I just completed a 4 day rental of the new Canon 5DS R that I have been lusting after since it was first announced some six months ago.  My initial impression was it seem lighter than my 5D Mark III which thrilled me. But after checking Canon’s website the difference is so small, I can hardly believe I could notice the difference. The Mark III, body only, weighs in at 30.5 oz.; 5DS R weighs in at 29.80 oz. Initially, I also was not impressed with the sound of the shutter release on the Canon 5DS R. To me it sounded rather plastic-y, however, my partner liked the sound better on the 5DS R than the Mark III so obviously this is just a personal preference.  It certainly wouldn’t deter me from a purchase. Below is a list of the major pros and cons from my experience with the Canon 5DS R.

5DS R Pros

A whooping 50.6 Megapixel file for gi-normous prints and wonderful cropping opportunities.

More sophisticated focusing technology that needs to be fully understood.

Great new Mirror Lock Up options permitting the camera to perform the second click after a designated time, reducing camera shake.

Knobs, dials and menu system quite similar to my Mark III, so operations were easy and transition to the new camera would be a snap.

As with other Canon cameras, image quality was great.

5DS R Cons

Don’t be in a hurry with the Canon 5DR S because those big files take awhile to write to the card in the camera.

Photographer’s technique needs to be close to perfect when shooting.  Any errors are magnified due to the size of the file capture.

Although, I have plenty of storage space on my computer, the processing speed got somewhat bogged down in Photoshop especially when working with 16 bit, Smart Layer files.  I may need to factor in a new computer. Yikes!!

When I look at the images now, I can’t see that great of image quality improvement from my 5D Mark III.   Image size Yes, the files are BIG.  But then any new camera requires a period of adjustment to learn how to get the most from it. I am sure the time I had with this camera was not long enough to get everything out of it that it offers.  The more you use the tool, the better results you will get.  I have owned the Canon 5D, Mark II and Mark III and to this day I think the Canon 5D Mark II produced the best result for me. I know is only because I did a tremendous amount of shooting with that camera in the studio, on location and everywhere else. I knew it like an extension of my body.

In the end though,  I was sorry to pack up the Canon 5DS R camera and send it back to lensrental. Like any good camera junkie, I will probably purchase one sometime in the not too distance future. Who knows, maybe Santa will surprise me.

Thanks for reading and check out my work at www.susanmcanany.com.