by Canon for him to try out. TRY and TRADE do share 2 letters but aren't the same.

+1 c'mon guys...sheesh. You don't need to do this kind of thing for views. There are plenty of photo/cinema news stories out there without resorting to that. Get new writers maybe...if this was a major news org, the writer would have been turfed.

I don't think writers are solely the cause of the problem, most likely it is something imposed or suggested by the editors/owners themselves.

Thomas seem to need a well established strategy to keep all his pet packing habits in check and under control.....including a tick list assistant whose job includes running down the local Canon superstore to secure additional batteries for his mirrorless camera. Obviously no assistant, no additional batteries.

Not sure what age has to do with wanting to travel lighter and wanting to tax your body less. Seems to me that if you're about to go hiking in the Alps for days, you'd want to be smart with how much weight you take no matter your age.

shut up grand-dad... Walking pole are useful when coming down and easier on the knees.

Yeah. He should leave you alone. If you give me your address, I'll mail you a trophy and a cookie. ;-)

Haha. Okay. I think we'll just agree to disagree. To imply that "younger people today are rather soft" because of the fact that someone in pretty decent physical shape wants to make a hike through the Alps more enjoyable for himself is quite a stretch. I've known many people in their 20's that are "tougher" than people a generation or 2 older ever were, yet I don't make generalizations based on that.

Maybe he even has knee or back pain (it can happen at any age for a myriad of reasons) and is just being smart about how he handles it because he would like to continue to be active into old age. The point is, what works for you doesn't work for everyone.

I like Fstoppers but they REALLY need to stop doing clickbait/buzzfeed like titles for their articles, which happen too often in this website it is really annoying.

I’ve done the hikes, the backpacking trips, the adventures across the country, the weeks of planning, the early mornings and the late nights. I’ve been there and done that and given everything that doing a trip like this entails...

Why would you sacrifice image quality for a small reduction in weight or for that matter a large reduction in weight?

It just strikes me as going to Africa for the sole purpose of seeing the animals then just visiting the zoo because a safari would be too much effort.

Because quality is subjective, and these are tours he takes people on and not paid assignment. It's just like taking a smaller size camera on vacations and leaving the MF one uses for work at home...

Quality is subjective? Really? It's importance to a photo is subjective. Quality is not.

IQ should always be the priority. It could be the once in a life time opportunity! The light! The light! :P

I looked at these last two videos or it uses the Canon M5 and I really think that the quality of the photos that it shows us is clearly below that it gets with the 5D MKIV.
I prefer to suffer a little more in hiking by transporting my 5D MKIV and to get good images once returned

Gear Gear Gear
That’s all I ever hear
From far to near
You’re pumping it
In every ear

Oh Fstoppers Oh Fstoppers
Won’t you stop’er for one moment
And return to write ups
That helped us startups??

He isnt switching or trading his gear, he got a loaner from Canon to test the M line, which is different.