Canon Might Have a Nifty Trick up Their Sleeve to Control Overheating on Their Mirrorless Cameras

Canon Might Have a Nifty Trick up Their Sleeve to Control Overheating on Their Mirrorless Cameras

In the last few days, concerns have arisen about overheating issues in the Canon EOS R5 and R6 cameras. While we have yet to see much real-world usage of the cameras to evaluate how deep these issues might run, Canon might already have an interesting solution up their sleeve.

There has been a lot of excitement around the crazy video capabilities of the EOS R5 and R6 cameras, but concerns about possible overheating issues impeding filmmakers' ability to work without interruption have arisen. Canon News recently uncovered Japan Patent Application 2019-186871, which features an active cooling system built into an EF-to-RF lens adapter. Given the shorter flange distance of the RF mount, there is extra physical room in adapters, which Canon has used to create some really novel devices, including an adapter with a control ring and others with built-in polarizing and ND filters. This particular adapter would use that extra space to create airflow to cool the sensor while shooting video. How effective this would be is unclear at the moment, and of course, while the patent exists, that does not necessarily mean the product will come to market. Nonetheless, it is quite interesting to see. 

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Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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27 Comments

That IS an interesting idea!

That's an interesting idea for sure. You wouldn't be using native lens if using that solution, but that's a good compromise for me considering the quality of Canon lenses.
Well, I'm a Nikon shooter and I will not move to Canon, but that's a neat idea that can work in a great system as Canon has.

I am a Nikon shooter as well, and am happy with the Z6.

I too, am a NIkon shooter and am happy with the Z6 and Z7.

Tilta has a fan adapter that attaches to the camera.

That is becoming even weirder from Canon to go backward with lens adapters on a system where they put so much money designing a full new line of lenses.

I have to think it was only one stop gap measure to deal with all the criticism. I'll be very surprised if a better option doesn't come down the pike, and soon.

They will, but many already pre ordered.

That's why it's called "the bleeding edge."

How do you figure? The date is Oct 2019. The application date is April 2018.

It's not a stopgap and has nothing to do with people complaining.

Oh. I didn't look at the details of the patent, not being particularly interested in the details of products that may never come to market.

There's a lot of filmmakers using Canon EF lenses, it wouldn't be a bad idea to design an adapter like this so you can actually film using those cinema lenses.

Totally agree. They really should have made a two r5. One that would be better suited for video and one more suited for stills. This hybrid seem very rushed and they already took orders.

or they could have made a new video camera, which they are good at.

What about dust? If your delivering cooler air from outside the camera, wouldn't dust be an issue without some sort of filtration?

A decent mesh dust filter would be good enough, if you just clean it a little more often.

Very much defeats the point of weather seal the entire thing, an other loss for still photographers.

Why do still photographers need extra cooling though? Just use another adapter with sealing.

They don't! Video does. They don't sell still only cameras anymore and these hybrids are currently reaching limits due to the video part.

Maybe I'm missing your point (it's late, 01:42 AM). How is this relevant for those of us seeking to use R5/R6 for mostly still photography?

"Mostly" is the problem. Using it for ANY still photography will reduce the time available to record high quality video. Reviewers have taken the camera out to shoot photos, then later switched to record video, and found the camera had a lot less time available before overheating. Canon's overheating times are calculated from a completely cold camera, in a climate controlled building. Not very realistic.

I would expect something like this from aftermarket, not from OEM who had full control of original design.

Dumb considering they knew about the problem in detail enough to write up how long you have to wait and how long before if overheats. Did they just assume people wouldn't mind an expensive flawed camera? For $500 more you could get a 5D mark 4 and a bmpcc 6k. Or grab a bmpcc 4k if you want to be closer to the price. Done. Pics and video good to go. The cameras overheat, the IBIS has wobble in the video and the only real reason to upgrade is for higher res photos and goldfish AF. Is that worth $3800?

Nifty trick? More like pressing the panic button... =)

Canons cinema lenses are all in EF mount...

For the serious videographers who are determined to use this camera instead of a cine line camera then this could be a good option.

Sounds like a "band-aide" solution that would cause other issues .... "Airflow around the sensor" sounds an awful like "Dust Flow" around the sensor to me.

Some have tried cooling the camera with the lens off. Doesn't work, just adds layers of dust to the sensor...