Is Scotch tape the answer to your Canon EOS R5 overheating issues?

[Stu_bert]

Smile, you just proved the point I was making (the camra is a stills camera that enable you for short videos - not a video camera), the R5 video capabilites is for 5 min clips, not long video recording (and for that it won't overheat). If you are for long videos then buy a video camera. The same for stils, if you are for stils, don't buy a video camera that enable stils. Take for instance the new Sony A7, which is a video oriented camera (and it is very good at if as far as I know) but its stils performances are not as high as one would expect from a camera at this time.

I don't disagree in terms of what the R5 is aimed at. But yes, it does overheat if you use it a lot in stills. Now I know (roughly) those limits, I am now working / changing my habits to try and conserve it more, so I can still shoot video clips in the best resolution possible (that in itself is a trade off).

So you can now go back and change your earlier post to "If you want to shoot 8K as a videographer, or for extended periods" then buy the appropriate device for the job"

 

[Stu_bert]

Question: Which upsets video-first customers more, the time limit imposed by overheating, or the aggressively long cool down times?

If it's the cool-down times, and they are unnecessarily long, overly cautious, surely that is something Canon could fix with a firmware update. (BUT Canon would have to convince customers that the new times won't shorten the life of the camera or harm it in other ways.)

I'm not a videographer, but the cool down times are a bigger "impact". If I could cool it down in 15 mins, even with a fan (have tried, no difference - body is very good to keep the cool out also), then that would be a significant improvement.

 

[Quarkcharmed]

Remember when the 5D III came out, and there was light leak into the sensor from the top screen LCD illuminator? And the fix was some black tape inside the housing? Seems like first iterations of Canon's big releases always have a common-sense flaw that they have to address.

5DMkIII can hardly be called a 'first iteration'.

 

[Stu_bert]

I think it is a matter of expecting something to be more than what it is. take the EOD 6D for example, people were upset with it not to be as versitile as the 5D when the 6D was never intended to be the 5D. The R5/R6 are stills cameras that allows short video clips. It is not a video camera taht allows stills shooting. It is therfore a compermize on the video performances (the over-heating issue). As for the AF, eye tracking and sensor size, those are superb.

For myself, if the R5 had a OVF (and it seems that then it will be 5Dmark5), than I would brake my savings and get one, for I only shoot stills, and having a "mechanical" 16fps and eye/body tracking... that wold make this picture a lot better than what I got from my 7D.

Don't hire one for a weekend..... honestly, for your savings sake

 

[TMHKR]

Matt Granger has a more "elegant" solution, without opening the camera and removing the internal battery:

 

[crazyrunner33]

R5 does not have "the best AF system at presetn" it has a good AF system on par with sony a7rIV and a9II dont get it twisted. only difference sony a7RIV can shoot video without overheating......

That statement is a bit skewed when forgetting the facts between each camera. The R5 matches and still beats the A7R IV's video specs in the modes that do not overheat.

A7R IV
Oversampled 4K full frame: No
Lineskipping/pixel bin full frame 4K: Yes, limited to 8 bit, no overheating

R5
Oversample 4K full frame: Yes, with overheating limitation
Lineskipping/pixel bin full frame 4K: Yes, up to 10 bit, no overheating

 

[masterpix]

How are you going to take pictures without an EVF? Framing rectangle in the hot shoe?

He didn't say "dick the EVF" he said "dick the video part". The EVF is not "video part".

 

[koenkooi]

He didn't say "dick the EVF" he said "dick the video part". The EVF is not "video part".

It's showing moving pictures using a screen, that's video isn't it?

 

[masterpix]

It's showing moving pictures using a screen, that's video isn't it?

No, it is shooting stills images using a view finder that happens to be electronic. And I would say that I still prefer the optical one.

 

[Film2.0]

Petition demands Canon fix the R5 within the 30-day returns period https://www.change.org/canonR5fix

 

[TMHKR]

How are you going to take pictures without an EVF?

I sincerely hope this was sarcasm

 

[Respinder]

The R5 is first a stills camera, and it has the best AF system at present. The whole discussion about the video is irrelevant to those looking for stills camera that does more than any of the others do at this point.

Sure but at the moment the R5 isn’t really being reviewed as a stills camera. Canon hasn’t gotten in front of the messaging to say this either. With the lack of messaging or narrative by Canon, the media (YouTubers, websites, etc) has taken over with most coverage being devoted on testing of video capabilities as opposed to camera capabilities. Canon needs to come out with a message ASAP.

 

[nchoh]

Might Canon be depending on timers instead of thermometers because they couldn't make thermometers work reliably within the body? If they found that the temperatures could not be accurately measured, they just went with timers based on scenarios they experimented with during design and testing?

Given that the body is sealed and that the heat generated can be easily found out by measurement, using a timer would be an easy solution for determining the shut down time.

 

[scyrene]

Dude you are missing the point... R5 was supposedly a camera with "pro video features" well, if that is the case why are those features so limited? Canon is selling this camera as a jack of all trades and now we find out that the heat limits on that camera are not determined by the thermostat but by a timer? I do agree, people should not be doing this at home as it might indeed be dangerous, despite the fact that camera does have an actual thermostat with actual overheating protection, so there are 2 real theories as to what is going on, eather Canon is playing it safe and that is the safest way to use the camera for its longevity OR it is true that canon does not want you to have those features unless you dump money on the video camera... well im sorry but the competition offeres the same packedge without overheating, so why should i pick Canon then?

1) It does both video and stills very well - it's just some high spec video modes that are (perhaps excessively) limited, so it's still a jack of all trades (remember the second line of that phrase? 'Master of none' - a jack of all trades isn't the best for any of the things it does, although in the R5's case it could be said to be the best stills camera on the market at present, though that's always pretty subjective).
2) No competitor offers uncompromised high spec video whilst also giving you the same level of stills - i.e. all cameras are compromised (just in different ways).

If the competition is offering you better options for your needs, go for it! Why should anyone here talk you into buying Canon if you don't want to? (But the reverse is true).

 

[tarjei99]

Defeating the overheating limit is not a solution, it is bypassing design limits. Only the fool crowd who refuses to understand even the basics of physics or engineering thinks everything in the world can be solved with a couple lines of software or that they are some victim being cheated even if they don't own this product. They think infinite capability is possible and owed to them in a tiny camera for less. Why aren't these idiots bashing gopro or anyone else for their limitations? Once people latch on to a trend or emotion they never let logic in.

It could be interesting when they start to complain about their R5 failing and Canon refusing to repair them under warranty because of the heat damage.

 

[tarjei99]

Given that the body is sealed and that the heat generated can be easily found out by measurement, using a timer would be an easy solution for determining the shut down time.

A FredMiranda user reported that he shortende the cooldown period to 25 minutes by putting the camera minus battery and memory card in his freezer. That should indicate that Canon uses thermometers to determine how long the cooldown period should be.

 

[scyrene]

I hate to say this, but this has boiled down to two groups. One group of people who are upset at the thermal limitations and are seeking understanding for a possible solution or hope of a solution from Canon. And another group of people attacking that first group for seemingly no reason other then they want to defend Canon and "their camera."

Once again I'm pretty surprised by your approach on this issue, given your past objectivity. To characterise (all?) those countering the criticism as having 'no reason other than to want to defend Canon' is demonstrably wrong, wilfully misleading, and startlingly unconstructive. A lot of people have merely been saying, there's no such thing as a free lunch, the limitations are unlikely to be a conspiracy (as some critics have suggested), they were advertised from the start (at least before people got their hands on the camera, and more openly than competitors have been on overheating, which is hardly a Canon-specific issue), and that workarounds for some of them are possible. Indeed to even state there are just two groups is to ignore a lot of nuance on the subject. I'm afraid you're letting your personal disappointment in the R5 colour your judgment, and that's a shame.

 

[stevelee]

Shooting time-lapse video for five hours works OK:

https://www.thephoblographer.com/2020/08/24/canon-eos-r5-timelapse/

 

[koenkooi]

A FredMiranda user reported that he shortende the cooldown period to 25 minutes by putting the camera minus battery and memory card in his freezer. That should indicate that Canon uses thermometers to determine how long the cooldown period should be.

The estimate after a battery pull going to 5 minutes instead of the 20 minutes that the "it's just a simple timer" theory would predict should be enough proof that the algo takes temperature as an input as well.

 

[nchoh]

Actual cool down time is two minutes. In use the camera never exceeds 64C, which is well within the safety limits of the camera. ...

Interestingly, when the reports first came out, people were complaining that the CFE card was hot after a few minutes of use, now the argument is that is is not hot at all.

Worst still, in reality it only takes 2 minutes for the camera to cool back down to 30C. Literally, just 2 minutes... yet Canon disable these features for 2/hrs plus.
This is clearly deliberate and unfair to customers. The extremely long lockout times are mentioned nowhere in the R5 manual. There is no mention of this on the official website. To this day Canon have not spoken to this matter.

Actual cool down time is 2 minutes? The camera is sealed and the body is magnesium ally and doesn't dissipate the heat that quickly, so where did the heat go to?