Upgrading from R5 to R5 Mark II – Looking for Autofocus & Portrait Setup Tips

[Light Pilgrim]

Hey guys,

I’ve just moved from the Canon R5 to the R5 Mark II — I’ve got the new camera in hand, and I’m now looking to fine-tune it for portrait photography.

Back when I got the R5, I remember finding a really solid YouTube tutorial that walked through setting up the autofocus system specifically for portraits — things like how to make sure the eye is always in focus, how to switch between left and right eye tracking, previewing images efficiently, and a bunch of subtle but important tweaks.

This time, I haven’t been able to find anything similarly comprehensive for the Mark II. I know the menu system is deep and nuanced, and the camera has been out for over a year now, so I’m sure some of you already have a ton of hands-on experience.

So here’s what I’m looking for:

• A solid guide or video on how to set up AF specifically for portraiture
• Tips on switching eye detection easily (left/right)
• Best practices for image review workflow
• Shutter mode advice – is first curtain still the way to go, or is full mechanical better for portraits?
• Battery life optimization (not using the camera for video at all, so purely photography-focused)

Basically, anything that helps get the most out of the R5 Mark II for stills — especially portraits — would be massively appreciated.

 

[homebodyMacro]

Hey guys,

I’ve just moved from the Canon R5 to the R5 Mark II — I’ve got the new camera in hand, and I’m now looking to fine-tune it for portrait photography.

Back when I got the R5, I remember finding a really solid YouTube tutorial that walked through setting up the autofocus system specifically for portraits — things like how to make sure the eye is always in focus, how to switch between left and right eye tracking, previewing images efficiently, and a bunch of subtle but important tweaks.

This time, I haven’t been able to find anything similarly comprehensive for the Mark II. I know the menu system is deep and nuanced, and the camera has been out for over a year now, so I’m sure some of you already have a ton of hands-on experience.

So here’s what I’m looking for:

• A solid guide or video on how to set up AF specifically for portraiture
• Tips on switching eye detection easily (left/right)
• Best practices for image review workflow
• Shutter mode advice – is first curtain still the way to go, or is full mechanical better for portraits?
• Battery life optimization (not using the camera for video at all, so purely photography-focused)

Basically, anything that helps get the most out of the R5 Mark II for stills — especially portraits — would be massively appreciated.

Hey, congrats on the R5II! I absolutely love mine and use it every day.

In terms of AF setup, there are plenty of guides out there on Youtube... I know I watched a Jan Wegener video awhile back on it:

Some other people have mentioned that video here as well.

Here's an updated one with the main takeaway: just use Auto with +1 -

. You don't really have to fiddle much.

For people, Auto +1 / servo / human subject works great. I personally haven't dabbled with left vs. right eye though, so won't try to give any recommendations.

Shutter mode - unless you really need an extra 0.5 stops of DR or you need a marginal rolling shutter improvement, I'd just use ES all the time. EFCS can of course have bokeh issues for fast shutter speeds/wide open apertures, but is otherwise perfectly useable if you wan that small DR boost. In portraiture, I don't think that would be relevant too often, but that's just my guess. ES is great, 14bit, 30fps, I love it.

Image review - I'm probably a bit odd, but I just put my glasses on and use the LCD to cull duplicate/undesirable images. I shoot with ES and usually pre-capture on, so there are plenty of shots to cull. I simply check for sharpness (motion / exposure time), focus, and if the exposure does what I want (though this is more necessary in real time if you need to adjust ISO to preserve some important highlights, etc.). If I get a couple shots for the framing, I just press the delete button and confirm with my thumb on the LCD. Again though, this probably isn't the most common method, but it is efficient imo.

Battery life - depends on what you're doing I guess, but I really just haven't had any issues with it. In ES, can probably take 3-4000 shots without running out, and a spare is pretty inexpensive (relatively speaking). ES requires no mechanical actuation, so it's certainly more efficient per shot. Also, I keep airplane mode on unless absolutely necessary, and that does save some charge. Power saving settings - that's mostly up to your preference on sleep/power off options. So long as it's not inconvenient in some way to your workflow, that can certainly help some.

 

[Ducky69]

read Canon EOS R5 Mark II AF Setting Guide

Canon: AF Setting Guide｜EOS R5 Mark II

 

[homebodyMacro]

One thing I'll add to my previous reply - today (last day of vacation), I was charging my normal battery and took my fully charged "spare" out. I was shooting a bunch of landscapes and later (incidentally) some hummingbirds.

I took ~2200 EFCS shots and 1 2.5min 4k60 video before the battery decreased to 3/4 battery ticks on the display. With probably 2800 EFCS shots and another 1500 ES shots it's still at 2 battery ticks remaining. The battery is quite capable!

That's the most EFCS I've ever used by far in a session with the R5II and the battery kept up better than I anticipated. It does of course still use more power per frame, but I thought the result was still worth sharing.

 

[JohnSil]

Pilgrim, I've been shooting with the R5ll for about 6 months now and have really liked it over the R5.

I don't have much to add to the videos to watch but what I DO want to emphsize is setting up the Eye Control AF system. About a week ago I was reading about the R5ll by somebody and they mentioned they really liked the Eye Control AF. I had completely forgotten the 5ll had that feature. I watched a couple sort videos then set it up which is super EASY!

I have to say it works pretty darned well and it should get better, apparently, as it keeps refining itself every time you do a calibration which takes less than a minute.

It would be great for portraits, especially with multiple people. Once set up there's an orange circle that moves to where you are looking, When you're ready to lock focus you simply half press the shutter button and it locks focus where the orange circle is. It's really very handy! I've only used it for one shoot and I was quite happy with it. I was shooting single people and up to 8 people. So when they're several rows deep its easy to pick the plane of focus without the camera picking the eye for you!

IT STILL locks onto the eye and follows it just like normal eye focus but you can easily lock onto the eye that YOU choose to look at. There are probably a few advanced ways to set it up but so far so good. I'll explore the more advanced features as time goes by! I usually shoot with single point AF so I can easily lock on the eye that I want to lock onto. This takes the place of Single Point except you are moving the single point with your eye everywhere you look in the viewfinder!!! VERY COOL!

BTW I wear glasses. You can set it up for as many as(I think) 6 eye preferances. So you can set it up for a naked eye or for glasses or for sunglasses or for multiple users and you just pick in the menu which scenario you want the camera to use.

Give it a try. Good luck!!!

John

 

[homebodyMacro]

Mentioned this in your other topic, but I made a little guide for eye control AF previously and posted it there: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/68378397