Best Accessories for Canon R5

So, you’re looking at buying the Canon R5, but you want to fill up that basket first with all the essential accessories. You’ve come to the right place.

Memory Cards

Let’s start you off with memory cards. The Canon EOS R5 has dual card slots – 1x CFexpress Type B & 1x SD/SDHC/SDXC and UHS-II – meaning that you can load two cards simultaneously.

Dual card slots have many benefits including recording all your shots twice, one on each card, so that if one card corrupts you know you have a backup (this is great for wedding photographers). Or, you can set the camera up to immediately move onto storing your data on the next available card once the first is full. This can be fantastic if you are a videographer, or you know that you will be taking lots of photos in quick succession with no time to change cards in between.

Best memory cards for the R5?

First, let's start with the CFexpress Cards. The crucial information to take away is that you want to make sure it is a Type B CFexpress Card when you purchase. Type B cards are compatible with Canon cameras, whereas Type A are not.

Pros of CFexpress Type B – Super fast and large memory storage.

Cons of CFexpress Type B – More expensive than regular SD cards.

If your camera has a CFexpress card slot, as the R5 has, we absolutely recommend you get yourself one of these. Even if you only purchase one with a lot of storage, like the Lexar CFexpress PRO Type B DIAMOND Series - 128GB. To have one of these in your kit bag is a great advantage when it comes to shooting at the high 20fps electronic shutter of the R5, and for keeping up with recording 8K30p full-frame RAW video.

Once you have one of these it’s time to stack up on SD cards. The great benefit of SD memory cards is that you can get a lot for not that much, so if you’re trying to keep costs down this is where you can rack up that storage catalogue.

When buying an SD/SDHC or SDXC memory card for your Canon R5 you’ll want to pay close attention to the read and write speeds. The R5 has great capability for capturing large 45MP photos and 8K video so you want a memory card that can keep up with that. We’d recommend not dropping below a write speed of 100MB/S, but the higher the better if you’re looking for constant capture capability.

Pros of an SD Card – More affordable options, can have great read and write speeds.

Cons of an SD Card – Fewer options for mass storage, not as fast as CFexpress.

And once you’ve got a good number of memory cards, you’re going to need a Card Wallet to keep them all together. Check out the Shimoda XQD and CF Card Wallet for example.

Battery Grips

If you’re buying an R5 you are very likely a pro or semi-pro photographer shooting at fast paces and needing your kit to feel as secure in your hand as possible. This is where battery grips come in.

Not only do they essentially double your shooting time by letting you work off two LP-E6 batteries instead of one, but they also make your camera more square and therefore adaptable to portrait as well as landscape positions.

Canon BG-R10

The R5 has two battery grip options. The first is the BG-R10 which allows you to add two LP-E6NH, LP-E6N or LP-E6 batteries to the grip (both grips accept the same batteries). You can charge the batteries in-grip which is great if you are tethering in a studio environment. Plus the grip has duplicate controls including a joystick, dial and shutter button so that it does not matter which rotation you are photographing.

Pros of the BG-R10 – Great affordability, longer shooting time, duplicate controls.

Cons of the BG-R10 – Adds bulk to your lightweight mirrorless camera.

Canon WFT-R10B

The second option is the WFT-R10B Wi-Fi adapter Grip. This is a more specialised grip that allows you to transfer images securely from your camera directly to a client. This is the perfect grip if you work in journalism where fast-paced results are the way forward.

Pros of the WFT-R10B – Fast, secure wireless and ethernet file transfer, longer shooting time.

Cons of the WFT-R10B – It’s a specialised piece of kit. Only buy if you specifically need it.

Lenses

It seems a little obvious, but you will need some glass to go with that new camera you’re looking at.

Depending on what you are planning on photographing you’ll need a range of focal ranges and aperture lenses so we will leave this up to you and instead answer some FAQs:

Can I use EF lenses on the Canon EOS R5?

The EOS R5 is part of Canon's mirrorless camera family and therefore has a Canon RF mount. However, you can still use EF lenses on the R5 as long as you also have a mount adapter such as the Canon Control Ring Mount Adapter EF-EOS R.

Can I use non-Canon lenses on the R5?

There are not many third-party brands that supply RF mount lenses. One of the few that do is Samyang, who manufactures VDSLR lenses for EF and RF cameras. These are incredibly high-quality cinematography lenses that come at a very affordable price – great news for videographers!

Are Canon RF Lenses worth it?

Going native is always going to have its benefits. They are designed from the ground up to work with the R5’s specs such as subject detection and speedy AF. In our opinion, RF lenses are worth the upgrade if you are able to.

Looking for something else?

If you’re still not sure on the best accessories for your new Canon R5 camera please get in touch either by Phone, Email or Live Chat.

Don’t forget. If you hit “Related Accessories” on the R5 product page and add any of the items mentioned on this page to your bundle, you’ll get a discount!