Canon EOS M5 (mirrorless) by Ken "Max" Parks

About 18 months ago, Canon introduced a newly designed mirrorless DSLR camera called the M5, and it was quite different from the other Canon models. I waited for the price drop. Then I sold my 80D which I hardly used (only 383 shutter releases) so as to make the purchase of a used M5.

The major advantage I found was the weight and footprint of the M5 was much lighter and smaller than the clunky 80D and 7D Mark II.


This is very good for travel photography. I had looked at Olympus and Nikon, but that would require purchasing all new set of lenses. With a third party adapter, I can use all of my Canon lenses, still using auto-focus (AF). It was a no-brainer decision.


<--- The size differences of the M5compared to a 7DMark II with battery grip




The Canon EOS M5 uses the same 24.2 Mp sensor as the 80D... I like that! And this is built around the dual-pixel APS-C sensor giving it depth-aware focus in any part of the frame as one chooses. I keep the focus mainly in the center by using the back touch screen. Unlike all other M-series cameras, the M5 has an electronic view finder (EVF). And then there are several external controls, including twin control dials, that work in conjunction with the well designed touchscreen.

In comparison to Sony's a6000 and a6300, the direct controls put it above and ahead and making it more comfortable to use. It is on the same par with Panasonic's GX85. In addition, these cameras aim to offer still and video capabilities with relatively small and light weight bodies with quality level of direct external controls. I like the option of using this feature and the touchscreen.

Key Specifications of the M5

• 24MP Dual Pixel APS-C CMOS Sensor
• 2.36M-dot OLED electronic viewfinder
• 1.62M-dot tilting rear touchscreen
• Electronic video stabilization combines with in-lens IS to give 5-axis IS
• 7 fps continuous shooting (9 fps with focus and exposure locked)
• Wi-Fi with always-connected Bluetooth
  

Canon offers a few M-series lenses, but I found them to be expensive, slow f-stops, cheaply built, and made in China (plastic mounts as opposed to the more reliable metal mounts). Although heavier, the Canon EF and EF-S lenses work quite well including the AF with an adapter. There are third party makers, such as 7artisan that makes manual focus and yet fast lenses. I have yet to see the quality differences of the 7artisan lenses as compared to the Canon lenses.

There is an adapter for the older OM Zuiko lenses of which I have many to fit on to the M5. Albeit manual focus, the Zuiko glass is faster, such as the 55mm f/1.2, and still maintains quality images. Because of the 1.6x factor, the 55mm is equivalent to a 83mm and is excellent for portrait work.

Amazingly in this small camera body, the M5 has 4 dials in total: two main dials on the top of the camera, an exposure compensation dial and a 4^th encircling the four-way controller on the back side of the camera. In comparison to the previous M-series models, this offers greater flexibility for the user to have a higher level of direct control. This has provided for me a much more hands-on control in my shooting experience; I prefer to set the mode of operation to aperture preferred or sometimes fully manual, aperture and shutter speeds.

Later on, I will be using this camera for shooting video Bible lessons. I'm not interested in super high quality 4K video capability, but still have the video quality necessary for Facebook and YouTube. What I find desirable is the ability to use the touchscreen to re-position the focus point with a high level of confidence in that the camera will smoothly glide the focus to the right point.

There are a few annoyances, such as the position of the red video record button. Sometimes, I accidentally hit the button while shooting stills. I rendered a fix by turning off the button and reapplying the video-record feature to the M-fn button located on the top of the camera. I also added a small metal brace so that my right palm would be further away from the body and not interfere with shooting stills and hitting some other button on the backside with my thumb.

The battery life is short as compared to other cameras, only 295 shots. But I have set the camera for ECO mode which saves on power and can get up to 350 shots. There is no battery grip capabilities for this lightweight camera (2 batteries). I just happen to carry four more spare batteries.

For landscape and architecture photography, the M5 has high definition resolution (HDR), adjustable range out to 2 full stops, and high speed shots, 9 frames per second.

For wedding photography, the clunky 7D Mark II with a battery grip (>800 shots) and the ability to record dual card shooting, will still be the primary, and the M5 (80D replacement) will be the secondary camera.

I believe mirrorless cameras (no need for internal mechanical mirror shaking) will become the wave of the future. Canon has recently introduced the EOS R, a full frame mirrorless 30mp DSLR camera and can easily replace the 5D Mark IV.

Keep on shooting!