Canon EOS M5 - Zhuhai Pos Printer Group Co.,Ltd

On the whole the EOS M5 is a nice little addition to the mirrorless camera market, although so far Canon has only produced seven EF-M lenses, three of which have plastic mounts (typical of cheap lenses). In contrast, users of M4/3 cameras have almost as many lenses to choose from as buyers of the major DSLR brands and many of them are of professional quality. Fujifilm and Sony are quickly filling out their lens portfolios, aided in both cases by a number of third-party manufacturers and, again, there are plenty of pro-quality lenses to choose from. So it seems we’re still waiting for Canon to get serious about its mirrorless products.

These issues aside, the EOS M5 is a nice little camera that is fun to use and great for taking stills shots. It's a pity better EF-M lenses aren't available. While you can fit regular EF and EF-S lenses via the EF-EOS M adapter, most of them are a bit too big and bulky to provide a comfortable balance and don't complement the ‘smaller, lighter’ concept that underpins the EOS M design.

This review follows on from the EOS M5 First Look review we published in September 2016 before the camera was released for sale. In this final review we will concentrate upon testing how the camera handles and performs. For our tests, we have been supplied with the EF-M 15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM lens, one of the kit options that will be available with the camera.

The new Canon EOS M5 with the EF-M 15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM lens. (Source: Canon.)

We also received the EF-M 55-200mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM, which will be reviewed separately, plus an EF-EOS M mount adapter and the EF 50mm f/1.4 lens, which was reviewed in September 2012 and EF 35-135mm f/4-5.6 .

The EOS M5 is the fifth model in Canon's mirrorless camera line-up, which began in July 2012 with the EOS M. An entry-level model, the EOS M10 (which we didn't review), was released in October 2015, following the EOS M3, which we reviewed in May 2015. The table below compares the three models we’ve reviewed.

EOS M5

EOS M3

EOS M

Announced

September 2016

February 2015

July 2012

Resolution

24.2 megapixels

18.0 megapixels

Pixel pitch

3.72 microns

4.30 microns

Image processor

DIGIC 7

DIGIC 6

DIGIC 5

AF points

Focus peaking

Yes

Shutter speed range

30-1/4000 second

60-1/4000 second

Max. Burst speed

9 fps

4.2 fps

4.3 fps

Buffer capacity

26 JPEG

100 JPEG, 4 CR2.RAW

15 JPEG, 6 CR2.RAW

Monitor screen

Tiltable (up 85o; down 180o)

Tiltable (180 degrees)

Fixed

Integrated Wi-Fi

Yes, with NFC

Built-in flash

Yes, GN 5 (ISO 100, meters)

Viewfinder

0.39-type 2,360,000-dot OLED EVF

Yes, Optional EVF-DC1

Body dimensions (wxhxd)

115.6 x 89.2 x 60.6 mm

110.9 x 68.0 x 44.4 mm

108.6 x 66.5 x 32.3 mm

Weight with battery and card

427 grams

366 grams

300 grams

The category has evolved gradually over time but it was only with the release of the EOS M5 that serious photographers could find a camera attractive enough to entice them. As we noted in our reviews of previous EOS M models, the lack of an integrated viewfinder would prevent us from buying any camera "" or recommending it to Australian photographers.

The EVF in the M5 is one of the best we’ve encountered and based upon the one in the PowerShot G5 X. It's sharp, colour rich and has a fast refresh rate. There's a slider for dioptre correction just below the eyepiece and an eye sensor on the right hand side of the eyepiece lens.

Nevertheless, in many respects Canon still lags behind Fujifilm, Olympus, Panasonic and Sony in producing versatile and highly portable interchangeable lens camera systems that serious enthusiasts and professional photographers can enjoy.

HandlingIn the hands, the EOS M5 feels like a cross between the PowerShot G5 X and Canon's smallest DSLR, the EOS 100D. Aside from being smaller, lighter and easier to carry than the equivalent DSLR, the biggest difference you notice between the EOS M3 and M5 models is the viewfinder.

The grip is just large enough for users with average-sized hands but not too big for those with smaller hands and/or shorter fingers. Rubber-like cladding across the front and side panels extends around to the back panel, where it meets the monitor screen. Together they provide comfortable and secure handling.

Although the camera can be used single-handed, its design makes it more suitable for two-handed use, particularly when you fit a zoom lens. The shutter button and surrounding main dial sit naturally under your index finger, while the exposure compensation dial, which is located in the rear right hand corner of the top panel, is easily accessed by your thumb.

The control layout is logical and will be familiar to anyone who has used a Canon camera and the menu system follows Canon's standard practices. We’d like to have seen a fully-articulated monitor screen, but the tilting screen allows for a decent range of shooting angles.

We’re also a bit disappointed that Canon has packed the memory card slot into the battery compartment, a practice common with low-end cameras. Battery capacity isn't all that flash, either, but similar to other mirrorless cameras and the M5 includes ECO mode and Power Saving settings that can help to conserve battery power.

The new Touch and Drag function for AF point selection lets you move the AF frame by dragging a fingertip across the monitor while using the viewfinder. It's similar to functions provided in the latest Olympus an Panasonic cameras and works quite well once you’ve sorted out whether to use your right thumb or a finger of your left hand. (We preferred the latter.)

You have to engage touch & drag AF via the shooting menu and choose between Absolute and Relative positions and how much of the screen you want active. Face detection AF is available and focus peaking can be used to improve manual focusing accuracy.

Sensor and Image Processing The 24.2-megapixel CMOS sensor in the EOS M5 is virtually identical to the sensor in the EOS 80D and both feature Canon's Dual Pixel AF technology, using embedded phase-detection pixels to provide 45 all-cross-type AF points. The M5 benefits from the newer DIGIC 7 processor chip, which supports a sensitivity range of ISO 100-25600 and enables the camera to be used for panning, HDR (high dynamic range) capture and time-lapse recording.

Canon has cut back the 80D's recording mode options in the M5, which only supports one CR2.RAW size. There are four size options for JPEGs, each with two compression levels, the S2 size only offering one compression setting. Users can also choose from four aspect ratios: the standard 3:2 plus 4:3, 1:1 and 16:9 aspect ratios, achieved by cropping. The table below provides a guide to the pixel array sizes for 3:2 aspect ratio images.

Image size/ Compression

Pixels

File format

File size

L/ Fine

6000 x 4000

JPEG

8.85MB

L/ Normal

5.85MB

M/ Fine

3984 x 2656

5.15MB

M/ Normal

3.42MB

S1/ Fine

2976 x 1984

3.40MB

S1/ Normal

2.39MB

1920 x 1280

1.97MB

RAW

6000 x 4000

CR2.RAW

38.46MB

For a late-2016 mirrorless camera the EOS M5 offers little to movie shooters, when compared with cameras currently available and soon-to-be-released from Olympus, Panasonic and Sony. All these manufacturers have models with 4K video support, some to a near-professional level.

Fujifilm is the only other manufacturer sticking with Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) for its APS-C mirrorless cameras. No details have been published yet about the video capabilities of the up-coming GFX 50S medium-format camera but it's in a completely different category from SLR substitutes like the EOS M5.

Only four movie settings are provided in the M5: Full HD at 50 fps, Full HD at 25 fps, HD at 50 fps and VGA at 25 fps. Autofocusing defaults to face detection plus tracking, although Smooth zone AF and 1-point AF are available and manual focusing can be selected. Touch-and-drag AF is also supported.

Movie recordings can be triggered and stopped by pressing the red movie button just above the arrow pad on the rear panel, regardless of which shooting mode is selected on the mode dial. By default, soundtracks are recorded, although audio recording can be switched off, if desired.

You can't monitor the sound levels while recording a movie but there are controls for checking audio levels in the menu before recording starts or after it is ended. A wind attenuator is available on the same page of the menu.

Movies can be played back on the monitor screen and the camera allows slow motion playback without audio, skipping between frames and clips and simple editing functions like trimming the ends of clips and compressing movie sizes.

Connectivity Like most modern cameras, the EOSM5 comes with built-in Wi-Fi, which allows the camera to interface with a smart device. Three types of connections are supported: via Bluetooth, via NFC (Android devices only) and via the camera's Wi-Fi menu. You must install the Camera Connect app on the smart device before connecting the camera.

Once Wi-Fi is set up it can be used to connect the camera to the CANON iMAGE GATEWAY service, where an account must be set up requiring your email address and a four-digit password. Other web services can also be used for uploading images.

Wi-Fi can be used for connecting the M5 to another Canon camera or a compatible printer. The camera can also be controlled from the smart device's screen using either Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.

Other connections include the standard Micro USB (v. 2.0 only), HDMI micro Type D and a 3.5mm stereo jack for an external microphone. They are located beneath lift-up rubber covers on either side of the camera body.

Playback and SoftwareBoth are essentially the same as with other recently-released EOS DSLRs. Like most manufacturers, Canon supplies the software for managing and editing images and video clips via a free download service that is accessed from a central website (www.canon.com/icpd). Instructions for downloading the software can be found on page 3 of the printed, 131-page Getting Started manual supplied with the camera.

The same page also provides a link for downloading the full user manual in PDF format. It's a 10.4 MB file and contains 222 pages (including replicas of the printed Getting Started manual).

Performance We expected decent performance from the EOS M5 we received to review since so many of its key features and functions have been derived from the EOS 80D camera. In the main, we weren't disappointed, even though neither of the two EOS M kit lenses supplied with the camera were stellar performers.

There have been some improvements to both autofocusing and metering (which are linked). Canon's Dual Pixel CMOS AF technology has been ported across from the EOS 80D where it speeds up acquisition and improves accuracy, even though the AF settings are limited when compared with what you get in the DSLR camera.

Assessed critically, the M5's system is neither as fast nor as precise as the AF systems in recent mirrorless cameras from other manufacturers. But it's noticeably better than previous EOS Ms and it helps that the camera can be rigged not to fire the shutter if the subject is too close to focus or in situations where focus is difficult to find.

Imatest showed the review camera to be capable of exceeding expectations for the 24.2-megapixel sensor; by a small margin for JPEGs and a larger one for CR2.RAW files, which were converted into 16-bit TIFF format with Canon's Digital Photo Professional raw file converter. Just before we published this review, Adobe updated Camera Raw to include the EOS M5 but we didn't see any need to re-process the raw files from our tests. The graph below shows the results of our Imatest tests across the camera's sensitivity range.

Test shots were almost noise-free up to ISO 3200, after which both noise and softening became increasingly visible in long exposures. By ISO 12800, both noise and softening were obvious when images were enlarged even slightly. One second exposures at ISO 25600 were very soft and granular looking.

The built-in flash produced slightly under-exposed shots with the 45mm focal length at ISO 100 but managed correct exposures between ISO 200 and ISO 3200 (inclusive), thereafter producing increasing levels of over-exposure up to the top ISO settings (which were grossly over-exposed). Adjustments appear to be achieved by controlling the flash output, since a consistent 1/60 second at f/5.6 exposure was maintained throughout the sensitivity range.

Auto white balance performance was about average for a current camera and it's notable that the EOS M5 lacks the Ambience priority setting provided in even Canon's entry-level DSLR model. The auto setting failed to completely remove the warm cast of incandescent lighting in our test set-up but fared a little better under fluorescent lighting. Flash lighting delivered a neutral colour balance.

All three pre-sets over-corrected slightly but manual measurement produced neutral colour rendition. There are enough manual adjustments available in the menu to allow on-the-spot corrections to be made and most editing software provides automatic quick corrections.

Video quality was similar to the recordings we made with the EOS M3 and acceptable (although not outstanding) when recordings were made in normal light levels. Unfortunately, clips recorded in contrasty lighting tended to have blocked-up shadows and blown-out highlights occurred when the subject brightness range was very wide.

The camera's autofocusing system was fast and accurate when subjects were static and usually able to keep pace with slow-moving subjects, resulting in clips in which there were few lapses in focusing "" or exposure. But it had problems tracking fast-moving subjects, particularly if the motion was erratic.

Audio quality was similar to the quality we obtained from the EOS M3 and good for the size and location of the built-in microphones. Some wind noise was picked up when shooting outdoors, although the wind filter was able to suppress noises from gentle breezes. No camera noises were detected in movie soundtracks.

We conducted our timing tests with a 16GB Panasonic Gold Series SDHC Class 10/UHS Class 3 card which supports a read speed of up to 95MB/s and write speeds up to 45MB/s. This is the fastest SDHC card in our collection.

Powering up the camera is delayed by the need to unlock the lens, which takes between one and two seconds. If the lens was unlocked, the review camera took approximately half a second to be ready for shooting.

We measured an average capture lag of 0. 1 seconds when the shutter button was used to trigger the exposure and 0.2 seconds with the touch shutter. This lag was eliminated with pre-focusing when the shutter button was used but remained unchanged for the touch shutter.

Shot-to-shot times averaged 0.65 second without flash and 1.6 seconds when the flash was used. The camera has no indicator light to show image processing times but the monitor returned to live view roughly 2.8 seconds after a Large/Fine JPEG or CR2.RAW file was recorded.

In the continuous shooting mode the review camera recorded 31 Large/Fine JPEGs in 3.4 seconds before slowing down. This is equal to a capture rate of just over nine frames/second as is specified for the camera.

With CR2.RAW files, the capture rate slowed after 17 frames, which were recorded in 1.7 seconds, matching the specified frame rate. The same rate and buffer capacity applied when we switched to recording RAW+JPEG pairs. It took approximately 13 seconds for the monitor returned to live view after each of these continuous bursts.

Conclusion On the whole the EOS M5 is a nice little addition to the mirrorless camera market, although we feel it's the camera Canon should have delivered when it launched the EOS M3 almost two years ago. In many respects, the EOS M is a saga of missed opportunities and Canon's lack of foresight into how the camera market was evolving coupled with a lack of confidence in the integrity of its DSLR offerings.

Had Canon produced the M5 back in July 2012, when the original EOS M was announced, it would have established a powerful base in the mirrorless market and issued a challenge to Fujifilm, Olympus, Panasonic and Sony, who were all making names for themselves with cameras like the X-Pro1, OM-D E-M5, Lumix DMC-G5 and NEX-6. Subsequent cameras from Fujifilm, Olympus, Panasonic and Sony have continued to push development boundaries and the latest models from all four manufacturers include 4K video (with Panasonic offering it on almost all the cameras they produce). Many models from these manufacturers also come with weather sealing, a feature missing from the EOS M5.

So far Canon has only produced seven EF-M lenses, three of which have plastic mounts (typical of cheap lenses). In contrast, users of M4/3 cameras have almost as many lenses to choose from as buyers of the major DSLR brands and many of them are of professional quality. Fujifilm and Sony are quickly filling out their lens portfolios, aided in both cases by a number of third-party manufacturers and, again, there are plenty of pro-quality lenses to choose from. So it seems we’re still waiting for Canon to get serious about its mirrorless products.

The prices listed in Canon's local online store are also relatively high, even though the company currently has an AU$100 cashback offer listed for the body alone. Most local re-sellers are offering both the body and the single-lens kit for substantially less and it's possible to match the US price if you shop around. And that AU$100 cashback offer will apply while it lasts.

Shipping the camera from the US will cost between about AU$50 and AU$130, which should be factored in when assessing off-shore purchasing. And remember if you buy off-shore, you won't qualify for the local cashback offer, you’ll have to pay 10% GST to import the camera in addition to any insurance and shipping costs and you won't get the benefits of local consumer protection laws.

Image sensor: 22.3 x 14.9 mm CMOS sensor with 15.8 million photosites (24.2 megapixels effective); fixed low-pass filter Image processor: DIGIC 7 A/D processing: 12-bit A/D conversion to yield 14-bit CR2.RAW files Lens mount: EF-M Focal length crop factor: 1.6x Image formats: Stills: JPEG (DCF Ver. 2.0, Exif Ver.2.3, MPF Baseline compliant), CR2.RAW, RAW+JPEG; Movies: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, Audio: MPEG-4 AAC-LC (stereo) Image Sizes: Stills "" 3:2 aspect: 6000 x 4000, 3984 x 2656, 2976 x 1984, 2400 x 1600; 4:3 aspect: 5328 x 4000, 3552 x 2664, 2656 x 1992, 2400 x 1344; Movies: [Full HD] 1920 x 1080 (59.94, 50, 29.97, 25, 23.976 fps); [HD] 1280 x 720 (59.94, 50 fps), 640 x 480 (29.97, 25 fps) Image Stabilisation: Lens based Dust removal: EOS integrated cleaning system Shutter (speed range): Electronically controlled focal-place shutter (30-1/4000 sec in 1/3 stop increments plus Bulb) Exposure Compensation: +/- 3EV in 1/3EV steps (+/-EV for movies) Exposure bracketing: 3 shots, +/- 2 EV, 1/3-stop increments (can be used together with manual Exposure Compensation) Other bracketing options: Self-timer: 2 or 10 seconds delay Focus system: Dual Pixel CMOS AF System with 49 AF points (fixed location on 7×7 grid) Focus modes: One-Shot AF and Servo AF; AF+MF available (Manual focus adjustment after One-Shot AF); Face and subject tracking via automatic recognition/ manual selection via touchscreen, Manual zone selection, plus automatic selection over 9 points Exposure metering: Real-time metering from the image sensor with Evaluative, Partial, Centre-weighted average and Spot metering patterns Shooting modes: Scene Intelligent Auto, Hybrid Auto, Creative Assist, SCN(Self- Portrait, Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Sports, Food, Panning, Handheld Night Scene, HDR Backlight Control) Picture Style modes: Auto, Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Fine Detail, Neutral, Faithful, Monochrome, User Defined (x3) Creative Filters: Grainy B/W, Soft Focus, Fish-eye Effect, Art bold effect, Watercolour Colour space options: sRGB and Adobe RGB ISO range: Auto (ISO 100-25600), ISO 100-25600 in 1/3 stop increments; Movies – ISO 100-6400 White balance: Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten light, White Fluorescent light, Flash, Custom (1 setting), Colour Temperature (100 Kelvin increments); White balance compensation:; Blue/Amber, Magenta/Green bias adjustments +/- 9 levels Flash: Built-in flash GN 5 Flash modes: Auto (E-TTL II), Manual Flash On/Off (3 flash power output settings); 2nd curtain sync available Flash exposure adjustment: +/- 2EV in 1/3 increments Sequence shooting: Max. 9 shots/sec. Buffer capacity: Max. 26 Large/Fine JPEGs, RAW files or RAW+JPEG pairs Storage Media: Single slot for SD, SDHC, SDXC cards (UHS-I compatible) Viewfinder: 0.39-type OLED Electronic Viewfinder with 2,360,000 dots, 100 % coverage, 22 mm eyepoint, dioptre correction LCD monitor: Tiltable (85 degrees up/180 degrees down), 3.2-inch ClearView II Touchscreen LCD (TFT), 3:2 aspect ratio, Electrostatic capacitive type; 1,620,000 dots Playback functions: Single image, single image with information (Customisable with 6 levels), Index display (6/12/42/110 images), Jump Display, 1.5x – 10x zoom enabled in 10 steps, slide show with fade effects, histogram (brightness/RGB), highlight alert, copyright information tagging, image rating (0-5 stars) Interface terminals: Micro USB, HDMI micro Type D, 3.5mm stereo microphone jack Wi-Fi function: IEEE 802.11b/g/n, 2.4 GHz only, 1-11 ch; Bluetooth (Specification version 4.1, Bluetooth low energy technology) Power supply: LP-E17 Rechargeable Li-ion Battery Pack; CIPA rated for approx. 295 shots/charge Dimensions (wxhxd): Approx. 115.6 x 89.2 x 60.6 mm Weight: Approx. 427 grams with battery and card

Distributor: Canon Australia; 1800 021 167; www.canon.com.au

Based on JPEG files taken with the EF-M 15″"45mm f/3.5″"6.3 IS STM lens.

Based on CR2.RAW files converted into 16-bit TIFF format with Canon's Digital Photo Professional software.

Auto white balance with incandescent lighting.

Auto white balance with fluorescent lighting.

Auto white balance with flash lighting.

ISO 100, 58mm focal length, 30 second exposure at f/4.

ISO 400, 58mm focal length, 30 second exposure at f/4.5.

ISO 1600, 58mm focal length, 20 second exposure at f/4.5.

ISO 6400, 58mm focal length, 20 second exposure at f/9.

ISO 12800, 58mm focal length, 8 second exposure at f/11.

ISO 25600, 58mm focal length, 5 second exposure at f/18.

Flash exposure at ISO 100; 45mm focal length,

Flash exposure at ISO 400; 45mm focal length,

Flash exposure at ISO 1600; 45mm focal length,

Flash exposure at ISO 6400; 45mm focal length,

Flash exposure at ISO 12800; 45mm focal length,

Flash exposure at ISO 25600; 45mm focal length,

ISO 1000, 15mm focal length, 1/60 second exposure at f/5.

ISO 6400, 15mm focal length, 1/320 second exposure at f/8.

ISO 12800, 58mm focal length, 1/400 second exposure at f/10.

ISO 25600, 50mm focal length, 1/400 second exposure at f/11.

ISO 4000, 45mm focal length, 1/40 second exposure at f/6.3.

ISO 1600, 38mm focal length, 1/50 second exposure at f/5.6.

ISO 800, 45mm focal length, 1/400 second exposure at f/6.3.

ISO 1600, 15mm focal length, 1/100 second exposure at f/3.5.

ISO 640, 15mm focal length, 1/60 second exposure at f/4.

ISO 400, 15mm focal length, 1/60 second exposure at f/7.1.

ISO 250, 40mm focal length, 1/60 second exposure at f/6.3.

ISO 3200, 31mm focal length, 1/10 second at f/5.

Still frame from Full HD 1080 video clip taken at 50p.

Still frame from Full HD 1080 video clip taken at 25p.

Still frame from HD 720 video clip taken at 50p.

Still frame from VGA video clip taken at 25p. Additional image samples can be found with our reviews of the EF-M 15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM and EF-M 55-200mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM lenses.

RRP: AU$1829; US$980 (body only); as reviewed with 15-45mm lens: AU$1949; US$1099