Canon R5 Mark II Video Settings: Photo/Movie Switch, Frame Rates

The Canon EOS R5 Mark II has a Photo/Movie switch that flips the camera between stills and video, so you can set each side up for its own job. For video, choose your resolution and frame rate first, set the shutter speed to about double the frame rate, and then use aperture and ISO to get the brightness right.

This guide walks you through both sides of the camera in plain words. If you are still deciding whether this camera is right for you, read Canon R5 Mark II: Is It Actually Worth It? first.

What the Photo/Movie switch does

Think of your camera as a house with two rooms. One room is set up for taking pictures. The other room is set up for making movies. The Photo/Movie switch is the door between them.

The R5 Mark II uses a physical Photo/Movie switch to move between stills and movie mode. That means you can keep one setup for photos and a different setup for video, and you only flip a switch to change rooms.

The one habit that saves you

The-Digital-Picture's reviewer points out that the new Photo/Movie switch has the same position and shape as the original R5's power switch. That reviewer describes switching the camera into movie mode before putting it in the bag, then finding the stills settings not working properly later. The same review notes this mistake can also drain the battery.

If this happens to you, nothing is broken. Your photo settings are still waiting in the other room. Make it a habit: every time you pick up the camera, glance at the switch before you shoot, and every time you put it away, turn the power fully off.

Frame rates on the R5 Mark II, in plain words

A frame rate is like a flipbook. Each page is one picture. Flip 24 pages in one second and the drawing seems to move. More pages per second means smoother motion, and it also lets you slow things down later.

Here is what the reviews list for the R5 Mark II.

Resolution	Frame rate	What reviewers noted
8K RAW	Up to 60 fps	Listed in PetaPixel's full review
4K	Up to 30p	Oversampled, per PetaPixel's first impressions
4K	60p	Subsampled, image quality takes a hit
4K	Up to 120 fps	Useful for slow motion; subsampled

One note on 8K. PetaPixel's first-impressions article was written on early firmware with some bugs. That article listed 8K up to 30p in RAW or compressed H265 10-bit 4:2:2, and PetaPixel's launch article listed DCI 8K/30p. PetaPixel's later full review and its underwater review both list 8K at up to 60 frames per second. Look at the movie menu on your own camera to see exactly what it offers.

Oversampled vs subsampled

Oversampled video is like drawing a picture on a big sheet of paper and then shrinking it. Shrinking makes the lines look crisp. Subsampled video is like drawing on the small sheet and skipping a few lines to finish faster. It still works, but it is a bit less sharp.

In PetaPixel's early testing, 4K up to 30p was oversampled, while 4K 60p and 120p were subsampled. The same article noted that none of the 4K modes needed a crop.

Which frame rate to pick

• 24 or 30 fps: everyday video. Talking, travel, family moments. This is your home base.
• 60 fps: a little slow motion when you play it back at normal speed.
• 120 fps: real slow motion for fast things. PetaPixel's underwater review points to 4K at 120 fps for slowing down quick-moving subjects.
• 8K: extra room to zoom in later. PetaPixel's underwater team noted that 8K lets you crop down to 4K for more reach.

If you are not sure, start at 24 or 30 fps in 4K. You can try the faster settings once the basics feel easy.

Shutter speed for video vs photos

Shutter speed is like a door opening and closing. A door that snaps shut fast lets in a tiny peek of light. A door that stays open longer lets in more light, and anything moving gets smeared.

Photos and video want different things from that door, which is exactly why the separate Photo and Movie setups help.

Shutter speed for video

A common starting point many video shooters use: set the shutter speed to about twice your frame rate. For example, 24 or 25 fps goes with about 1/50, and 30 fps goes with 1/60. At 60 fps, try 1/125. At 120 fps, try 1/250.

Why this works: a little bit of blur on each frame makes motion look smooth, the way your eyes see it. If the shutter is much faster, movement can look choppy, like a stop-motion toy. If it is much slower, things look smeary.

Once you lock the shutter, leave it alone. Change brightness with the other two settings instead.

Shutter speed for photos

For photos, the goal is usually to freeze the moment. Faster is better for moving kids, pets, and sports. Slower can work for still subjects when your hands are steady.

The-Digital-Picture's reviewer describes using manual mode with auto ISO for much of his photography, which makes adjusting the shutter speed for changing scenes a quick roll of the dial. This is a friendly way to leave auto mode: you pick the shutter speed and aperture, and the camera picks the ISO for you.

The R5 Mark II can shoot up to 30 RAW frames per second with full autofocus using the electronic shutter. The-Digital-Picture ran its buffer test at 1/32000 with the electronic shutter. PetaPixel found that at 12 fps the camera could keep going for roughly 10 seconds, while at 30 fps it slowed after around three seconds. Short bursts usually work better than holding the button down.

The camera also has a pre-capture burst mode that saves up to 15 frames, about half a second, from before you fully press the button. That helps if you tend to press a little late.

Mechanical vs electronic shutter for stills

Dynamic range is like a bucket that holds both the bright sky and the dark shadows. A bigger bucket holds more of both.

Camera and shutter	Peak dynamic range (Photons to Photos)
R5, mechanical	11.85
R5 Mark II, mechanical	11.45
R5 Mark II, electronic	10.92
R5, electronic	10.44

DPReview's testing found that the electronic shutter on the R5 Mark II comes with "an appreciable noise cost". The-Digital-Picture's tests found the electronic and mechanical results indistinguishable for noise and overexposure, with only strongly underexposed high-ISO shots slightly favoring the mechanical side.

Here is a simple way to choose. Use the electronic shutter for fast action, where speed matters most. Use the mechanical shutter for landscapes and portraits, where you might brighten dark shadows later. If you use flash, PetaPixel's underwater review notes the electronic shutter syncs with strobes at 1/160.

Rolling shutter

Rolling shutter is when a fast-moving pole or car looks bent or leaning. The camera reads the picture line by line, like reading a page from top to bottom, and the subject moves while it reads.

PetaPixel notes that the R5 Mark II's new stacked sensor removes a lot of rolling shutter issues while recording video. PetaPixel measured its readout speed at approximately 1/125 of a second.

A simple starting plan for each side of the switch

Photo side

• Try manual mode with auto ISO, or aperture priority if manual still feels like a lot.
• Pick a shutter speed fast enough to freeze your subject.
• Choose the electronic shutter for action and the mechanical shutter for slower, careful shots.

Movie side

• Choose 4K at 24 or 30 fps to start.
• Set the shutter to about double the frame rate and leave it there.
• Control brightness with aperture and ISO.

Aperture works like the pupil of your eye. It opens wide in the dark and gets small in bright sun. ISO is like turning up the volume on the light. Turn it up too far and you get grainy "static" called noise.

On a bright sunny day, your video may still be too bright even with a small aperture and low ISO, because the shutter is locked. An ND filter fixes this. It is like sunglasses for your lens.

Many of the same ideas carry over to Canon's other bodies. If you also shoot an R6 Mark II, see Best Canon R6 Mark II Settings for Beginners.

Video tools that help you get exposure right

• Waveform: PetaPixel notes the R5 Mark II has waveform support to meter your exposure. A waveform is a graph of brightness. Low on the graph is dark, high is bright.
• C-Log2: the R5 Mark II adds C-Log2 recording. PetaPixel's early testing found the files had decent dynamic range and could be graded well. Log footage looks dull straight out of the camera, like an uncolored drawing, and you add the color later.
• Tally lamp: a light that tells the person on camera that recording has started.
• Ports: a full-size HDMI port, a mic jack, and a headphone jack.
• Flip screen: the 3.2-inch screen can flip to the side and rotate so you can see yourself while recording.
• Stabilization: The-Digital-Picture notes up to 8.5 stops of shake correction, which helps both stills and video.

If log feels confusing right now, skip it. A normal picture style is perfectly fine while you learn frame rates and shutter speed.

Heat, grips and long recordings

PetaPixel reported that the original R5 lasted about 20 minutes at 8K and 4K/120p in its initial tests before shutting down. At launch, PetaPixel said it did not yet know how the R5 Mark II would handle heat. During PetaPixel's cold-water underwater filming, mostly in 4K/60p, the camera never showed a heat warning.

Canon's CF-R20EP grip has a cooling fan and an Ethernet port but no extra battery power. Canon also makes the BG-R20 vertical battery grip. The R5 Mark II uses Canon's LP-E6P battery, which PetaPixel says promises improved battery life over the original R5.

If you already own the older BG-R10 grip, The-Digital-Picture notes it fits the R5 Mark II but does not support 8K DCI, 8K UHD, RAW video, or SRAW, and it does not support the fastest frame rates or the LP-E6P batteries.

If most of your work is long video recordings, the EOS R5 C is another option to look at. PetaPixel notes it upped the video features while mostly solving the original R5's overheating problem.

Take your time with all of this. Learn one side of the switch, then the other. Every shaky clip or dark photo is just a clue that shows you which setting to change next.