In the Field: Canon R5 vs. Sony A7 IV for Travel & Brand Photography

Jacob Murray is a landscape, travel and commercial photographer based in Scotland. Jacob has used mirrorless cameras from almost every major brand in the past six years. Recently, Jacob shot an ad campaign with the Sony A7 IV and the Canon EOS R5 when he visited the Dolomites in Italy.

Canon EOS R5

Key Specs

• 45-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor

• Sensor-shift 5-axis image stabilisation

• 8K 30p raw and 4K 120p 10-bit internal video

• Full-coverage dual-pixel II autofocus system

• 3.2-inch vari-angle touchscreen LCD

Upsides

• Incredible image quality

• Impressive focus tracking

• Top-tier autofocus and stabilisation

• Solid build

Downsides

• Limits for video recording 

• High-resolution video can cause overheating

Sony A7 IV

Key Specs

• 33-megapixel full-frame Exmor R CMOS BSI sensor

• 4K 60p shooting, up to 10fps

• Real-time tracking and real-time eye autofocus

• 5-axis SteadyShot image stabilisation

• ISO 100–51200

Upsides

• Terrific image quality

• Extensive controls

• Subject tracking up to 10fps

• Great handling

Downsides

• Subpar eye-detection focus

• Mediocre shooting speeds

Canon EOS R5 vs Sony A7 IV for Travel Photography

In this review, Jacob compares the features, image quality and usability offered by the Canon EOS R5 and the Sony A7 IV full-frame mirrorless cameras. Over to you, Jacob.

I’ve now been shooting for almost six years, photographing professionally for the last two. I started out with a Panasonic DMC-G7, changing quickly to the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II for the added image stabilisation.  After a while, I needed an increase in image quality and low-light capabilities, so the obvious next step was to go full frame. I chose the Sony A7, which became my workhorse. Until I changed again, this time to a Fujifilm X-H1 for the weather sealing and increased video specifications. 

During my time with the Fujifilm, I borrowed a Panasonic DC-S1R—and the extra resolution was incredible. But I had started shooting professionally, and it quickly became apparent that the autofocus on the S1R couldn’t keep up. That brings us to my current camera, the Sony A7 IV. It has everything I wanted in my previous cameras all rolled into one—incredible autofocus, great image quality and excellent video, and it’s brilliant in low-light situations.

I think the Sony will be with me for a while. But, I was interested in trying out the Canon EOS R5. I got the opportunity while shooting a project in Italy for two watch brands. During the shoot, I was able to use it a bit and gather some general first impressions.

Ergonomics

First off, the ergonomics of the R5 are incredible. Coming from my Sony A7 IV, it was nice to be able to fit all my fingers on the grip. The focus selector dial falls exactly where my thumbs rest, so the usability is super intuitive. 

Viewfinder and screen

The Canon EOS R5 viewfinder and screen are brilliant. The viewfinder is big and bright and has great resolution. The screen, which is also bigger than the one on the Sony, is high resolution and bright enough to see clearly—even in the middle of the day.

Autofocus

When it came to video tracking, I found the autofocus a little lacking on the Canon EOS R5. When filming the watches at sunset, we had to switch to using the Sony A7 IV as the R5 couldn’t differentiate between the reflection of the watch and the watch itself. That being said, I know the R5 has a huge amount of autofocus setup in the menus—the camera may have been set to the wrong mode, but we didn’t have the time to check.

Image quality and ISO

The image quality is great from both cameras. The colours from the Canon EOS R5 are awesome and will be familiar to anyone who has used a Canon digital camera before. The colours from Sony are a little less true-to-life, but only slightly, as Sony have updated their colour science to bring the A7 IV line with the competition.

We were also able to use both cameras for photos well before sunrise. I found I was able to get usable results up to about ISO 20,000 with the Canon EOS R5, whereas I could go up to 50,000 with the A7 IV. This is to be expected, as Sony has larger pixels due to its lower-resolution sensor and a new processor taken straight from the flagship Sony A1.

Video

For this trip, the main use of the Canon EOS R5 was for video. And the video specs are quite simply everything you could ever want. It shoots 8k at 30fps and 4k at 120fps—so, whatever you’re shooting, this camera has you covered.

When shooting in C-Log, we were able to pull ridiculous amounts of detail out of both overexposed highlights and underexposed shadows. Although the downside is that the bitrate is huge, due to there being so much data in the video. In 4k 120fps mode, a 128GB card isn’t going to last you much more than ten minutes of recording.

Video is slightly weaker from the Sony A7 IV, being limited to only 4k 60fps, but I found the S-Log3 from the Sony quite a lot nicer to grade, and it retained slightly more dynamic range than Canon C-Log.

Verdict

All in all, for this kind of commercial video and photo work, the Canon R5 and Sony A7 IV are both absolute units. They can only really be topped by the Sony A1, but that costs more than both the R5 and the A7 IV.

But, personally, I won’t switch to the R5. At the moment, I think the Sony FE mirrorless lens range is leagues ahead of the equivalent Canon RF mirrorless lenses. But if you’re someone who needs a workhorse camera and isn’t phased by the lack of lens choice, the Canon EOS R5 is one of the best all-around cameras on the market right now.

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This article is part of the MPB Guide to Travel Photography, our comprehensive look at the travel photography genre with advice, recommended camera equipment and interviews with some of the most exciting travel photographers today.