Recommended Canon EOS R5 Settings

Canon released two versions of its high-end mirrorless camera, the EOS R5 and R6. While the 20-megapixel R6 is aimed to be a general-purpose tool, the Canon EOS R5 is much more specialized thanks to its high-resolution 45-megapixel sensor that is capable of shooting 8K video. As a result, it is a fairly sophisticated camera with a complex menu system and controls. In this article, I am going to share my recommended camera settings for the Camon EOS R5, which will hopefully make it easy for our readers to get started with this camera.

Canon EOS R5

It is important to point out that while the settings below work great for my needs, there are other ways to set up and configure the camera.

Before we delve into the camera menu, let’s first go over all the exterior controls. The Canon EOS R5 has many menu options, but there are some things that you can only do via specific buttons and controls.

Top Buttons and Controls

Just like most other Canon DSLRs, the EOS R5 has a very simple and uncluttered front, with a single programmable button that is by default used for exposure preview. The top of the camera, however, has a number of dials and function buttons that make it easy to switch between different camera modes and settings.

Here they are, from left to right:

  1. Power On / Off Switch: self-explanatory.
  2. Shutter Release Button: by default, half-pressing the shutter release activates autofocus, while fully pressing it takes a picture. You can change the behavior to disable autofocus on half-press in order to use back-button focusing (explained further down in the article).
  3. Multi-Function (M-Fn) Button: this button is used to quickly change important camera settings, such as ISO, drive mode, AF operation, white balance, and exposure compensation (items customizable via menu).
  4. Vertical Dial: used for changing shutter speed or aperture, depending on which camera mode you are in. Also used for changing specific button and quick menu settings.
  5. Video Record Button: for starting and stopping movie capture.
  6. Lock Button: used for locking camera controls (customizable via menu).
  7. Top LCD Info Switching / Illumination Button: for illuminating the top LCD screen in dark environments and for switching top LCD information.
  8. Mode Button / Horizontal Dial: the mode button along with the horizontal dial by default are used for changing camera modes, which display on the top LCD. These controls are also used for changing some camera settings in the menu.

Rear Buttons

The rear of the Canon EOS R5 has a bunch of buttons and dials that serve particular needs. Let’s go over these in detail.

To the left of the electronic viewfinder (EVF), you will find two buttons, while to the right of the EVF there are a total of 13 buttons and dials, as explained in detail below:

  1. Rate / Voice Memo Button: used to rank images from 1 to 5 when viewing images, or for recording voice memos.
  2. Menu Button: used to access the camera menu.
  3. Joystick: this is what you will be using to move focus points and reset them. The joystick can also be used for navigating the camera menu, as well as navigating through a played-back image while zoomed in.
  4. AF-ON Button: used to engage autofocus. This is the button you will be pressing if you want to set up back-button focusing.
  5. AE Lock Button (star label): used to the exposure, which can be useful for keeping the exposure consistent between shots or when shooting panoramas.
  6. AF Point Button (rectangle with five dots label): used for switching between different autofocus modes, as well as for moving the focus point. By default, the rear rotary dial will move focus points vertically, while the top vertical dial will move focus points horizontally. Since the joystick is so much better for moving focus points, I set up my vertical dial so that it allows quickly moving between autofocus modes, instead of having to press the M-Fn button (explained in the menu section below).
  7. Magnifying Glass Button: used for zooming into the image when taking pictures, or when viewing images. I set up mine to zoom to 100% (actual pixels) when I press this button, so that I can instantly see if my captured image is sharp or not. It is also very useful to be able to zoom in to 100% view in the viewfinder when capturing images, to ensure that your subject is in focus.
  8. “INFO” Button: a very useful button that allows toggling between different information screens when capturing images, or when viewing them.
  9. “Q” Button: a very handy button for making quick adjustments to the camera settings. It gives you access to ten important camera settings including: autofocus modes, AF operation, image quality, drive mode, metering mode, anti-flicker detection, white balance, picture style, auto lighting optimizer and cropping / aspect ratio. Unfortunately, it is impossible to customize the Q button at this time.
  10. Large Rotary Dial: by default, this dial is used to adjust exposure compensation when taking pictures. It can also be used to navigate the camera menu, or to adjust the aperture when shooting in manual mode.
  11. Set Button: primarily used for adjusting camera settings in the menu, but can be customized to perform a specific function when used during shooting.
  12. Playback Button: used for playing back images.
  13. Trash Button: used for deleting images during image playback.

Let’s go through the camera Menu settings now.

Shoot Menu 1

Here are the settings I use for Camera Menu 1, with explanations:

Shoot Menu 2

Shoot Menu 3

Shoot Menu 4

Shoot Menu 5

Shoot Menu 6

Shoot Menu 7

Shoot Menu 8

Autofocus Menu 1

Autofocus Menu 2

Autofocus Menu 3

Here, you will find 4 Cases or “templates” to use in different situations. These cases are basically four different combinations of two settings: “Tracking sensitivity” and “Acceleration/deceleration tracking”:

Although these cases can be very useful in different situations, I found Case 1 and “Auto” to work best as the default setting.

The nice thing about the above cases, is that you can actually fine-tune each one of them to suit your needs by modifying the two setting parameters.

Autofocus Menu 4

Autofocus Menu 5

Playback Menu 1, 2, 3 and 4

Playback menus are used for altering images after they are captured. I normally do not mess with these and leave the settings in Playback Menu 1, 2 and 3 at default. The only settings I change are in Playback Menu 4 and 5. First, I make sure that “Magnification (apx)” is set to “Actual size”, so that I am looking at 100% view when I view images and press the magnification glass button on the back of the camera. And second, I change “Image jump with rotary dial” to “Display images one by one”. This way, whether I turn the top or the rear dials, both will display images one by one without skipping.

Playback Menu 5

The playback menu 5 has some important settings that I often use:

Network 1 and 2

This section is used for managing WiFi / Bluetooth connections. I don’t really use this feature, so I have “Airplane mode” turned On to preserve battery life.

Setup Menu 1

Setup Menu 2

Setup Menu 3

Setup Menu 4

Setup Menu 5

Custom Functions 1

Custom Functions menu is used to fine-tune the many parameters of the camera. Some of them are very important and should not be messed with, while others make it easier to use the camera. Let’s go through each one of them, one by one.

Custom Functions 2

Custom Functions 3

Custom Functions 4

Custom Functions 5

My Menu

The “My Menu” section of the menu allows you to copy any of the menu settings into this area for quick access. Personally, I like having some of the camera features here, such as “Focus bracketing”, “Interval timer”, “Bulb timer”, “Shutter mode”, “Subject to detect” and “Eye detection”, as I access these settings quite a bit. Feel free to add / remove settings that you use the most.

Movie Menu

If you switch the camera mode to Movie, the menu changes quite a bit, showing many more options. But I am not going to go through those settings, as they are outside the scope of this guide.

I hope you found this article useful. Once again, these are settings that work for me and they might not necessarily suit your needs. It is best that you explore your camera and learn about each setting as much as you can in order to take advantage of all the available features and customizations!

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