Canon R52 vs R3 focussing

andrewc

andrewc

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After borrowing an R3 from the Canon Test Drive service, I've been looking at changing my 1DX2. The R3 is the natural progression, but how does the focussing speed of an R5 Mk II compare to the R3. The R52 runs on a smaller voltage, so its ability to drive the lens motor may be slightly slower. Any thoughts? Would be used for sports photography. 24Mp is mostly enough but the extra resolution of the R5 would be useful.

I felt the 1DX2 and the R3 focussed at pretty similar speeds, and the predictive focus was better, and both were noticably better than the R7 (and 7D2 which preceeded it).
 
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I'm currently using an R3 and 1DX2 and find the focussing speed marginally better with the R3, but the R3 reliably gets more shots in a sequence in sharp focus. Where the R3 is much better is taking shots of car moving away from you. Strangely, for panning shots I prefer the older camera. I think the R5II shares much of the autofocus system of the R1, so should be an improvement over the R3 particularly if you use the subject track (e.g. for people). I switch off the subject tracking (vehicle) in the R3 as I find I end up fighting it a bit as it will hang onto the car leaving the frame when I'm trying to capture the following car for example. However, for podium/presentation shots I switch on the person tracking and eye detection and it just never misses or gets distracted.

The question is how often will you need the extra resolution of the R5II? If it's just for the occasional very large print, then you may end up hindering yourself with lots of massive files which take longer to copy, process and ultimately need more storage. I regularly print A3 or larger prints from my R3, even cropped images without any issues. I know someone who shoots mtorosport with the original R5 and it needs about 3-4 battery swaps to get through a full day. My 1DX2 will do a whole day on a single battery, and the R3 gets me to about mid afternoon, depending on how much reviewing I do and transferring files to my phone via wifi.
 
I'm currently using a 1DX2 and an R7. Its the 1DX's turn to be retired before it fails, and it seems an appropriate time to put both feet in the mirrorless camp - however, focussing speed is important for motorsport - less of an issue for my athletics photography. I use both memory card slots, recording different sized images to both cards - a small one which is easy and quick to work with and the full size shot if that is necessary. Having 45mp would be useful for some photos, but at least can make use of the smaller sizes if necessary.

The R5 II hasn't made it onto the Canon test drive service yet. I could rent one for a weekend from Wex, I suppose.
 
The R5II does look like a brilliant camera, particularly if you want to dabble in video as well. However, it's the SD card in the R3 (and presumably R5II) that I find annoying as I need a separate memory card reader and the read speeds are much slower. The weight saving over an 1DX2 or R3 when combined with an RF lens would be significant.
 
My laptop has an SD card reader built in so apart from my general dislike of SD cards, I'm relatively happy with that.

Once I'm fully within the Mirrorless camp, I can then look at swapping over my lenses on a gradual basis to RF versions.

I will need to get a battery grip through.
 
andrewc said:
I felt the 1DX2 and the R3 focussed at pretty similar speeds, and the predictive focus was better, and both were noticably better than the R7 (and 7D2 which preceeded it).
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Not an answer, but any particular aspects of the R7 AF that you don’t find as good as the other cameras? I have an R7 for bird photography, the reach is good but I find the AF a bit hit and miss. I’m tempted to go for a full frame mirrorless and crop.
 
I'm curious to hear the answer to this one. I would expect the R3 to have a small edge, probably not very noticeable.
 
Brentor said:
Not an answer, but any particular aspects of the R7 AF that you don’t find as good as the other cameras? I have an R7 for bird photography, the reach is good but I find the AF a bit hit and miss. I’m tempted to go for a full frame mirrorless and crop.
Click to expand...
The 1D series runs at a higher voltage which means the AF motors run faster. Also its possible that mid tier cameras are deliberatley slowed down to ensure the top tier cameras have a USP. I can't prove the latter apart from using many models from 30D to 1DX2 for athletics and motorsport photography.
 
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