I received the R5 Mark II on May 20 and immediately updated the firmware to version 1.0.3 (a habit I picked up from using Windows—always updating to the latest version upon getting a new device). In the following days, I saw some posts discussing issues with firmware 1.0.3, which made me uneasy. Following the advice given, I turned off all power-saving settings except for the EVF.
In the days that followed, the camera performed well. However, since I never used version 1.0.2, it’s possible that issues existed, but I simply didn’t notice them.
It wasn’t until June 15, when I tried to photograph a paradise flycatcher, that a serious problem occurred. The camera detected the bird’s body and placed a blue box around it, but it refused to focus. No matter how many times I pressed the focus button, it kept locking onto the background. The bird wasn’t moving much—it was just preening on a perch—yet the camera couldn’t focus on it, which was very frustrating. I tried manually adjusting the focus ring to bring the focus closer (i.e., myself → focus plane → bird), and although the bird became clear for a moment, pressing the focus button caused the focus to immediately snap back to the background.I then removed the battery and restarted the camera, and also disabled the EVF’s power-saving setting. During the following hour or so of shooting, the issue did not reoccur.
That evening, I rolled back the firmware to version 1.0.2 and turned off all power-saving settings. On the second day, I spent the whole morning shooting with the 1.0.2 firmware (with all power-saving settings disabled). The camera performed well, but I didn’t really feel it was significantly better than 1.0.3—at least when 1.0.3 wasn’t freezing. I’m still monitoring it.
I noticed that some users mentioned resetting the camera after updating to firmware version 1.0.3 and then reloading the saved settings could help. I'm currently debating whether I should go back to version 1.0.3 and try this reset-and-restore procedure.
However, what matters most is that I hope Canon can respond to this issue as soon as possible—ideally by releasing a new firmware update to fix it, or at the very least by acknowledging the problem.
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