Canon EOS R5 Mark II £4,499/$3,999 (body only)

The brand's most important – and most powerful – camera

- James Artaius

The Canon EOS R5 Mark II has one huge act to follow. The original R5 was the best camera Canon has ever made - so good that, despite being launched in 2020, it's still better than almost any camera on the market today.

However, the Canon EOS R5 Mark II is more than just an obligatory update: this is a transformative camera that shifts the goalposts and proceeds to score thunderous goals. Neural net-powered in-camera upscaling and denoising, monster resolution for stills and video, better-than-ever image stabilisation, never-before-seen autofocus tech that is light years ahead of the competition... the measuring stick just changed here.

Build and features

The basics are all in the specs (left), but there’s much more to this camera than meets the eye. For example, its Neural Network Image Processing feature uses AI algorithms and deep learning to enable features such as In-Camera Upscaling, which turns standard 45MP images into 180MP files, and High ISO Noise Reduction, which denoises images by two stops. These computational features often sound like gimmicks, but they aren't. The AI autofocus system has the usual improvements, with horses and aeroplanes now added to subject detection, but it's way better than that.

First up is Action Priority mode, which works with any sport featuring a ball that's constantly in play and includes dedicated modes for basketball, soccer and volleyball. Canon has trained this with deep learning AF to recognise body movements, so it tracks not just the player in possession of the ball, but it can also predict where the ball is going next and focus on the right person.