Canon EOS R5 II: video detail levels impress

As part of our ongoing testing of Canon’s EOS R5 II, we’ve been getting a sense of what its video looks like and how it’s sampled from the camera’s sensor.

As you might expect, the 8K video is extremely detailed as is the 4K/30p ‘HQ’ footage derived from it. The line-skipped 4K video in standard mode is much less detailed, though it’s worth bearing in mind that the test targets on a technical chart will show those differences much more prominently than they’d appear in moving footage.

We also shot some of the camera’s 8K Raw footage in both 30p Raw and 60p Raw Lite forms. These also appear very detailed though would need more sharpening and contrast to be applied for them to match the out-of-camera, gamma-encoded H.265 output. Here we’ve just used Final Cut Pro’s built-in Canon Log 2 LUT to bring them to a workable Rec.709 state, without applying any further processing.

Unfortunately, for those that were hoping for 4K derived from this 8K/60 capture, the camera’s 4K SRaw option appears to be line-skipped. Its readout rate is the same as for 8K/60, so there’s no rolling shutter reduction to be had for that line-skipping, just a reduction in detail (and file size).

Rolling shutter rates

Our tests suggest the EOS R5 II creates its video from three different readout modes: none of them nearly as fast as the camera’s e-shutter mode in stills, but all quick enough that rolling shutter is rarely going to be something you have to worry about. Interestingly the 30p Raw and SRaw modes appear to be read out more slowly than the 60p modes, which we’d guess is a way to reduce temperature build-up, but most of the camera’s 10-bit gamma encoded modes are shot at the higher speed.

We will keep an eye on temperature performance as we use the camera more.