Canon T5 Performance

Mixed performance from the Canon T5.

The Canon Rebel T5 turned in a fast startup time of about half a second, and switching from Play to Record and taking a shot was even faster at only about 0.2 second.

The Canon Rebel T5's full autofocus shutter response was a touch slower than average these days when using our standard single-point AF test, at 0.308 second. Interestingly, allowing the camera to choose the focus point reduced AF shutter lag to only 0.163 second, which is very fast for an entry-level DSLR. Enabling the built-in flash resulted in full AF lag of 0.247 second on average, which pretty good. Shutter lag with Manual focus was good, at 0.122 second, but "Prefocusing" the camera by half-pressing and holding down the shutter button before the final exposure resulted in a lag time of 0.113 second, a little slow for a consumer DSLR.

As expected, the Canon Rebel T5's AF lag time in Live View mode was quite a bit longer than using the optical viewfinder, and not as fast as models with Canon's newer hybrid AF systems. We measured about 1.2 seconds using "Quick Mode" (phase-detect AF). The T5's FlexiZone AF mode (contrast-detect) was noticeably slower than "Quick Mode" at about 1.6 second. Prefocused shutter lag in Live View mode was surprisingly quick though, at only 0.093 second, which is faster than with the optical viewfinder.

To minimize the effect of different lens' focusing speed, we test AF-active shutter lag with the lens already set to the correct focal distance.

Shot-to-shot cycle times in the Canon T5's single-shot mode were quite good for a entry-level DSLR, at 0.36 second for large/fine JPEGs, 0.36 second for RAW mode and 0.48 second for RAW + large/fine JPEGs.

Continuous mode speeds were however quite slow even for an entry-level model these days, at about 3.0 frames-per-second when shooting JPEGs or RAW files, falling to 2.6 frames-per-second when shooting RAW+JPEG files. That's not a lot faster than single-shot mode.

Measured buffer depths in continuous mode were fair for an entry-level model when shooting large/fine JPEG frames at 12 frames, but quite shallow when RAW files were included. We were only able to capture 6 RAW frames or 4 RAW + large/fine JPEGs before the frame rate slowed. (Note that in our cycle time testing we shoot a target consisting of a fine-grained digital noise pattern, designed to be very hard to compress. This gives us worst-case buffer capacity numbers for compressed files: You're likely to see greater buffer capacity when shooting more normal subjects.) Buffer clearing was fairly quick for its class, though.

The Canon T5's flash took an average of 1.7 seconds to recharge after a full-power discharge, which is very good.

Bottom line, the Canon Rebel T5 offers mixed performance. Startup time, mode switching, single shot cycle times and autofocus speeds when using the optical viewfinder were quite good, however autofocusing in Live View mode was sluggish, and burst mode was slow with shallow buffers, especially when shooting RAW.

Battery Life
Mediocre battery life for a lithium-ion DSLR design.

The Canon T5 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a charger. Battery life is not too bad for an entry-level model, but still a bit below average when using the optical viewfinder, and of course Live View mode draws more power reducing battery life to less than half. We recommend you pick up a spare battery and keep it freshly charged and on-hand for extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the Canon T5 is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))