I've used it professionally for months and this one small thing is the biggest flaw with Canon's EOS R5 Mark II camera

Canon EOS R5 Mark II in person's hands against a green backdrop.

I’ve been getting more and more quality time with the Canon EOS R5 Mark II recently. I love shooting with it, the image quality and focusing is second to none. I’m also enjoying learning something new every time I use it – for example, in Manual mode you can quickly adjust the ISO with the top ‘rear’ dial (Quick Control Dial 2) with your right thumb.

However, the more I shoot, the more I find the EOS R5 and R5 Mark II bodies a bit too small for my liking. It feels small and cramped in my hands, and I don’t have particularly large hands. In fact, my man hands are very average in size.

What annoys me is when I’m using a standard zoom, like the RF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, my hands rub together. So when I’m holding the camera in a natural position – my left hand underneath the lens, and my right hand around the camera grip – my fingers are uncomfortably squashed together between the grip and the lens.

The compact size of the R5 Mark II body means your fingers can get squashed together when using standard zoom lenses (Image credit: Peter Travers)

This might not seem like a huge problem – I mean you could call it a first world problem – as basically I just have to tuck my left hand and fingers to the left and more under the lens. But this isn't natural, or so comfortable, nor does it support the lens as well in a stable position for sharp shots.

While the R5 Mark II feels balanced with newer, lighter RF lenses like the RF 24-105mm F4L IS USM I’ve mentioned; it feels a bit nose heavy with older, heavier EF lenses like the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III USM when used with the EF-EOS RF adapter.

Plus there’s another downside to smaller camera bodies – things like how the base plate for a tripod head doesn’t fit neatly on the underside of the camera body now. This annoys me. It sticks out. Why? It’s so that base plates don’t block the clever vents in the bottom of the R5 Mark II – the all-important ventilation holes that try and cool the camera down when it’s running hot when you’re recording hi-res 8K video.

Did Canon get it wrong with the EOS R5 camera body size? I can’t help feeling its small size is detrimental to how it handles.

Meanwhile the classic Canon EOS 5D Mark IV DSLR is just right size, not too small, not too big - it’s the Mummy Bear of camera sizes. I don’t have any of those painful squashed finger issues when shooting with a standard zoom, there’s the ideal of a gap between the camera grip and lenses. Which is handy!