Canon EOS R5 Mark II Review: A 45MP Stacked Sensor Makes It Canon's Do-Everything Flagship
The Canon EOS R5 Mark II is the camera you buy when you don’t want to choose. Landscapes, weddings, birds, sports, 8K video. It handles all of it, at a level that only stacked-sensor flagships could reach a few years ago.
The original R5 from 2020 was already a big hit. It also had a reputation problem: 8K video that overheated. The Mark II, released in mid-2024, fixes that and changes the sensor underneath. It’s a 45MP back-side illuminated stacked CMOS chip, so the camera reads out much faster. That one change ripples through everything else the camera does.
The price is the catch. At launch the body cost about $4,300. This is a serious tool for paid work or a serious hobby budget.
Video review: Gerald Undone
Resolution with speed
Forty-five megapixels at 30 frames per second, with the electronic shutter and full autofocus. Rolling shutter is low enough that the electronic shutter is usable for most action, which was not true on the first R5. There’s also a pre-continuous shooting mode that saves frames from before you fully press the button. Bird photographers will use it constantly.
Mechanical shutter tops out at 12 fps if you shoot under flickering lights or need flash.
Autofocus you can look at
Canon brought back Eye Control AF from the R3. The viewfinder watches your eye and puts the AF point where you’re looking. It doesn’t work for everyone, especially with some glasses. When it works, moving focus between two people becomes a glance.
Subject detection covers people, animals and vehicles, and there’s a sports-specific “Action Priority” mode that recognizes shooting, kicking and dribbling in basketball, soccer and volleyball and jumps focus to the player with the ball. It’s surprisingly good at it.
Stabilization is rated up to 8.5 stops with compatible lenses.
Video for paid productions
The R5 II records 8K at up to 60p in raw, 4K at up to 120p, and oversampled 4K from the 8K readout. Canon Log 2 and Canon Log 3 are both on board. Overheating is now much better controlled, and Canon sells an optional cooling-fan battery grip for very long 8K sessions. For most hybrid shooters it never becomes an issue.
Card slots are one CFexpress Type B and one SD UHS-II. The body takes a new LP-E6P battery, needed for the higher power draw. Older LP-E6 batteries work with some limits on performance.
The viewfinder is a 5.76-million-dot panel that refreshes fast, and the 3.2-inch screen flips out fully.
What gives you pause
Price, again. And the files. 45MP raws fill cards and drives fast. Shooting 30 fps bursts all day means a lot of culling and a lot of storage.
Battery life is shorter than on some rivals when you lean on the electronic shutter, Eye Control and the bright viewfinder together. Carry spares.
The RF mount’s third-party lens choices are still more limited than Sony’s or Nikon’s, although Sigma and Tamron have started making RF lenses since 2024.
Who should buy it
Pros and dedicated enthusiasts who shoot a bit of everything. Wedding photographers who also film. Wildlife shooters who want resolution and speed in one body. Anyone moving up from an R6 Mark II or the first R5.
Its natural rivals are the Nikon Z8 and Sony’s A1 II. The Z8 has internal raw video and no mechanical shutter at a lower price. The Sony has more resolution and a deeper lens system at a much higher price. The Canon sits in the middle with the best handling of the three.
If one camera has to do every job, this is about as good as it gets.