My poor 5dmk 3 has definitely seen better days, bits of the protective rubber have fallen off, it’s missing a label that tells you which setting it’s on (thankfully I know this camera so well that I know where its set anyway) and it has numerous cosmetic chips and scratches. After 7 years of shooting events in rain and dust, it shows its age but it still fires away as reliable as ever. I’m just not so sure for how much longer though. Enter the R5
The new R5 from Canon has just a few more (roll my eyes in sarcasm here) features than my 5d3. I’m not going to go into all that here as there are plenty of reviews and comparisons on the internet. But this does mean that I need to go out and get my head around the new buttons and new functions, to try and get the camera set up the way that I am comfortable with so I can change all my settings without thinking about it. Hence practice makes, maybe not perfect, but better at least.
I took myself off to one of my local bike tracks. It’s a great track for shooting with some super cool locations but of late the mosquito population there has gotten out of hand. It is right next to some wetlands but I don’t remember my first few shoots there being swamped by mosquitoes. Now to make matters worse it has been reported that Ross River Virus is present there. Its a nasty virus and definitely not something you want to get. Either way my days shooting there are done for the moment. It’s probably fine riding but when you are standing around waiting for riders the mosquitoes tend to mob you. I got a couple of shots there but then had to leave. If i go back to shoot again it will be set up with a rider where we go in and get the shots quickly and get out again
Still determined to get my practice in I took myself off to my local dirt jumps for an afternoon session and caught up with my friend Sam who I hadn’t seen for a while. Always a friendly fellow and always keen for a bit of DJ action. There was a fair-sized crew up there so plenty to shoot but I’ll be up more and more as I try to nail all the functions and settings on this new beast of mine.
Oh and so far all my impressions of the R5 are definitely positive. Below are a few shots from the day and you can find some more and grab yourself a copy here in the sessions gallery.
