Just got a Canon EOS R5. Which lenses will be best?

[taradeone]

I got my dream camera, the Canon EOS R5! I am beyond thrilled! I'm a huge fan of wildlife and landscape photography, and I also enjoy capturing people.

As you can imagine, after investing so much in the camera, I need to be mindful of my budget for the lens. I'm looking for something that will not compromise on quality but won't break the bank either. And, as I take a lot of trips to the PNW in the US, I'd love a water-resistant/waterproof lens that can withstand the elements. 

I'm exploring options in the range of 24-800mm and am open to getting multiple lenses. Does anyone have any recommendations?

I would love to have a good lens to where I can shoot photos from a short distance for landscape, but also a lens that can allow me to zoom in a far distance to shoot wildlife.

[ebiggs1]

"I personally love the 70-200mm."

I would also recommend starting out with the Canon RF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM Lens especially if you got one of the normal range zooms with your R5, If not then I would recommend the Canon RF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Lens as the starter lens.

[Tronhard]

Hi and welcome to the forum Tara:
The R5 is an excellent camera, and you will have much to learn to get the most out of the focus system  in particular. 

If you are considering wildlife there are some clarifications that would help.
1.  What is your budget - an actual figure will help us to suggest optics that suit your needs and pocket
2.  What kinds of wildlife are you considering?  Birds, large mammals (bears, bison, deer etc.)
3.  What kinds of weight are you prepared to carry?

I have spent most of my life shooting wildlife, IMHO a 70-200 is not going to be anywhere near a long enough lens (I have one and it sits in a box), you need something much longer, but that implies more cost and weight.  Yet, for general purpose photography you want something more compact and light.   So, you are looking at two kinds of lenses: a relatively light and compact walk-around lens, and a wildlife-specific lens with a lot of reach and fast focus.

In that context I would suggest the following:
* For general walk-around activity
-  The RF 24-105L f/4 - good optics, reasonably light and a good balance for general work.
-  If you don't need weather sealing (how often will you use that kind of unit in nasty conditions?), the RF 24-240 STM is an amazing unit that will give you a huge choice of focal lengths.  Its fast focus, great optics, and incredible focal range will let you shoot everything from travel, social events to some outdoor sports with one unit.  I have also used it for portraits - while it does not the open aperture for shallow depth of field of a dedicated lens, you can back off, use a longer focal length, and reduce DoF that way.

* For wildlife, the Rf 100-500L IS USM is a brilliant lens: weather sealed, lightning fast focus and it works extremely well with the Canon R5 tracking system.  Wildlife needs you to be able to stand off a bit - birds will fly away, and it's potentially dangerous to get too close to macro mammals like bears, moose, bison etc.   I have a 70-200 lens, and honestly, for wildlife, that lens stays at home.  As my colleague Dan has said, if you cannot afford the 100-500 then you could consider the RF100-400 which is cheaper and lighter, but it is not weather sealed and not as fast to focus.

As examples, the following were all taken with the RF 100-500, hand-held, available light:
Green Iguana: 289mm, f/8, 1/400sec, ISO-400   Lemur 485mm, f/8, 1/320sec, ISO-250   Aug: Australasian Gannet - R5, RF100-500@500mm, f/9, 1/500sec, ISO-200   Canon EOS R6, RF 100-500@500mm, f/8, 1/500sec, ISO-1250

[Addisonjones]

I agree with it really does depend on what animals you are going to shoot and how far away you will be….. I don’t have anything 100-400 or to 500. But my 70-200mm does do the job for the animals I shoot.