Since my early days of photography, I’ve enjoyed using two camera bodies. I tend to find just one camera difficult and I seem to spend most of my time swapping lenses. If I have two, I can have a different lenses available that compliment my shooting needs for the moment. For example, when I shoot a wedding, I like a 35mm f1.4 on one camera and a 85mm f1.2 on the other. If i’m shooting wildlife, I like my 800mm f5.6 on one camera and my 100-400mm f5.6 on the other. One wide, one long. One bright, one versatile zoom.
I gave my Canon R8 away to a dear friend last year and I’ve been struggling with using just the one camera. I have been considering a second R6mk2 for some time and I was curious what the rumoured R6mk3 might bring. However, and urgent shooting requirement came up and I needed a 2nd camera quickly and the R6mk3 wasn’t going to be available until early December 2005. So I bought a Canon R5 instead. 1) it was available, 2) it has a 45mp sensor, 3) it new and has a warrenty, 4) it sits as a compliment to my R6mk2, not as it’s competitor.
The R5 has a bit more resolution and under iso 800, slightly more dynamic range. Over 800iso, there is little difference. The R6mk2 is a slightly newer camera design and has superior face detection AF, it works better in lower light and it’s significantly better with it’s ISO noise, between a stop and 1.3 stops in my observations. It’s got 40fps available in Electronic Shutter and it’s sensor has a slightly faster readout speed. In terms of ultimate detail, it’s not far behind what the R5 can offer, even thoughit had sensor resolution.
For me, the user interface and button layout is close enough to work well. The batteries are the same and that’s good too. Both take SD cards and my new R5 also takes CF Express B, which is the future…so I best get used to that.
I’ll tend to put my brightest lens on my R5 and my versatile zoom on the R6mk2, which indicates that my R6mk2 my primary camera. This way, I can leaverage the R6ii’s lower light capabilities (AF and iso noise) and let my R5 leaverage my high resolution options, allowing more crop-ability.
