Canon T5i Performance

Mixed performance from the Canon T5i.

The Canon Rebel T5i turned in a reasonably fast startup time of well under a second. Shutdown time will depend on whether you have auto sensor cleaning enabled or not. (With it disabled, shutdown took about 0.4 second.)

Switching from Play to Record and taking a shot was quite fast, however switching from Record to Play to review a photo just captured was sluggish. Viewing previously captured images was fast.

The Canon Rebel T5i's full autofocus shutter response was a touch slower than average these days when using our standard single-point AF test, at 0.264 second. Interestingly, switching to Auto Selection AF and allowing the camera to choose the focus point reduced AF shutter lag to only 0.106 second, which is very fast for a consumer DSLR. Enabling the built-in flash resulted in full AF lag of only 0.167 second on average, but it varied quite a bit, from 0.09 to 0.35 second, which is odd. In Continuous AF mode, shutter lag was a fast 0.118 second, though the subject may be out of focus in this mode. Shutter lag with Manual focus was very good, at 0.091 second. "Prefocusing" the camera by half-pressing and holding down the shutter button before the final exposure resulted in a lag time of only 0.074 second, which is good for a consumer DSLR.

As expected, the Canon Rebel T5i's AF lag time in Live View mode was quite a bit longer than using the optical viewfinder, and not as fast as the SL1's newer hybrid AF system. We measured 0.973 seconds using "Quick Mode" (phase-detect AF). The T5i's FlexiZone AF mode was noticeably slower than "Quick Mode" at 1.082 second, though still reasonable. Prefocused shutter lag in Live View mode was surprisingly quick at only 0.060 second, 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 T5i's single-shot mode were quite good for a consumer DSLR, at 0.36 second for large/fine JPEGs, 0.33 second for RAW mode and 0.33 second for RAW + large/fine JPEGs.

Continuous mode speeds were about average for a consumer model these days, ranging from 4.83 to 4.88 frames-per-second depending on the file type.

Measured buffer depths in continuous mode were fair for large/fine JPEG frames at 15 frames, but quite shallow when RAW files were included. We were only able to capture 6 RAW frames or 3 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 fast, though.

The Canon T5i's flash took an average of 3.1 seconds to recharge after a full-power discharge, which is good.

Connected to a computer or printer with USB 2.0, the Canon Rebel T5i's download speeds were good with our 95MB/s UHS-I card.

Bottom line, the Canon Rebel T5i offers mixed performance. Continuous modes were faster than the entry-level SL1 model, but otherwise the T5i 's performance was similar or even slower (Live View AF), with shallow buffers when shooting RAW.

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

The Canon T5i uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a charger. Battery life is below average when using the optical viewfinder even for a consumer DSLR, and of course Live View mode draws more power reducing battery life to less than half. We recommend you pick up a spare battery (or two) and keep it freshly charged and on-hand for extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the Canon T5i 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))