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The Canon EOS R5 at ISO 25,600 and ISO 51,200 Is Mind Blowing

Chris Gampat
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07/23/2020
3 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Canon EOS R5 high iso images review 1.21-5000s51200 1

Last Updated on 07/23/2020 by Mark Beckenbach

We shot some high ISO images with the Canon EOS R5 while taking a stroll in a Brooklyn rainshower at night.

The Canon EOS R5 is in for review right now, and we decided to not only do our standard durability test, but to also show how it performs at high ISO settings. The Canon EOS R5 is the closest thing we’ve got to a mirrorless version of the Canon 5D series of cameras. While it’s surely performing like one, it feels a bit like a 90D and a 5D series camera smushed together. There’s no magic touch bar, but the joystick’s placement is a bit odd. If you’re a veteran Canon shooter, you’ll also find the back dial placement to be a tad odd. For my hand, I really need to pull my thumb back and down to crank that wheel–which I’ve set to aperture control. Luckily, you also have a control ring around the lens in case you need it. But overall, I think Canon users will be very happy with this camera. Coupled with some of the company’s fantastic lenses, I think anyone will really like the Canon EOS R5.

Editor’s Note: This is not a review. Nowhere in this article are we saying this is a review, so please do not take it as such.

Weather Sealing

To take full advantage of the Canon EOS R5 and the weather sealing, you need an L lens. These lenses have weather sealing built in. And with the rainstorm NYC experienced recently, the Canon EOS R5 survived with no problems at all. For those of you who are pros, we know you understand this: the Canon 5D series was a series of cameras that lots of hobbyists bought. So if you’re going for one of these or considering it, know that you can take it into the rain and it will be just fine. We’re going to give it more durability tests as time goes on, so stay tuned.

ISO 25,600

Here are two image samples at ISO 25,600. They’re very good. The colors are great and the noise reduction is pretty low. For the record, the camera has noise reduction set to normal and these are JPEGs right out of the camera and converted in Capture One for the web. Pretty fantastic, right? We’re waiting to see when the RAW file support comes for Capture One, and when it does I think we’re going to see the most benefits. Canon’s RAW files have never been as versatile as the output that we’ve seen from Sony sensor. But Canon makes their own sensors. A strong argument can be made for Canon’s colors though, and you can see them right here in the images.

These photos were shot with the Canon RF 50mm f1.2 L USM. With the 50mm f1.2, you’re supposed to get around 7 stops of image stabilization, and the Canon EOS R5 also has image stabilization in the sensor. For the record, I wasn’t trying to test the image stabilization settings: I was just focusing on the high ISO output. One could argue that with high ISO output this good, you might not need image stabilization.

ISO 51,200

These images are from the Canon EOS R5 at ISO 51,200. These aren’t as good as results from lower ISO settings, but they’re still very clean. You’re getting lots of details still in the scenes. We’re really impressed. Take a look. We’ve still got more testing to do though!

autofocus Canon EOS R5 high iso image quality iso lens rain review weather sealing
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.