Canon 5d4 worthy upgrade from 6d in 2023?

The prices of the Canon 5dIV are dropping - it is an older camera body and is not mirrorless.

Given that I have EOS lenses (Tamron SP 24-70; Canon EF 100mm macro; 70-300mm, etc.) I am concerned that an upgrade to the R5 will render my current lenses incompatible.

The 5dIV is 30mp as opposed to 20mp and the sensor has at least as good a dynamic range as the 6d, but I'd get more focus points and some tracking capabilities.

So, as the 5d4 prices drop, would it make a worthy upgrade for me considering that Canon is focusing their future on mirrorless.

Thanks,
Charlie

5DIV was arguably Canon's best DSLR, in many opinions.

I think you have made a very important statement about the 5dIV and the respect it has garnered.

Given that a good quality, low shutter count body can be purchased for around $1500, it seems that it may prove to be a worthy upgrade since my lenses are not specifically mirrorless lenses.

Thank-you for the comment.

I don't know about the 5DIV, heard a lot of great things about it, but I used to own 5DII, and still own a 6D MKI.

The jump to mirrorless for me was every bit of an upgrade which I didn't expect when I bought my R5. The articulating screen is a game changer. The best part is, you can focus anywhere on the screen without doing a "focus - recompose" !

You can buy EF to RF lens adapter so you can still use your EF lenses.

I jumped from the 5DII to the 5DIV. I did some extensive testing of the 6D with the 5DII when it first came out and determined that the difference was so small to make the upgrade not worth it. However, the upgrade from the 5DII to the 5DIV was significant especially in IQ but also every feature. I'm not sure where you heard that the 5DIV was at least as good as the 6D in dynamic range, but if you look at the DxO data, the 5DIV is better across the ISO range and significantly better at the lower ISOs. I agree with the poster above, the 5DIV is about as perfect DSLR that Canon has ever made. Worth the upgrade in my opinion.

https://www.dxomark.co​m …EOS-5D-Mark-IV___836_1106

i have shot with an R6 and while the specifics are different the operation is nearly (if not is) exactly the same. with that said, id LOVE to get an R5 for the mp and eye focus, to use for portraits if i ever decide to venture deeper into that...

i currently run a mk3 and a mk4. i love them both the only drawback in MY MIND is that my LR5.71 doesnt recognize the RAWs from the '4. i have to download the images then run adobe RAW converter to DNGs in order to process them. just a couple of extra steps for me...

your EF lenses are still very good glass. if you get an adapter, you dont have to worry about the EF to RF mount. the glass doesnt lose anything being adapted to the RF mount. you can go with the Canon adapter or there are several GOOD if not GREAT 3rd party adapters out there. i have a friend who uses his 85f1.4 EF through a 3rd party adapter on his R5 and he gets amazing results...

I upgraded from a Canon 6D to the 5D Mark IV back in 2017. Today, I still use the Mark IV. It's an all around better camera. Faster focusing. Better IQ (especially when bringing up the shadows). And has a lot more options baked into the camera. You would not regret it.

Ltdave wrote in post #19480376
i have shot with an R6 and while the specifics are different the operation is nearly (if not is) exactly the same. with that said, id LOVE to get an R5 for the mp and eye focus, to use for portraits if i ever decide to venture deeper into that...

i currently run a mk3 and a mk4. i love them both the only drawback in MY MIND is that my LR5.71 doesnt recognize the RAWs from the '4. i have to download the images then run adobe RAW converter to DNGs in order to process them. just a couple of extra steps for me...

your EF lenses are still very good glass. if you get an adapter, you dont have to worry about the EF to RF mount. the glass doesnt lose anything being adapted to the RF mount. you can go with the Canon adapter or there are several GOOD if not GREAT 3rd party adapters out there. i have a friend who uses his 85f1.4 EF through a 3rd party adapter on his R5 and he gets amazing results...

I upgraded to LR 6.14 (the last non-rentable, non-cloud version that could be purchased) for support of my 5DIV. That might be a worthwhile purchase for you to avoid the workaround.

i bought 6.0 for my wife and daughter but my daughter hasnt used it in over a year. just no time for photography as a senior in college right now.

6.0 only allows for 2 licenses and i need to wait for her to find the software and send it home to me...

otherwise, its all good...

I have 5D MKII and went to the store to hold IV in hands. Something in it didn't impressed me.
It is not a big deal, just doesn't feel same way.

Here is no problem with Canon EF lenses on R bodies. Don't know about Tamron's for sure.
But EF lenses on R bodies looks too bulky due to huge adaptor. It makes it longer than on DSLRs.

R6 MKII might make more sense to upgrade from 6D, than R5, IMO.
Personally, I have tried Canon R platform and did not like it comparing for DSLRs.
Too much monkey business in the menus. Questionable battery capacity. EVF as substitute to OVF and so on.

My first DSLRs were XXD APS-C bodies. When I decided I needed a FF, I got a 6Dii. I coveted a 5Div but even a used one was well out of my price range.

When the R5 came out, I started seeing used 5Div bodies for $1500. Still too much, but possible. I sold some stuff and bit the bullet. Two years later, no regrets, whatsoever. When I go out with that camera, I'm confident that the camera will never get in my way. If anything bad happens, it's my fault.

You could go mirrorless. That's the obvious choice. My next camera will be mirrorless and my next car, electric. That's not an artistic choice, it's just where the engineering talent is. The DSLR is stuck in time, but the 5Div was the apex of a do-it-all DSLR.

If you've got the cash for an R5, I'd say go with that. But $1500 will buy you a damn nice pro camera.

The kinks are still being worked out of mirrorless from Canon, whereas the dSLR has enjoyed about 20 years of increasing sophistication of operation.
'What kinks?', for one example...

• users who are accustomed to covering events in low light (e.g wedding reception on the dance floor) have found that mirrorless cameras exhibit EVF lag while panning across the scene, and the sensor is gathering 'enough light' to put an image on the EVF while in the exposure simulation mode
  

• The EOS R user interface control bar was tossed out, for controls which were more similar to Canon's dSLR line
  
• The 60Hz EVF update rate of the early mirrorless was improved to 120Hz EVF update rate
  
• eye detection AF was added to the second generation of mirrorless from Canon
  
• the reliance on mechanical shutter to enable connection of electronic flash evolves to electronic shutter support of electronic flash
  
• elimination of 'rolling shutter', etc.
  

I would think that Canon DSLRs in live view exhibited the same issues with low light. In fact I know they do. So that isn't a mirrorless king to be worked out. Rolling shutter can occur with DSLRs as well, just not as prevalent.

And Canon has been making EOS mirrorless cameras for over a decade.

Finally there are things mirrorless can do that DSLRs cannot, so in some regards, mirrorless has surpassed DSLRs.

I am not sure why we discuss mirrorless here, since the OP states they aren't looking for mirrorless? To answer the OP, yes, the 5D4 is a worth contender for the final DSLR they might want to buy to replace the 6D, as it is one of the best well rounded bodies, and it is still be actively supported by Canon. It was a great buy at the list price back in the day, and it is a huge value at the current market prices. I have gotten rid of all my DSLRs other than my 5D4, it is that good. So now I have 2 mirrorless and 1 DSLR.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #19480888
I would think that Canon DSLRs in live view exhibited the same issues with low light. In fact I know they do. So that isn't a mirrorless king to be worked out. Rolling shutter can occur with DSLRs as well, just not as prevalent.

And Canon has been making EOS mirrorless cameras for over a decade.

Finally there are things mirrorless can do that DSLRs cannot, so in some regards, mirrorless has surpassed DSLRs.

I am not sure why we discuss mirrorless here, since the OP states they aren't looking for mirrorless? To answer the OP, yes, the 5D4 is a worth contender for the final DSLR they might want to buy to replace the 6D, as it is one of the best well rounded bodies, and it is still be actively supported by Canon. It was a great buy at the list price back in the day, and it is a huge value at the current market prices. I have gotten rid of all my DSLRs other than my 5D4, it is that good. So now I have 2 mirrorless and 1 DSLR.

Last paragraph first...several folks brought up the mirrorless as considerations, especially in view of the openly stated Canon direction of engineering staff toward mirrorless, with no development of dSLR...so if the 5DIV is 'not worth it' as an upgrade path, 'the future is mirrorless' is a consideration for someone wishing to upgrade.

Yes, Canon has had mirrorless for a while, but it is a camera line decidedly aimed NOT at the professional or sophisticated amateur, as evidenced by the fact that any EVF was an option so you held the M line in front of you like any old P&S...it was only in very recent years that the EVF became standard on some models.

As for viewfinder lag, the dLSR has the option of elimination of any lag simply by use of the reflex mirror, whereas Live View forced the decidedly amateurish holding the camera out away from you to look at the rear LCD for aiming. And rolling shutter is a characteristic caused entirely by readout of the sensor, at time of exposure which is not present in mechanical shutter photos.

Lastly, I did clearly state that mirrorless can do things the dSLR will never do, in my earlier post. Whether one is not bothered by any current issues (like low light EVF lag) is a matter of personal decision.

Whether the 5DIV is 'worth it' as upgrade from 6D is not, for many, simply a question of which camera has nicer images...camera model selection for any individual can require any number of other factors...the 5DIV shutter life is designed to be longer than the 6Dx line's shutter life, just one of several areas that may or may not be important to someone.

Wilt wrote in post #19480896
evidenced by the fact that any EVF was an option so you held the M line in front of you like any old P&S...it was only in very recent years that the EVF became standard on some models.

Hmmmm... M5 was released nearly 8 years ago... I think the "mirrorless" and the "EVF" are two different technologies, not always together and not always seperate.