I came to a realization about a month ago. I hated my camera. So I sold off all of my old gear and am in the market for a new system. I am here asking for your aid in my time of need.

• Budget: $4,500 USD

• Country: USA

• Condition: New or barely used.

• Type of Camera: Mirrorless

• Intended use: Photography only.

• If photography; what style: Landscape, Travel, Portraits, low-stakes wildlife, and low-stakes sports.

• If video what style: No video.

• What features do you need: Viewfinder, dual card slots, articulating screen, full-frame sensor

• What features would be nice to have: Weather sealing, many customizable buttons.

• Portability: I am unconcerned with size.

• Cameras you're considering: Canon R5 Mk II or the Sony a7R V.

• Cameras you already have: I am coming from a Pentax K1 Mk II. The autofocus was atrocious and seemed determined to sabotage me. Additionally it was an incredibly slow camera. Turning on, waking up, writing to the card, switching to live view, viewing the photo gallery. Everything was at a snail's pace.

• Notes: I am confident I will be happy with either lens ecosystem. Both of them have lenses I am drawn to so there will be compromises either way.

Now, on to some specific concerns:

• Canon concerns: I hear rumors that the dynamic range is lower than other equivalent cameras which would be a bummer. I do not like baked-in noise reduction as it ruined a lot of images on my Pentax system, but maybe Canon's is less obtrusive. And finally I am concerned about buying lenses for a manufacturer that is leaning-in to AI imaging. The replacement of pixel shift with AI upscaling makes me worry about Canon's future for landscape shooters.

• Sony concerns: Ergonomics. I grew up with LEGO and Sony's bodies seem to adopt that style. My hands aren't exceptionally large but I just see a lot of people complain about this. The other concern is Sony customer service. I hear it is both unfriendly and expensive should something go wrong.

Some questions you might have:

• Why not the original Canon R5? My friend has it and the highlight roll-off seems bad. He blows highlights like mad with fairly careful shooting.

• Why not the a7R IV? I want the better autofocus of the newer systems.

• Why not a Nikon? Honestly no good answer for this. They always seem to be a step behind or good at most things and great at nothing.

Overall I want a camera that just works and lets me put my vision into action without getting in my way.

Thank you for reading and for your help!

Right now I’m leaning towards R5ii over a7rv. I want a camera for extreme macro (insects) as well as wildphotography including birds and birds in flight.

Canon r5 excells in both burst speed (30 vs 10fps), pre shooting buffer and stacked sensor.

• It got also hugher native iso (ir will perform better at lower lights = less noise?)

• Has eye tracking AF (not sure if overal AF is better or not?)

Wheres a7rv supposed to have insect tracking in its AF as well as higher MP (61 vs 45, although 45 is good even after croping)

Overall ai get the idea that a5ii is a much bwtter camera that also cost less. Am I thinking wrong here? Also I read everywhere that canon have less lens alternative due to no 3rd party support. I’m not very good in the field of lenses but shouldnt canons own lenses be enough? are they worse in a way or whats the problem?

If I was you, what would you do? which camera would you go with and why? Thanks in advance 🙏🏼

Hello everyone!

I’m contemplating upgrading to an R5 but was asked to consider an A7R5 as an alternative.

What does the latter have that the former doesn’t?

What would I miss out on if I pick the Canon?

A comprehensive list would be appreciated. Thank you!

Hi All,

I’m new here and currently shoot with Olympus OMD EM1 mark ii and couple of their pro glasses for the past 7 years. I really enjoyed the MFT system especially, the form factor and the computational photography aspects of it. When I started bird photography recently the low light performance of MFT has bothered me enough to think about switching to FF.

I have used canon T1i & 6D mark ii before Olympus. But most of the instagram accounts I follow seem to be using Sony and I love the Sony design. It just looks glamorous. Doing more research on AF & other aspects I have settled on Sony A7R V or Canon R5 mark II. I know mark ii isn’t announced yet but there are enough rumors that it will launch this year and I’m in no hurry.

My use case is 50-50 on wildlife and landscape. 80-20 on photo and video.

Pros for canon:

1. 100-500 lens is compact and light weight compared to Sonys 200-600

2. Mark ii being slightly newer model

3. 20 FPS compared to Sonys 10 FPS

Pros for Sony:

1. Likely cheaper compared to canon. Both the body and lens together is 5400$ compared to 6400$ canon.

2. Personally like Sony design

3. Pixel shift hires images

Given this, what would you guys recommend based on your personal experience.

Thanks for all the replies and helpful feedback.

Hello! I'm torn between these two cameras and not sure which way to go. They are similarly priced though the R5 is 200 less currently because of deals as well as some of the lenses. My full budget is about 5500 though I'd prefer to stay under but if anyone has any suggestions or recommendations I'd love to hear it. I'll mostly be doing pet photography and video.

Hi guys next year I’m working on a few photo
book projects. One is gonna be shot entirely in night clubs so I can’t use flash heavy . I’ve narrowed down my choices to these two cameras. I shot with the a7r3 for years but It got stolen so I’m back with a fresh slate . Anybody with experience with both bodies ?

Hi, I’m a professional photographer who’s going into professional videography and I’m in the market for a high spec hybrid camera. After 2 months of looking at cameras I’ve narrowed it down to between the R5C and the A7RV but I just can’t decide which one to go for! My use case is for primarily short to medium length film based cinematography aswell a wide variety of photography types including nature, portrait, art, etc. The main differences for me are:

R5C has - 120fps shooting at 4k. Higher second native duel IOS. False color and cine settings. Netflix approved (Ooo jk). Top lcd display. Rf and ef-rf adapted mount with rf ring. More focal points. Higher continuous drive.

A7RV has - Gyro info for post stabilisation (these first 4 are big for me). Higher resolution + BSI-CMOS. Full HDMI. Tilt + flip screen. Greater lens selection. Couple $ cheaper. Timelapse recording. Sensor shift stabilisation.

I’m aware of the r5c battery issue and weight but a7rv seems to have a bad rep for video, the r5c might go down in price cause of the r5 mark ii potentially coming out later this year but a7rv is here and newer too. As you can see I’m going in circles, it’s too close. Which would be your choice for hybrid photography + videography and why?

Note: I don’t mind getting a v-lock.

I’m debating between these 2 please, I need help!!!

Which would you choose for wildlife and fast moving subjects?

I went into B&H yesterday fairly set on buying a canon R5 and the sales associate convinced me I need to do a little more research. I’d really appreciate some advice and will try to break this down as clearly as possible:

•Use: I am trying to film videos of skiers, about 70% on a gimbal (or maybe hand held while skiing) and 30% on a tripod. Tripod shots are basically just a target moving at the camera at high speed.

Because I film in very cold environments, overheating is not an issue, and open fan vents will likely need to be taped up, so I’m not looking at an fx3 or r5c. The camera tends to get sprayed with snow as in certain conditions it can be hard to avoid.

•Current camera and issues: I have a Fuji film XH2. On gimbal shots the footage is soft and often out of focus. For shots from a tripod the AF is completely unusable when the target is moving toward the camera.

•priorities: My first priority is autofocus, I really need a camera that can keep up with a single skier headed directly at a camera

Second would be image stabilization. I would love to ditch the gimbal and shoot hand held more often. Ideally just holding a top handle while I ski with someone following me. Right now my XH2 has a hard time with the vibration of skiing on firmer snow, while on the gimbal. I’ve tried with IBIS on and off.

Third is sharpness, the XH2 video is noticeably soft, making it hard to match to footage from other cameras I might need to use (stock footage, GoPro, and occasional iPhone shots are all much sharper). Having 8k added so much flexibility to reframe, but its definitely not a necessity. Slow-mo isn’t tremendously useful for my end goal, so 120fps isn’t a huge deal either but it would be nice to have.

Planning to buy a 24-70 f2.8 and a 70-200 f4 with either camera.

I’d appreciate everyone’s input, because both of these are photo centered cameras I’ve had a hard time finding reviews relevant to my concerns.

Hi All,

I’m new here and currently shoot with Olympus OMD EM1 mark ii and couple of their pro glasses for the past 7 years. I really enjoyed the MFT system especially, the form factor and the computational photography aspects of it. When I started bird photography recently the low light performance of MFT has bothered me enough to think about switching to FF.

I have used canon T1i & 6D mark ii before Olympus. But most of the instagram accounts I follow seem to be using Sony and I love the Sony design. It just looks glamorous. Doing more research on AF & other aspects I have settled on Sony A7R V or Canon R5 mark II. I know mark ii isn’t announced yet but there are enough rumors that it will launch this year and I’m in no hurry.

My use case is 50-50 on wildlife and landscape. 80-20 on photo and video.

Pros for canon:

1. 100-500 lens is compact and light weight compared to Sonys 200-600

2. Mark ii being slightly newer model

3. 20 FPS compared to Sonys 10 FPS

Pros for Sony:

1. Likely cheaper compared to canon. Both the body and lens together is 5400$ compared to 6400$ canon.

2. Personally like Sony design

3. Pixel shift hires images

Given this, what would you guys recommend based on your personal experience.

Thanks for all the replies and helpful feedback.

I've been juggling through whether i should get the a7iv by sony or canon r5. My questions are affordability, lens availability, and overall comparison quality. My priority is casual photography with occasional videos. Which one is the better choice?

Like a lot of people it seems lately, I'm moving up to full frame from my Fuji beginnings. I've narrowed down the choices to the Canon R5 Mark ii and the Sony A7RV. The Z8 would be in there but it is just too big for me. There are a lot of differences between those models spec wise but I was curious to hear from more experienced photographers about the overall design and business philosophy differences. The big ones I have seen are build size and Canon's lack of third party lenses. But what does the future look like for the two? How is the customer experience when interacting with them? I'm sure there are a lot of other questions I haven't thought of but as I plan on getting some expensive glass right out of the gate I have some anxiety over making the right/better choice.

Hi, starting over having sold my Nikon set. Torn between the R5 (original) and the Sony A7RV.

Would buy the following lenses with each:

Sony: 24 GM, 35 GM, 50 GM 1.2, 70-200 2.8

Canon: EF 35 1.4, RF 50 1.2, RF 70-200 2.8

Any thoughts? I can get the cameras for within $200 of each other so camera price itself isn’t a factor.