Canon EOS R5 and dog photography

I need to be able to shoot fast moving, often small dogs running straight towards me and produce beautifuly sharp images for my clients, both domestic and commercial and I have been doing this very successfully for over 5 years using Canon professional cameras and lenses and it has been hard work.

When the release of the Canon EOS R5 and EOS R6 was announced with their mirrorless performance, advanced animal eye auto focus, my interest was stirred, especially as many people I know had jumped ship to Sony as they had the eye auto focus first but this was not that great with moving objects.

I read the information and what the new Canon mirrorless bodies could do and was very keen to try one out. Richard Harvey from Canon offered to bring one with him for an afternoon for me to try out and I gratefully accepted his offer and we met on a very hot day so we were limited to shooting in the shade of a wood. This meant low light which is always a challenge and it gave me a brief opportunity to try out the animal eye autofocus.

Dark fur and eyes

This is Wellington and he has soft fur and dark eyes, this combination really made the R5 work hard to find his eye and it wasn't always successful but was certainly able to focus better than my Canon 1DX and EF 70-200 F2.8ii L IS USM could and I was using the RF 70-200 F2.8 L IS USM and it was actively seeking to find the eye which is a real time saver.

Following this afternoon session, further discussion with Richard about the practicality of using a relatively short lens, the 70 -200 F2.8 for action shots of dogs and the limitations of an 8m effective focussing zone, he suggested I try the RF 100-500 F4.5-7.1 L IS USM as this would offer a far greater working range which means I could get more shots in on the same run which meant less shooting time and greater productivity so we met again for a couple of hours with a suitable dog model and I had my first go with this new lens and it certainly makes a great combination and offers huge flexibility.

Due to the popularity of these new Canon mirrorless cameras, I had a few weeks to wait before I could have use of one for a week and that week has just expired as Richard picked up the camera and lens today.

Learning

What have I learned? I have learned a great deal, I have learned the EOS R5 is a true phenomenon in terms of auto focus and picking out the eye in an incredible variety of situations but dark dogs with dark eyes and fine fur are a struggle. Because moving dogs require a higher shutter speed and if at full zoom at 500mm with an f stop of 7.1, the ISO has to be high and it is at this point the EOS R5 with its 45mp sensor starts to struggle with image noise.

This image of a Chow Chow is a perfect example, this image is ok taken at 1/1000 at F7.1 but the ISO is 12800 and if you enlarge the image, the noise is very evident, again because the sensor is capturing so much detail.

For contrast and to add a positive, you can set the EOS R5 to a 1.6 crop sensor thus creating an 800mm lens still at F7.1 and this is what you can get at that setting:

If you zoom into this image, you can see the soft hairs on the edge of the dogs ears and this just shows the difference in ease of focus and capture based on the colour of the dogs fur. This image is shot at 1/1250, F7.1 and ISO 1600. It is also a great example of how the sensor interprets the available light because these shots were taken within ten minutes of each other in almost identical conditions.

These shots of the dog running straight towards the camera are my favourite as you capture such a range of expressions but moreover because the dog is clearly loving life and having a good run around, these are often the moments during a reveal session with a client that get the most gasps and you can see why!

Shutter speed is still very important, even with both In Body Image Stabilisation and lens stabilisation and during the time I had the camera and lens combination I did prove the autofocus is not infallible, it still can miss but the times it misses are rare.

This is an example of an image shot just too slowly:

This was shot at 1/800, F6.3 and ISO 1600 and whilst the eye AF has worked beautifully, the shutter speed is just too low, it would have been better at 1/1000 and perfect at 1/1250.

Bear in mind though I would usually have been at 1/3200 for a shot like this without the latest AF so there is a significant improvement in the ability to use a lower shutter speed and with the greater working range of the longer lens, the opportunity to capture more images per burst that are good enough for the client.

When photographing dogs outside and relying on natural light, timing is everything because the light can change so quickly. The ability to create more great shots from a single run with the dog is such a huge advantage because you can get more out of the moment. The sequence from which this shot came happened in a three minute window when the sun broke through the clouds. That is all I had, three minutes to get the best light to really make the most of the dog and the photography.

With the RF 100-500 F4.5- 7.1 L IS USM more open, there is greater opportunity for creativity:

This shot at 1/1600, F5 and ISO 2000. You can see from the flatness of the light this was a dull day yet the image is fine because of the F5 aperture letting in more light which allowed a greater shutter speed and you will note all four feet are off the ground. I love getting images of dogs with all four feet off the ground because they are just having the best time, and playing with a ball in a stream, as this dog was doing, is just so much fun to watch and observe, let alone photograph.

Even 12 year old Retreivers can do it, look:

This image was taken at 1/1250, F5.6 and ISO 1000 at 324mm.

I have loved working with the EOS R5 and the RF 100-500 F4.5-7.1 L IS USM and have enjoyed getting to know how to use them. I need a lot more time with it to really get to know them but it won't be with the R5.

I was attracted to the EOS R5 for the 45MP sensor and the extra detail that could be extracted and that certainly is the case but I have found that to be a limiting factor when the light drops and the lens is at F7.1 so I am going to have a look at the EOS R6, essentially the same camera as the EOS R5 but with the same 20MP sensor found in the Canon 1DX mkiii because of the impact this will have producing less noise.

I love the electroninc viewfinder and, quite strangely, I like the fact that I get a brief preview of each shot I have taken in the viewfinder during a burst. I do have to admit though, I have stuck with the mechanical shutter for the time I have had the camera, I will use the electronic shutter when I get the EOS R6 to test to see what extra productivity and better use of time and available light that will generate being able to shoot at 20 fps in complete silence. If that helps me reduce the number of dog runs needed to get the shots I want, that means we will have more time on each shoot to be more creative and offer my clients more variety and scope so they get even more out of their time with me.

I love what I do, I love dogs and I love working with Canon and their equipment because this means I can give my clients better and better images of their best friend. Sounds pretty good to me!

Appearance, weight and hand holding.

Perception is important and people expect to see a professional photographer with equipment they would not normally see. The lenses are always a great indicator but also the camera body and people think if the camera body is large, it must be a professional, and therefore, expensive body.

So how does the EOS R5 compare as it is tiny and looks more like the size of an ordinary camera? I have taken the EOS R5 with the RF 100-500 F4.5-7.7 L IS USM to many different loactions during the week I have had it and no one has even seen the camera, they all look at the lens and it is the size and build quality of the lens that people remark upon, after all, it is the glass that is the most important part!

I have carried this camera and lens around for hours and have not felt the need to rest because I have arm ache, it is a dream to carry and to use and because my arms are not fatigued, I am always ready to capture a moment and can keep shooting for longer periods, again we are back to more productivity and better use of time and available light.

For dog photography, I always hand hold because of the freedom of movement it gives me and I am always very low to the ground, usually lying on the ground so hand holding is the norm for me so the reduced weight comapred to my usual kit is a huge advantage, the ability to always have the camera in my hand means I am able to shoot something quickly as this image shows:

We were leaving the field where I had been working with the black Cocker spaniel when I looked up and saw we had an interested Springer spaniel at the top of the steps we were about to climb so even after an intense shooting session, I still had the camera and lens in my hand and was able to quickly raise the camera and capture images like these which are just lovely and spontaneous. The settings are 1/800, F5, ISO 12,800 at 159mm.

The speed of the auto focus is key here as it grabs so quickly and locks on to the eye so it is a quick compose and shoot so I am able to capture many more moments like this that develop very quickly right in front of you and I do love to capture random dogs just because they are doing something interesting and I can now get more of those moments because of the light weight and the speed of AF grab, this just opens up so many possibilities for me, my clients and passers by. The owners of the Springer gave me their email address so I can let them have a copy of the image.

Speed

Everything about photographing dogs in motion is about speed.

Speed of thought, speed of reaction, speed of bringing the camera up, speed of shooting, speed of the dog, shutter speed, it is all about speed.

This is why I use professional level kit because I want to be able to capture your dog at speed. I need a camera that can focus fast and hold focus on a running dog and give me a frame rate that can capture the dog at speed and give me the option of freezing the motion or creating motion blur in the image to give an impression of just how fast the dog is moving.

The EOS R5 is almost that camera, I believe the EOS R6 will be all of that camera and the RF 100-500 F4.5-7.1 L IS USM will be the lens to deliver the range of images I want for my clients. I will probably have to wait to 2021 before I can test the EOS R6 because demand is so high. Having tried the EOS R5, I know it will be worth the wait and you can rest assured I will line up a range of shoots to push the EOS R6 to the limit to see what it can do.

My thanks to Richard Harvey from Canon for all of his continued help.

If you have read this article and have any questions, please ask them and I will be happy to answer but only based on my limited time spent with the camera and lens.

?Steven Havers BrightBark dog photography.