topic Re: Canon R5 in Gear Guide

EOS R5 lens selection for birds and wildlife

Jerseyguy57 — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 14:05:59 GMT

Hi all, am considering buying the Canon R5 but am a little leary due to the lens selection. I would shoot mostly birds/wildlife with some landscape. I know Sony and Nikon have a vast selection of lenses but Canon is kind of limited. Would Sigma zoom or Tamron work with it? What is the consideration for Canon lenses? Thanks.

Re: Canon R5

shadowsports — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 19:47:58 GMT

Greetings,

Canon has about 60 native RF lenses available for the R5. Around 8 are above 200mm.

Sony has about the same (8) and Nikon has less.

While I would recommend Canon glass for your R5, you can use 3rd party lenses with a Canon brand adapter with a high degree of success. Some may not be able to achieve the same maximum FPS as a Canon lens, but you can still get good results. You might also find that focus acquisition and subject tracking may not be quite as fast / good, but this would be marginal and in the end, I'll bet you'd still be very happy. Don't be fooled by Sony's Gag Master or Nikon. There's a reason why they're number two and number three. 😉

Re: Canon R5

March411 — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 21:31:46 GMT

Jerseyguy57 Rick is correct the stable of Canon lenses is pretty deep but in reality you really only need three. I have the RF200-800mm, RF100-500mm and for hiking all day the RF100-400mm. Those three have done a fantastic job of coverings most all of my wildlife needs but I also carry the 1.4x extender when shooting hummers.

Sigma's and Tamron's G2 series EF 150-600mm lenses are pretty nice but you'll be adding a EF/RF adapter. My Sigma's performed well but as I transitioned to Canon, the Sigma's were either sold or traded for the Canon lens. As shadowsports noted you will not achieve the full FPS with the adapter and the 3rd party lens. Hence the reason for moving to all Canon as the budget would allow. One thing to note, use the Canon adapter. Communication errors, lenses racking (firmware issue) and battery drain while the camera was off were reported problems with 3rd party adapters, I experience all three before I moved to Canon. Don't waste money like I did, buy one and be happy with the purchase.

I photograph across many genres but wildlife is my passion. I love the outdoors, hiking and being able to capture nature. Canon produces beautiful images. The samples are for the three lenses I mentioned, the last I shot with my R6 Mk II and the RF100-400 but you get the idea. These three lenses alone will give you reach and some images with pretty darn good IQ.

RF200-800mm and 1.4XRF200-800mm @ 600mmRF100-500mmR6 MK II RF100-400