Canon EOS R5 II and EOS R1 features the Improved Pre-Shooting Buffer Mode
The Pre-Continuous Shooting mode on the new Canon EOS R5 Mark II and the EOS R1 is an extremely useful feature, especially for bird photography, and it is improved over the implementation of the same feature on the older cameras such as the EOS R6 Mark II, and the EOS R7 in a way that now the buffered images are easier to access directly as they are saved under the same folder with the images that are recorded after full pressing the shutter button. In the older cameras, you have to extract the buffered images file separately or use the EOS Digital Photo Professional software which isn't very practical.
Pre-Shooting Helps to capture the critical moment - Image Credit: Canon
However, the new implementation is still not perfect because the buffer duration is still fixed to 0.5 seconds as in the older cameras. This means that if you set your EOS R5 II to 30fps (max continuous shooting on this camera) and activate the pre-shooting mode, the camera will save 15 frames every time you fully press the shutter button which may be too much in most cases. On the EOS R1, this can go up to 20 frames. In contrast, some people may like to extend this duration to make sure they never miss the critical moment but that's not also possible. There are no options to shorten or extend this duration on the R5 II and the R1.
Sony A9 III has one of the best implementation of the Pre-Burst Capture Feature
For comparison, Sony Alpha A9 Mark III which probably has the best implementation lets you choose a buffering duration between 0.005 seconds to 1.0 second which makes the feature more flexible. Nikon Z8 similarly lets the user choose one of the 0.3s, 0.5s, and 1.0s options.
We don't know how and why Canon came up with this 0.5-second fixed duration but we are hoping that Canon released a future firmware update to give more options in the future.
Related: Cameras with PRE-BURST Shooting Mode in 2024
Canon EOS R5 II vs EOS R1 vs Sony A9 III vs Nikon Z8 Comparison Table
| FEATURE and SPECS COMPARISON | |  |  |  |  |
| Model | Canon EOS R5 Mark II | Canon EOS R1 | Sony Alpha A9 Mark III | Nikon Z8 |
| Sensor Resolution | 45.0 MP | 24.0 MP | 24.6 MP | 46.0 MP |
| Announced Date | 2024-07-17 | 2024-07-17 | 2023-11-07 | 2023-05-10 |
| Camera Type | Pro Mirrorless | Pro Mirrorless | Pro Mirrorless | Pro Mirrorless |
| Sensor Type | Stacked CMOS | Stacked CMOS | Global Shutter | Stacked CMOS |
| Sensor Size | Full frame | Full frame | Full frame | Full frame |
| Sensor Sensitivity | ISO 100 - 51200( expands to 50-102400) | ISO 100 - 102400( expands to 50-204800) | ISO 250 - 25600( expands to 250-51200) | ISO 64 - 25600( expands to 32 - 102400) |
| Lens Mount | Canon RF | Canon RF | Sony E | Nikon Z |
| Image Stabil. | Sensor-shift ( up to 8.5 stops) | Sensor-shift ( up to 8.5 stops) | Sensor-shift ( up to 8.0 stops) | Sensor-shift ( up to 6.0 stops) |
| Eye Tracking Focus | | | | |
| Weight | 746g | 1115g | 678g | 910g |
| Dimensions | 138 x 101 x 93mm | 158 x 150 x 87mm | 136 x 97 x 83mm | 144 x 119 x 83mm |
| Weather Sealing | | | | |
| Focus Points | 5940 | 4897 | 759 | 493 |
| Min AF Detecting Range | -6.5eV | -7.5eV | -5eV | -7.5eV |
| Animal Eye Tracking | | | | |
| Focus Stacking | | | | |
| Focus Bracket | | | | |
| Minimum Shutter | 30 sec | 30 sec | 30 sec | 900 sec |
| Maximum Shutter | 1/8000sec | 1/8000sec | 1/8000sec | 1/32000sec |
| Maximum Shutter Electronic | 1/32000 sec | 1/64000 sec | 1/80000 sec | 1/32000 sec |
| Continuous Drive | 12.0fps | 12.0fps | 30.0fps | 30.0fps |
| Max Video Reso | 8192 x 4320 | 6000 x 3164 | 3840 x 2160 | 7680 x 4320 |
| Video fps at Max | 60p,30p,24/23.98p | 60p, 30p, 24p,23.98p | 120p,60p,50p,30p,25p,24p | 30p, 25p, 24p |
| Video Formats | MPEG-4, H.264, H.265 | MPEG-4, H.264, H.265 | MPEG-4, AVCHD, H.264 | H.264, H.265 |
| High Speed Video | 120fps | 120fps | 120fps | 120fps |
| Max Video Color Depth | 10bit | 10bit | 10bit | 10bit |
| Storage Slot | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| UHS Support | UHS-II | UHS-II | UHS-II | UHS-II |
| CFexpress Support | Type B | Type B | Type A | Type B |
| Battery Life | 620 | 700 | 690 | 330 |
| Battery Model | LP-E6P | LP-E19 | NP-FZ100 | EN-EL15c |
| RAW Video | | | | |
| Webcam | | | | |
| Anti Flicker | | | | |
| Microphone Port | | | | |
| Headphone Port | | | | |
| Wifi | | | | |
| Weather Sealing | | | | |
| Timelapse | | | | |
| Screen Type | Fully articulated | Fully articulated | Fully articulated | Tilting |
| Top LCD | | | | |
| LCD Size | 3.20" | 3.20" | 3.20" | 3.20" |
| Screen dots | 2100000 | 2100000 | 2360000 | 2088960 |
| Touch Screen | | | | |
| Viewfinder | | | | |
| Viewfinder Type | Electronic | Electronic | Electronic | Electronic |
| Viewfinder Coverage | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Viewfinder Magnification | 0.76x | 0.9x | 0.9x | 0.8x |
| Viewfinder Resolution | 5,760,000 | 9,440,000 | 9,440,000 | 3,686,400 |
| Selfie Friendly Screen | | | | |
| High Resolution Mode | | | | |
| AF Joystick | | | | |
| Bluetooth | | | | |
| Full-size HDMI Port | | | | |
| Gyro data Stabilization | | | | |
| Vehicle Tracking | | | | |
| Eye Control AF | | | | |
| Price | Amazon, B&H Photo | Amazon, B&H Photo | Amazon, B&H Photo | Amazon, B&H Photo |
