Action photographer and Canon Singapore EOS Ambassador Mark Teo puts the EOS R5 Mark II through its paces in the boxing ring. (All images and videos by Mark Teo)

EOS R5 Mark II/ RF50mm f/1.2L USM @ 50mm, f/2.0, 1/4000 sec, ISO 12800

 

A word from a photographer (formerly) on the fence about switching

As someone whose photo and video work often involves capturing fast, intense action, I would be lying if I said my attention wasn’t piqued by the EOS R5 Mark II.

I’ve been happy with the EOS R5, which has been my trusty workhorse since its release. It replaced two cameras, the EOS 5D S and EOS-1D X, which I had been using for commercial and sports work respectively, and has helped tackle everything from commercial projects to action and editorial shoots with its powerful stills and video capabilities.

The EOS R5 Mark II promised, on top of that, even stickier autofocus (AF) performance and more slow-motion possibilities, which were enough to stir my imagination. However, I was still on the fence about switching—how would those promises work out in real life, and would it be worth it?

With those questions in mind, I decided to put the EOS R5 Mark II to the test in a photo and video shoot with some boxing buddies at a sparring session.

Boxing: a sport that challenges camera autofocus systems

Boxing is notoriously challenging to camera AF systems—it’s fast-paced, unpredictable, and full of elements that can distract the focus, such as ring ropes, headgear, boxing gloves in front of the face, or a crossing opponent.

The challenge is multiplied during video shooting, especially for styles heavy on camera movement. Every focus transition gets recorded. Unwanted focus transitions are especially obvious in slow motion video, where our attention lingers longer on every moment.

This is not an issue that stops the skilled photographer or filmmaker from getting good in-focus shots, of course, but it’s nice to free up some headspace for aspects other than operating the camera. While the EOS R5’s AF is extremely capable, I definitely need to intervene more than usual whenever I shoot boxing.

Mark at work shooting a video of the sparring boxers. The EOS R5 Mark II's improved tracking performance allows more flexibility for camera movement.

Test conditions

- Location: An indoor boxing ring with overhead lights and a big window allowing some natural light
- Gear: EOS R5 Mark II with RF50mm f/1.2L USM and RF35mm f/1.4L VCM
- Live View shooting:  My default style since I switched to the EOS R mirrorless system. This allows better subject interaction!
- Memory card: SanDisk CFexpress Type B 256 GB
- Other gear: A monitor recorder to record the camera's user interface during still shooting

For stills:
- AF settings: Subject to detect: People/ Whole area AF/ Servo AF (Case A)/ Subject switching: Enable (slow)
- Drive mode (stills): High speed continuous +
- Stills recording mode: CRAW + JPEG M (6000 x 4000)/Quality: 8

For videos
- Same AF settings as stills
- 4K UHD (Standard) 50p, 2K (Standard) 200p and 240p
- Canon Log 3/ XF-HEVC S YCC420 10bit

Apart from a few settings, I set up and shot with the EOS R5 Mark II the way I normally would. There were therefore some features that I didn’t try, such as Register People Priority and Eye Control AF.

To put the AF to the test, I started with Whole Area AF instead of the more limited AF areas like Flexible Zone AF. This makes the camera search for subjects over the entire image frame, which increases the chances of focus “distraction”. But as the results below show, the EOS R5 Mark II did rather well.

What I shot

I shot sequences in various conditions: 
- With the ring ropes in the frame
- With an opponent or gloves in the foreground, 
- In backlight, another notoriously challenging situation for focusing.

Here are some shots and recordings where the results speak for themselves!

 

AF test 1: Through the ring ropes

EOS R5 Mark II/ RF50mm f/1.2L USM @ 50mm, f/2.5, 1/2500 sec, ISO 12800

On many cameras, even the EOS R5, as you move around trying to get different angles through the ring ropes, the focus tends to behave like this if you don’t do anything:

Watch and compare: On an older camera model (EOS R5)

Shot by SNAPSHOT

There was none of that on the EOS R5 Mark II regardless of whether I was shooting stills or video, as the next two videos show.

Watch and compare: EOS R5 Mark II screen recording—shooting stills through the ring ropes

I had an external recorder plugged in to record the camera screen, and this meant I couldn’t control the focus with the touchscreen like I usually do. Not that the EOS R5 Mark II needed it much, as the screen recording shows. Despite being in Whole Area AF mode, the EOS R5 Mark II locked steadily on my subject’s eye, or his face or head if the eye was obstructed. The focus practically never flew to the ropes regardless of how I moved.

It was the same for video. With the EOS R5,  I would be consciously framing the shot to avoid unwanted focus shifts, but with the EOS R5 Mark II, I found myself moving around more freely.

Watch: EOS R5 Mark II—Video shot through the ring ropes

Compare this with the video shot on the EOS R5. The difference really is in the user experience.

 

AF test 2: Flying fists and other obstructions

EOS R5 Mark II/ RF50mm f/1.2L USM @ 50mm, f/2.5, 1/2500 sec, ISO 12800

In any boxing shoot, you’ll inevitably have to deal with boxing gloves obstructing a fighter’s face, whether it’s the result of a defensive stance or an attack. On older cameras, the focus point is very likely to shift to the glove, resulting in a failed shot especially at wide aperture settings.

EOS R5 Mark II/ RF35mm f/1.4L VCM @ 35mm, f/1.4, 1/2000 sec, ISO 3200

Living up to expectations, the EOS R5 Mark II kept the focus on the subject nearly all throughout. While the tracking frame briefly shifted to the glove several times, it found the subject again very quickly.

What really impressed me was that despite the helmet and flying fists, the camera continued to detect and track the subject’s eyes nearly all the time they were visible.

Watch: EOS R5 Mark II screen recording—Scenes where the subject is obstructed or crossed

The video shows camera screen recordings from three different scenarios:
- Boxing gloves obscuring the subject, shot in profile
- Boxing gloves obscuring the subject, shot head on
- Subject being crossed by an opponent.

 

AF test 3: Backlight

EOS R5 Mark II/ RF50mm f/1.2L USM @ 50mm, f/2.0, 1/4000 sec, ISO 12800

My EOS R5 struggles a little in backlight, so I wanted to see how the EOS R5 Mark II performed under such conditions. It had no problems finding the subject’s eye despite the shadow-induced lower contrast in his facial features.

EOS R5 Mark II/ RF35mm f/1.4L VCM @ 35mm, f/1.4, 1/2000 sec, ISO 3200

In scenes like this, the AF stayed firmly on the subject instead of flying to the patch of backlight.

Watch: EOS R5 Mark II screen recording—in backlight

 

2K 200p/240p High Frame Rate Video with audio

The video resolution/frame rate selection menu is different from the EOS R5’s, which took a while to get used to. You select the recording resolution and frame rate in separate tabs under “Movie recording size” screen. The images above show the menu in PAL mode. 240p becomes available in NTSC mode. 

Choosing high frame rates under the “Movie rec. size” menu gives you footage with audio that plays back at the same frame rate (e.g. 240p plays back at 240 fps): you will have to slow it down in post-production.

Meanwhile, enabling the “High Frame Rate” option gives you footage without audio that plays back in slow motion at 25 fps (or 29.97 fps in NTSC mode): it’s ready for sharing out of the camera.

I was excited about being able to shoot up to 2K 240p with audio: it expands possibilities for both slow motion and editing. Here’s an example of one such video. The slowed-down recorded audio makes the sequence even more dramatic.

Watch: EOS R5 Mark II—Slow motion video shot in 2K 240p

 

In-camera Neural Network Noise Reduction

Processed with in-camera Neural Network Image Processing
EOS R5 Mark II/ RF35mm f/1.4L VCM @ 35mm, f/1.6, 1/6400 sec, ISO 51200

Out of camera JPEG (from same sequence)
EOS R5 Mark II/ RF35mm f/1.4L VCM @ 35mm, f/1.6, 1/6400 sec, ISO 51200

With just standard in-camera noise reduction applied, images shot at ISO 51200 contained significant noise. In-camera Neural Noise Reduction produced rather decent results. The results are saved as a JPEG file, and batch application is possible. I can imagine this being useful for situations where an out-of-camera JPEG is necessary for fast turnover jobs.

 

Other observations

- The playback display order has changed
Videos and still photos are grouped together, instead of everything shown together in capture order. For a moment, I thought I lost my video files! Press the ‘Mode’ button to toggle between displaying stills and videos.

- Battery life
I shot for about 1.5 hours on a fully charged LP-E6P battery, switching between stills in H+ mode, 4K video, and 2K 240p video. At the end of the shoot, 2 bars of battery life remained.
The battery life probably lasted longer than it normally would because I also used an external monitor-recorder for most of the shoot, which disabled both the EVF and the rear LCD monitor. If you use resource-heavy features like I did, I recommend having a backup battery even for a 2-hour shoot. High frame rate shooting and many other features aren’t available when using the older LP-E6NH battery.

- Overheating
The camera started to feel a little hot towards the end, but the overheat warning icon didn’t appear.

- Watch your memory card space!
Using the near-silent High-speed continuous shooting H+ mode combined with pre-shooting made my shot count go up much faster than expected. I ended up with three times more images to cull than usual!  
While I didn’t experience any buffer issues with my 256GB CFexpress Type B cards, I was worried about running out of memory card space. I’d probably use pre-shooting more selectively, or limit the total number of shots in each burst sequence—a newly introduced feature.

 

Conclusion: Bowled over by the improvements

Using the EOS R5 Mark II was sheer delight.

My experience with the EOS R5 Mark II blew me away—off the fence and decisively into “buy it!” territory. With its improvements over the EOS R5, it truly has everything a true hybrid shooter needs. I have since added the camera to my working arsenal.