M5, perfect for cat pictures (or anything else)

I received my 2nd M5 today and I am very happy with them. I often like to carry 2 cameras to avoid so many lens changes and it will be a real treat to have identical bodies.

Buying from Canada (shipping to the US) worked well for me, I got one with the 18-150 and one body only, and they each included an adapter and a CS100 Canon Connect. Henry's and Camera Canada both provide excellent service, their great customer oriented attitude is hard to beat.

The M5 is really fun to use. The drag focus especially is what I have always wanted. I plan to switch from left eye to right eye so my left hand stays on the lens and my nose doesn't get in the way of my right thumb. The ability to almost instantaneously select an AF point and fire a shot is incredible.

There are a lot of little things that have improved over the M3:

• If you shoot raw only, the embedded jpg is high quality and adequate for checking critical focus in review.
• Format can be assigned to "my menu"
• Custom button configuration is fairly extensive
• The front dial has a much better feel and predictability.
• The grip is almost perfect.

There is still room for improvement though. On my 7D II, I could program the play button to full zoom at the point of focus on the first press, zoom out on the second press and return to shooting on the third press. This requires pressing three different buttons on the M5; play, *, and menu.

On my M10 when you enter review mode, the front dial immediately works for zoom but on the M5 it will only do image jump or rating. Once you are zoomed, it does nothing. The dial function is available for zoom but it is not anywhere near as easy to use as the front dial.

Speaking of the custom dial, why did they not bevel it like the front dial? The position is not that good for a thumb dial and I would always prefer a second index finger dial. It already has the function button on top of it so it is logical that a finger would be the primary use. A bevel would make it 100% easier to use.

Overall this is an extremely fun to use and effective camera. I still wish the focus was faster like Sony but after trying to like my A6000 for 2 years, I never really have. After 10 minutes with the M5, I love it.

I now have 3 adapters and they will probably stay on my EF 85 1.8, EF 40 2.8, and Sigma 17-70 2.8-4.0 C. I thought the sigma would be a little big on the M5 but I actually like the way it handles. It is great on the SL1, so why not on the M5 too? Using these lenses with the M5, I am not worried about the lack of "native" M lenses. If a few fast primes and a faster normal zoom (even a constant f4 would be nice) show up, that will be great but in the meantime, I am happy with what is available. If I need moderately sized fast primes and zooms, I have them and if I need something really small, I have some choices there too.

Time to go get some cat pictures!