It was while looking closer at the technical details behind the successful entries, that I was quite amazed by the gear of choice. Surely speed and accuracy are paramount for wildlife photography, right? I’d therefore expect the top WPOTY shots to be taken with a flagship high-speed mirrorless camera.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n The Nikon Z 9<\/a> featured, sure. The Canon EOS R3<\/a>? That too. But there was a much more popular camera among successful entrants (besides the 11-year-old Nikon D810 DSLR used for the winning shot). It wasn’t even the Canon EOS R5 Mark II<\/a>, a winner itself of TechRadar’s Choice Award for Camera of the Year 2024, but it was in fact the original model from 2020 that was the most popular among the WPOTY winners. Yes\u2026 it was the Canon EOS R5<\/a> (Mark I).<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n Now, I\u2019m one of the first to preach about the throwaway nature of the tech industry, but when it comes to this level of imaging, I admit I was expecting more recent headline-grabbing cameras to be the weapons of choice for this group of award-winning photographers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Today’s best deals on the winning cameras <\/p>\n An enduring balance of pixels and power<\/p>\n \n The Canon EOS R5 was launched in 2020 to much hype and it remains a popular camera amongst action photographers today (Image credit: Future | Tim Coleman)<\/p>\n The original EOS R5 was launched back in 2020, alongside its slimmed-down sibling, the EOS R6<\/a>. Both cameras have since been replaced with the Canon EOS R5 Mark II<\/a> and Canon EOS R6 Mark II<\/a> \u2013 superb successors, which has got me wondering about why the five-year-old R5 still ranks so highly.<\/p>\n The EOS R5 lacks the Eye-Control AF of the Mark II, and the more recent EOS R3, but still makes use of a snappy Dual Pixel CMOS AF II system with 5,940 focus areas. More specifically, the EOS ITR AF X autofocus component incorporates deep-learning AI \u2013 a phrase with which we\u2019ve quickly become accustomed, but which was truly futuristic tech at launch. This system was initially developed by Canon<\/a> for the popular EOS-1D X Mark III<\/a> DSLR camera, which coincidentally also made an appearance in WPOTY 2025.<\/p>\n The EOS R5 comes armed with a full-frame 45-megapixel CMOS sensor, 20 frames-per-second burst shooting with the electronic shutter, 8-stop body stabilisation, and 8K<\/a> video. When you compare this to another frequent competition performer, the Nikon Z 8<\/a>, a far more recent release, the resolution and top RAW burst rate of the older camera are more than a match. The same goes for the aforementioned Nikon Z9, which is not only more recent but is positioned higher in its range (it\u2019s aimed squarely at pros, while the EOS R5 was also priced for enthusiasts). Meanwhile, 2024\u2019s Sony A1 II<\/a> has a comparable resolution of 50MP and 8K video, and only just beats the EOS R5 on top burst rate with 30fps.<\/p>\n When prominent wildlife shooters like Andy Rouse, and commercial pros such as Peter McKinnon choose the R5 for their top-level work, it\u2019s hardly surprising that the camera was built to last. If anything, the success in the Wildlife Photographer of The Year 2025 proves that, just because newer, shinier cameras come along, it doesn\u2019t immediately mean that older cameras become irrelevant.<\/p>\n Follow TechRadar on Google News<\/a> and add us as a preferred source<\/a> to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!<\/p>\n And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok<\/a> for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp<\/a> too.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/NGka8yjky77vLz5RmELbL4.jpg\")
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