What are the must-have accessories for a new Canon EOS R5?

Question

I just pulled the trigger on a Canon R5 for my sisters wedding in Tahoe next month and man my wallet is hurting lol. I spent a few hours looking at what else I need but the info is kinda all over the place. I read that I absolutely need those CFexpress Type B cards for the speed but then some people on reddit say a fast UHS-II V90 SD card is fine if I am not doing 8K video. I mostly do portraits so I am not sure if I really need to drop another $300 on one card. Also looking at extra batteries since people say this thing eats them alive. Is the official Canon one really worth the markup or do the third party ones like Wasabi actually work without giving error codes? My remaining budget is maybe $500 tops... what do I actually need to get through a full day of shooting?

Noah Williams · Accepted Answer

> I read that I absolutely need those CFexpress Type B cards for the speed Seriously do not let people scare you into buying those crazy expensive cards for a wedding!! If you arent shooting 8K raw or doing insane 20fps bursts of birds, you are totally fine with high-end SD. I use the SanDisk Extreme PRO SDXC UHS-II 128GB V90 all the time for portraits and it works like a charm. It saves you so much cash that you can put toward other stuff! Also for the battery situation, honestly check out the SmallRig LP-E6NH USB-C Rechargeable Camera Battery. They are amazing because you can charge them directly with a phone cable in the car between the ceremony and reception. No errors on my R5 and they last ages! Since you will be on your feet all day in Tahoe, grab a Peak Design Slide Camera Strap too. The stock Canon strap is honestly trash for a heavy setup and this one makes a world of difference for your neck!

CharlesAremo · Answer

tbh I had issues with cheap batteries and the popups were so annoying. I tried the Wasabi Power Battery LP-E6NH 2-Pack but it just wasnt as good as expected. I finally sucked it up and got the Canon LP-E6NH Lithium-Ion Battery for reliability. Also, get the ProGrade Digital CFexpress Type B Gold 128GB because SD cards unfortunately felt way too slow during the ceremony.

Promotionpeway · Answer

I saw this post earlier and wanted to chime in because I literally just went through this exact struggle! I agree 100 percent that sticking with the official batteries is the right move for something as important as a wedding. I actually tried using some off-brand ones for a mountain shoot last fall and it was a total disaster! The camera kept giving me this weird communication error and then the battery level would just plummet from three bars to zero in like five minutes because of the chill. It was so stressful trying to swap them out while the light was hitting perfectly... honestly, never again! Since you are doing portraits, here is what I found works best to save some of that budget: 1. Don't stress the expensive cards too much. I shoot portraits on fast SD cards all the time and as long as you aren't doing crazy 8K video or massive bursts, the buffer is totally fine. 2. Turn off the high refresh rate on the viewfinder when you are just doing prep shots. It saves so much juice! 3. Keep your spare batteries in an inside pocket close to your body. Tahoe gets chilly and the cold absolutely kills the battery life faster than you'd think. You are gonna love that camera tho, the autofocus is honestly like magic for portraits!