How to Get the Best Colors From the Canon EOS R5

The Canon EOS R5 is a landmark camera from Canon. It's the first full frame mirrorless camera to shoot 8K raw video along with 4K at an impressive 120 frames per second. What we're really impressed with is how well this camera produces color. This is why in our latest video, we show you how to get the best color and image quality out of the Canon EOS R5. 

Canon cameras are well known for producing some of the most loved color. This is why so many photographers and videographers continue to shoot with Canon. Fortunately, it seems Canon has continued to develop its color algorithms, because the Canon EOS R5 produces some of the best-looking color we have seen from a full frame camera. 

The problem is that if you import images from the Canon EOS R5 into Lightroom, the available color profiles in the software will not do the best job. At this stage, there are currently no Canon-specific color profiles available in Lightroom, and the software will default to using its own Adobe profiles. 

These profiles leave images looking strange and somewhat ugly, and although you can use a ColorChecker Passport to create profiles, the results are still not great. A good alternative is to use Capture One due to the fact that it contains Canon-specific color profiles. There is also the opportunity to create custom ICC profiles with the ColorChecker Digital SG, although these do cost money.

The best option when it comes to results is Canons' own proprietary software, Digital Photo Professional 4. This software is available completely free if you own a Canon camera, and with it, you can unlock the full potential of the Canon EOS R5 camera. 

Check out the video linked above to see the difference and also how to use Canon's software to get the best out of the EOS R5. 

If you'd like to learn how to use Adobe Lightroom more efficiently on any device, make sure to check out our Mastering Adobe Lightroom course with Pye Jirsa. The content Pye covers will appeal to every level of photographer and will save you an incredible amount of time on your image editing. Save 15% by using "ARTICLE" at checkout. 

Usman Dawood's picture

Usman Dawood is a professional architectural photographer based in the UK.

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2 Comments

Color profiles are starting points and the basis for post processing rather than being the final product. Creating one’s own profiles is an option, though I’ve found the exercise even with the ccsdg less than productive. There are several other commercial profiles on the market which are reasonably worthwhile. BTW, the producer was obsessed with skin tones and while they are important, his argument would be better served if he looked at a variety of colors and tonality.