Best Canon R5 Mark II Settings for Beginners: Change These First

The best Canon R5 Mark II settings for a beginner are the few that prevent surprise problems: check the Photo/Movie switch, pick the right shutter type, choose a burst speed you can handle, and let subject detection find eyes for you. If you need to, start in the full auto mode, then change one setting at a time until shooting outside auto feels normal.

Before you change anything: check the Photo/Movie switch

The R5 Mark II has a Photo/Movie Switch. The-Digital-Picture's reviewer points out that it sits in the same spot, and has the same shape, as the power switch on the original R5.

That reviewer reports often flipping the camera into movie mode before putting it in the bag. When they took it out again, the stills settings were not working properly, and they note the mistake can also drain the battery.

Make it a small habit. Look at that switch before you pack the camera and again when you take it out. If your photo settings suddenly seem wrong, check the switch first. Very experienced shooters make this mistake too, so don't be hard on yourself if it happens.

It is okay to start in full auto

The R5 Mark II includes Canon's fully automatic Scene Intelligent Auto A+ mode. The-Digital-Picture says a complete beginner can open the box, charge and insert the battery, put in a memory card, select this mode, and have a camera ready to shoot with point-and-shoot simplicity. The reviewer adds that the mode is simple to use but relies on powerful algorithms behind the scenes.

Think of auto as training wheels on a bike. They keep you upright while you learn where the pedals are. Take some photos in auto, then try the same scene with your own settings and compare. Every photo that turns out too dark or too blurry tells you something useful for the next one.

The three settings that make every photo

Before you change menus, it helps to know what the three main settings do. Here is the simple version.

Shutter speed: a door that opens and closes

Shutter speed is how long the door stays open. A quick open and close, like slamming a door, freezes a running dog in mid-air. A slow open and close lets movement smear into blur. If your photos of moving kids keep coming out blurry, a faster shutter speed is usually the first thing to try.

Aperture: the pupil of your eye

Aperture works like the pupil in your eye. A wide-open pupil lets in lots of light. A wide aperture also makes the background soft and blurry, which is the look many people want for portraits. A small aperture lets in less light and keeps more of the scene sharp from front to back.

ISO: the volume knob

ISO is like the volume knob on a speaker. Turn it up and the picture gets brighter, but you also get more grain, the way loud music gets crackly. Keep it as low as the light allows.

These three numbers work together, like syllables in a line of poetry. Change one and the others often need to shift to keep the photo balanced. One example from PetaPixel's underwater review lists a shot at f/22, 1/160 and ISO 100, taken with two strobes. That means a small opening, a fairly quick door and the volume turned all the way down. When you bring your own light, like those strobes, you can often keep ISO low.

For a gentle walkthrough of these ideas on any Canon body, see Best Canon Camera Settings for Beginners.

Setting 1: Mechanical or electronic shutter

The R5 Mark II gives you two ways to take a picture. A mechanical shutter uses a real moving curtain. An electronic shutter has no moving parts and lets the sensor do the job.

The camera's fastest shooting speeds require the electronic shutter. PetaPixel lists up to 30 frames per second of full-resolution RAW images with autofocus when you use it. Canon also says the viewfinder offers blackout-free shooting in electronic shutter mode, so the view doesn't flicker dark between frames.

There is a trade-off. Dynamic range is how well a photo holds detail in bright skies and dark shadows at once. In William Claff's testing at Photons to Photos, the R5 Mark II peaks at 11.45 with the mechanical shutter and drops to 10.92 with the electronic shutter. DPReview's testing found the electronic shutter comes with "an appreciable noise cost".

The-Digital-Picture saw a smaller gap in its own tests. Noise and overexposure results were indistinguishable between the two shutter types, and only strongly underexposed high-ISO shots slightly favored the first-curtain shutter.

Here is a simple rule to start with. For people standing still, landscapes and everyday photos, use the mechanical shutter. For sports, birds in flight or a dog chasing a ball, switch to the electronic shutter and take advantage of the speed.

Spec	Canon EOS R5	Canon EOS R5 Mark II
Resolution	45 megapixels	45 megapixels
Sensor design	Standard CMOS, not stacked or backside-illuminated	Back-illuminated stacked sensor
Top burst speed	20 fps	30 fps
Peak dynamic range, mechanical shutter	11.85 PDR	11.45 PDR
Peak dynamic range, electronic shutter	10.44 PDR	10.92 PDR

PetaPixel suggests the older R5 may even suit budget shooters who mainly do landscapes and portraits, thanks to its slightly better dynamic range.

Setting 2: Burst speed and Pre-Burst

Burst shooting means the camera keeps taking photos while you hold the button. The photos wait in a buffer, like a waiting room, before they move to your memory card.

In PetaPixel's first-impressions testing, the camera kept going for roughly 10 seconds at 12 fps, but slowed down after around three seconds at 30 fps. PetaPixel lists the buffer at 150 RAW+JPEG frames.

Start with the slower burst speed. It gives you plenty of chances to catch the moment without filling the camera, and you will have fewer nearly identical photos to sort through later. Save 30 fps for short bursts when something important is happening fast.

Pre-Burst is worth turning on for action. PetaPixel says it captures the half-second before you fully press the shutter, which helps you catch the moment you reacted a little too late for.

Setting 3: Autofocus that finds eyes for you

Blurry or soft photos are one of the most common beginner frustrations, and this camera's autofocus does a lot of the work for you. Subject detection means the camera recognizes what it is looking at and focuses on it.

PetaPixel reports AI subject detection with four specific animal options, dogs, cats, birds and horses, plus eye detection that works alongside them. The-Digital-Picture says the system can use body, head, eye, torso, joint position and even ball information when deciding where to focus. PetaPixel also notes new AI autofocus modes for specific sports.

Set subject detection to match what you are photographing. If it's your kid, pick people. If it's your dog, pick the animal setting. That one choice fixes many out-of-focus shots.

The system can also stay locked on. PetaPixel's underwater review says it keeps focus on your chosen subject even when something briefly passes in front, and the reviewers found it easier to hold focus on one sea lion while others swam past the camera.

Eye Control AF

The R5 Mark II has Eye Control AF, which lets you move the focus point by looking through the viewfinder. PetaPixel says you calibrate it to your eye first, then simply look where you want the camera to focus. One PetaPixel writer found it an intuitive way to start tracking a player in a crowded scene. You don't need it on day one. Try it once your basic settings feel comfortable.

PetaPixel also notes that the R5 Mark II uses the same simplified autofocus menu as the R1, and that the new layout takes some getting used to. If the menu feels strange at first, that's normal.

Native lenses help focus

You can use older EF lenses on the R5 Mark II with an adapter, but PetaPixel notes that many photographers prefer native RF lenses because autofocus performance can noticeably suffer with adapted glass. If an adapted lens keeps missing focus, the lens may be the cause rather than your technique.

Setting 4: File type, size and shape

A RAW file is like a bag of raw ingredients: you cook it yourself later in editing software. A JPEG is a finished meal, ready to share. Choose RAW if you plan to edit, and JPEG if you want photos you can send right away. You can also record both at once while you learn.

PetaPixel reports that in-camera AI upscaling can push 45-megapixel files up to 179 megapixels, but only for JPEG files. The camera also offers in-camera AI-powered denoising.

The sensor's native shape is 3:2, with 1:1, 4:3 and 16:9 also available. Leave it on 3:2. That keeps the whole sensor area, and you can crop to any shape afterward.

You have plenty of room to crop. A full-size photo is 8,192 x 5,464 pixels. PetaPixel calculates that an APS-C crop, about 1.6 times tighter, still leaves a 17.3-megapixel file.

Get the brightness right in the camera

DPReview found that when you push R5 Mark II RAW files shot at base ISO much brighter in editing, the shadows are noisier than the original R5's. So try not to rely on rescuing a dark photo later. If the picture looks too dark on the screen, slow the shutter a little, open the aperture or raise ISO before you take the next shot.

Setting 5: Memory cards, battery and small parts

The R5 Mark II has one CFexpress Type B slot and one UHS-II SD slot. The CFexpress slot uses the 2.0 standard rather than 4.0. If you plan to shoot long fast bursts, a fast card gives the camera a quicker place to send all those files.

The camera uses Canon's LP-E6P battery, which Canon says offers better battery life than the original R5. A spare battery is a good idea for a long day.

One heads-up if you add a flash: a PetaPixel reviewer found the new locking hot shoe cover very hard to remove. Being stiff doesn't mean you're doing it wrong. PetaPixel also notes the camera is sealed against rain and snow but is not waterproof.

When you flip the switch to video

Video is a bigger topic, but a few facts help before you try it. PetaPixel reports the R5 Mark II can shoot 8K at up to 60 frames per second in RAW. In that mode, PetaPixel measured around 23 minutes of recording at room temperature before the camera had to stop.

PetaPixel's early hands-on found that 4K at 30p is oversampled, while 4K 60p and 120p are subsampled and lose some image quality. For beginners, 4K at 30p is a good place to start.

The camera also offers C-Log2 for grading and a waveform display for checking exposure. If video is your main goal, PetaPixel notes that the EOS R5 C, released in 2022, added more video features and mostly solved the original R5's overheating problem.

Still deciding whether this camera fits what you shoot? Read Canon R5 Mark II: Is It Actually Worth It?

Where this camera comes from

PetaPixel traces Canon's EOS 5 Series back to the original 5D in 2005 and names the R5 Mark II as its newest member. PetaPixel also writes that the R5 Mark II fixed nearly all of the original R5's shortcomings, much like the 5D Mark III did for the 5D Mark II.

A gentle practice plan

Don't change everything in one afternoon. Pick one setting from this guide each day and spend a short walk shooting with it. On day one, try the mechanical and electronic shutters on the same scene. On day two, set subject detection to people or animals and photograph something that moves. On day three, practice getting the brightness right before you press the shutter.

If you came here looking for the R6 Mark II, the setup is similar in spirit, and Best Canon R6 Mark II Settings for Beginners covers that camera step by step. If you'd like a printable reminder for your camera bag, the settings cheat sheets in the theCamera.School store are made for exactly that.