Canon R5 vs R3 Comparison

Looking into getting a new Canon mirrorless but stuck on whether to go with the Canon R5 vs. R3? There's nothing better than some real-life examples to help you make that decision. With that said, our good friend Dan is back on deck to share his experience shooting a wedding with both models.

USABILITY

What is immediately noticeable is that the R3 is significantly heavier than the R5. It has a larger body with a larger screen and a larger battery. The R3 weighs in at 1015 grams which is just over two pounds, whereas the R5 comes in at 738 grams. Over a full day of shooting, that can add up pretty quickly, however, most of that extra weight in the R3 comes from the larger battery which also gives it better battery life than the R5. I was able to use one single e19 battery on the R3 for the entire day. I didn't even have to change it out whereas on the R5 we had to swap batteries two or three times during the course of the wedding. Moving on, switching between photo and video is where the R3 really really shines. The dedicated photo and video switch on the back of the switches back and forth so fast that you barely even know that it's toggling between modes. Best of all, it saves settings so you can switch between the two modes super easily. Speaking of slow-mo, both cameras do have 4k 120 however I did think that the R3s slo-mo just rendered a little bit better to me.  Both of these cameras do shoot raw video the r5 shoots 8k and the r3 shoots 6k raw to me having 6k at 60 frames per second is a little bit more usable than having 8k at 30 frames per second.

LOW LIGHT

I'm just going to come out and say it right away the R3 is much better at low light than the R5 and the reason for that is the two different sensors.  While the R5 does have a higher megapixel sensor, it's a 45-megapixel sensor versus the 24  the R3.  This means the R3's individual pixels are going to be larger. It's a bit of a weird effect to explain, but because the sensors don't have as many pixels in them, they're larger and will look better in lower light. That's not to say that the R5 is bad in low light, but when you put it next to the R3 it's a noticeable difference.

AUTOFOCUS

Both the R3 and the R5 have 1053 phase-detection points and it uses the same autofocus system. For all intents and purposes, the autofocus performance on both of these cameras is going to be about the same. Now the only place where I noticed a little bit of difference was in low light. We can chalk most of this up to the fact that the R3 can literally see better in low light. If you go in either direction, you can be assured that both cameras have incredible auto focusing systems and Canon's new autofocus is simply out of this world.

FINAL VERDICT

Ultimately, your primary use as either a photographer or a videographer might be the best way to decide whether the R3 or the R5 is the right route to go. What's the final verdict? Check out the full video and see which model is right for you!