Using a Canon EOS R5 for Motorsports Photography
Is the Canon R5 as good as the 5D Mk IV for high-speed sports?? I was not really sure, but I wanted to find out. I have been watching the mirrorless camera markets for a while, as I expect that it will replace the DSLR for sports - someday. Is that day here or is it still a few years away?!? I have been using the Canon M-Series (M, M3, M5, and M6 Mk II) since the original M came out for vacations, but not for motorsports. I have enjoyed its size and it puts out great pictures, but it looks like Canon is going to abandon it in the next year or so. I got to shoot the Canon R at the Indy 500 qualifying weekend in 2019, but I did not really use it to shoot fast moving cars. I took a few shots, but I didn’t really give it a good test. I included one picture from the R.
My concern has always been whether the Electronic Viewfinder (EV) could keep up with a rapid moving object during panning. It is the bread-and-butter shot for motorsports photographers. My fear is that I will end up with all panning shots having the rear of the car, as it is moving out of the frame with a lot of empty track behind it. The Canon R did OK shooting IndyCars at speed, but I could tell that there was some lag in the EV. The lure for most photographers is to update to the latest/newest equipment. Yes, I am comfortable with my 5D Mk IV, but better sensors and new features make my eyes stray when a new camera comes out.
The Canon R5 is Canon’s flagship mirrorless offering, so far. It can put out great pictures and it can be used for video. I am not really a video guy and I seldom dabble in it. Most of my videos are from my GoPro that is mounted on my snow ski or on my dive camera housing. The Canon R5 has a 45-megapixel sensor. I cannot imagine that I want 45-megapixel RAW files being stored on my hard drives!!! I was comfortable with the 20-something megapixels that I have been shooting for the last several years. The high megapixel sensor was to accommodate the 8K video. I am really interested in the speed of focusing and the In-Body Image Stabilizer (IBIS) for photography. Both will come in handy when shooting the action. The EV has a refresh rate of 120 frames per second (fps). I am a little dismayed that it has no built-in GPS. I love it in the 5D Mk IV! It doesn’t drain the camera battery when I turn the camera off, something the 7D Mk II would do. The R5 uses my phone to get GPS coordinates. My experience with the M5 and M6 Mk II is that it drains my phones battery rather quickly, as they also use the phone’s GPS.
A thread on Fred Miranda Forums (https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1658368/0) had the following observations for using the R5 for motorsports:
• The high MP is not good with low shutter speed fast moving subjects.
• It gives blur where you don't need or expect.
o Downsizing helps.
• IBIS disable is not possible with EF IS lenses attached.
I am a member of Canon Professional Services (CPS) and I can take out equipment for loan. I received a Canon R5, EF to RF adapter, and the RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM. During the racing action, I will use my EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III USM on the camera. It is a great dirt track lens. The zoom is internal, so the lens will not be “breathing” air in when I change focal length. Dirt track photography (well, the entire dirt track experience) is very dusty, because the cars are tearing up the clay track to get traction!! It can wreak havoc on a lens, if it gets filled with clay dust!!! There are no lens changes after the cars hit the track!! I have my trusty 5D Mk IV as my pits/victory lane camera. My tired and worn 6D will sit in the car and miss the action – it was my pit camera. The 5D is outfitted with my EF 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS USM. I sometimes use my EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM to make some cool shots when I am in the pits (it was too dusty to use in any of the pits on this trip!). The RF 100-500mm was used for some nature shots, but it was not used at the racetrack.
When I made the request to CPS, I planned on having the R5 as my primary action camera. Since I read the forums on the R5 for motorsports, I will now use it as my pits and victory lane camera for the first night at Williams Grove. During the action, I will set the EF 28-300 to a set focal length and take some action shots with it. If it gives acceptable results, it will be the primary camera for the rest of the weekend.
For nighttime racing action, I am using an old Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT for pit work and victory lane. I sometimes use it for fill light when the sun starts to go down. My main flash is the Norman 400B system. It can put out 400 watts per second (w/s) of power and it is also selectable for 50, 100, or 200 w/s, so it makes it versatile. However, it has two drawbacks. It takes almost a half lap at most tracks to recharge, so I only get one or two pictures per lap. I must make sure that I pick the best scenario before pressing the shutter. The other drawback is that each battery set gets me a maximum of 190 pictures per charge. I have three working battery sets and a second power supply, so I can quickly change and not miss too much action. During a caution, I can change the battery set in the other power supply so it is ready.
For my test, I visited Central Pennsylvania for Williams Grove Speedway, Lincoln Speedway, and Path Valley Speedway Park. There are sprint cars on the bill for the three nights, as well as some other divisions!!
Shooting sprint cars in a turn is one of my favorite life experiences. You are close to the action, they are sideways, and you can feel the rumble of the powerful V8’s as the cars go by!!! I have worked hard for the last several years to make sure that I get enough motion blur in my pictures. Even when the cars are slowly riding around to put heat in the engines (warm-ups), I set the shutter to 1/30 s and pan slowly to get a lot of motion blur. This is the best time of the race to get these shots. The sun is still high enough to give great lighting! I sometimes can get great shots (some, but not many!) when the cars start hot laps (right after warm-ups) if I forget to reset the shutter!! Usually, I shoot the action at 1/80 s.
Now for the first night of shooting, I was not expecting much from the R5, based on the forum postings. I got a few “insurance shots” during warm-ups with the 5D Mk II. I then took several with the R5. On the screen some of them looked good, so I took a few more. Those looked good – well, on a small screen! I kept taking more shots. I started to wish that I had made the R5 my main action camera. Once the racing action started, I switched to the 5D Mk IV, as it had the best lens for action. I did put the R5 on the flash rig for a few shots to see how well it paired with the Norman flash.
So, how did it behave? My biggest fear was the EV would not keep up with a sprint car. During the daylight, it did fine. I did not really see a lag. Once the sun went down, the EV changed in resolution, but still showed no perceptible lag. I found that it was still usable!! I think that it would need more testing. Days two and three were finished before the sun fully went down.
I really did not notice any difference in the speed of focusing. Remember, I am using an EF lens on a RF body. The only thing that I did not like was that the focus points moved, if I accidently touched the screen. I never noticed that I did it until I saw that the focus boxes were not in the bottom, center!! I would have to quickly reset them where I wanted them and would lose some shots while fooling around with the camera!! There may be a way to lock them, but I did not have time to fully familiarize myself with the camera.
The next morning, I started to select and post process the pictures. None of my pictures are very sharp with the 5D Mk IV, because I am shooting at 1/80 s, but the background is nice and blurry! Usually, the whole car is not in focus with that shutter speed. On some “magical” shots, I can get the whole car in focus, but it is rare. Those are my best shots of the night! The R5 shots were on par with my 5D Mk IV. I decided on making the R5 my primary action camera for the rest of the weekend. The R5 worked well with the Norman 400B. I shoot those in manual to get the lighting just right. I could not really tell the difference between the R5 and the 5D Mk IV pictures. I suppose if I was trying to stop all motion to get a crisp, in-focus shot, then I may have seen some issues. However, I am always working on getting motion blur.
I was not sure if I would keep the IS on my lens turned on to Mode 2 (action). I decided to leave it on and see what happens. I had no problems with any of my panning shots. The shots from the R5 compared to the 5D Mk IV.
I always made sure that the iPhone was fully charged before entering the racetrack. I would have to turn on the Canon Connect App when I would turn off Airplane Mode on the R5. I would have to have the app open on the phone to ensure that it connected to the camera. I noticed that sometimes the GPS would be off and I had to open the app and let it pair again with the camera. I really like having the GPS on the camera, so I do not need to check it to see if it is still working!!! By the end of the racing action, the phone would be around half charge. Hmmm, I really like built-in GPS!!!!
I only had some issues with the R5 during the third day of shooting. I have transition lenses in my glasses and it may have led me to believe that the R5 shots were too dark. I lightened them up a bit on the camera, but they were too light when I saw them the next day. That is something I will have to keep in mind the next time I use it. I also played around with the menu to find a level for the viewfinder. I must have hit a wrong setting and had to shoot blind until I could get an image back in the EV!!! That was my fault, not the cameras!!
I typically over shoot a race, mostly because I am looking to get enough pictures to post for the next three or four weeks. This means I have a ton of pictures to look at for the R5. Over the next two days of shooting, I was happy to have used the R5. It was quite capable. The post processing of those pictures took me over a week. Photography is my “second” job and my primary job keeps me very busy, so I am in no hurry to process the pictures right after the event. If I had a paying customer, I would focus on getting them processed the day after the event!!
Overall, the R5 worked well and I was able to capture some great motorsports photographs. It is usable for motorsports and I would recommend it, with some reservations. So, the bottom line is: would I trade my 5D Mk IV for a R5? Maybe. It is a great camera, but I do not need video. The features that make the R5 a great camera are not necessarily the features that I am looking for. I have seen some nice reviews that show the sharp detail because of the high resolution. Almost all of my motorsports pictures are panning and have a lot of motion blur, so the higher resolution would be wasted.
Now that the R3 has been announced and the specification have been released, it looks like a better camera for what I want/need. The "race car and motorbike" AF tracking would be awesome. However the $5999 price tag will keep it out of my camera bag, for now. If I start getting paying gigs, it may be in my bag. I will certainly take it out on loans for certain events.
The 5D Mk IV is almost at retirement age, but I will hang on to it a little while longer!! Now that I have seen the R3 price, I may be looking more seriously at the R5!
Jonathan Meckley is a proud Canon owner since 1980. He started with an AE-1 and it traveled everywhere with him until it produced some light-leak in 2002. That was the time to convert to digital. After a brief flirtation with a Panasonic point-and-shoot that introduced him to digital, he purchased a Canon Digital Rebel. An upgrade to a Canon T2i was followed, a few years later, by a Canon 7D Mk II. This was when he got serious about motorsports photography. This led him to the Canon 5D Mk IV. He acquired a used 6D as a second camera for dirt track photography, because you simply cannot change lenses during a race! He started using the Canon M-Series (M, M3, M5, and M6 Mk II) for travel and underwater photography, as it is lightweight and small (and still puts out great photos).
