Canon has released a firmware update for the Canon EOS R5 to improve the temperature detection and video recording time control. Tests done by DPReview suggest that the improvements are far from dramatic.
In this video, Jordan Drake ran two R5s side-by-side, one with the new firmware and one with the old firmware. The amount of 8K IPB recorded by the camera with the new firmware was an extra five minutes — possible not quite the improvements that prospective R5 buyers were hoping to see from the Japanese manufacturer.
4K HQ wasn’t much different, with the new firmware offering almost ten additional minutes of recording. Check out the video in full to find out how much quicker the camera recovers from an overheating shutdown, and how it fares when switching to video after an hour of shooting stills.
The update "improves temperature detection and video recording time control" and perhaps the biggest change is that there is now no overheat control when using an external recorder. Canon also claims that the timer is now more accurate if you frequently switch off the camera in between recording short clips.
While certainly welcome, an extra five or ten minutes of high-quality video is probably not the improvement that many videographers were anticipating. Having an additional 25% record time is no doubt useful, but being able to gauge accurately and have confidence in a camera while filming intermittently over the course of a day’s shoot will still be of most concern to the majority of users.
Speculation continues as to whether the R5 is measuring temperature or simply running a seemingly arbitrary timer that deliberately cripples the camera in order to prevent it from being a viable alternative to many of Canon’s cinema-line cameras. Users are finding ingenious (and perhaps fairly useless) methods to bypass the timer, with some achieving three times more 8K footage than Canon intended. As Drake mentions in this video, Canon is being fairly quiet about the overheating issues and some transparency would probably be welcome.
According to this video from Gordon Laing, the R5 has three sensors — two for internal temperature and one for ambient — and the new firmware checks these sensors more frequently, allowing the timer to be more accurate.
The announcement from Canon doesn't give many insights. "We have welcomed feedback on areas for improvement of the EOS R5," explains Richard Shepherd, Canon's Pro Product Marketing Senior Manager, "and we continuously listen to customer feedback to inform the development of current and future products to ensure they meet the changing demands of creators. In the above firmware update we have included small but worthwhile improvements for EOS R5 video recording times based on early feedback.”
Does an extra five minutes of 8K or ten minutes of 4K HQ make a difference? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
After what they have done with the R5 there is no way I will see Canon products the same way, wether we are talking photography or cinematography. Crippling your camera this way goes too far and who knows they may have done this on their Cine line as well!
At lest ARRI allow you to unlock features like 4K on their cam! I would have paid extra to get unlimited videos on the R5.
Anyway there is no way for me now to trust Canon.
Lol.
Have you ever tried Canon or are you strictly a Panasonic Lumix guy?
Doesn't matter. Canon promoted an 8k movie and delivered an 8k trailer to a movie. Other than that their cameras now do what other cameras have been doing. And now they are basically chasing people to Sony because they don't want to hurt their video camera business.
It doesn't matter? Great answer!
Even people that don't use a certain brand can tell when a brand is being shady in its promotional methods and cripple hammering.
You mean like Sony claiming they can't put their new menu on older bodies?
Yup.
I'm only an amateur photographer, so I appreciate your advice as a professional. NOT!
No worries, with a pro name like cool cat, you'll be raking in the clients fast. Another person on here posting nothing but commenting on everything.
I never said I am a pro. In fact, I said I'm an amateur photographer. Looks like you can't read either. Which is why your opinion means less.
They did it with the 5d mark 4 and it's shite mjpeg 4k and they are doing it again with the R5. Good thing about cameras is they last years so not like we have to buy every new one that comes out. I'll wait for the R5 II where they cripple hammer the 12k video but the 8k works with no problems. In the meantime my 5d mark 3 and 4 still does the job.
Putting the camera in a fridge, taking picture every minute make it overheat for HQ video after an hour.
But recording with external recorder at ambient temperate can go forever. The camera body is extremely hot.
That makes no sens.
Now, we have 5 extra minutes of this game?
I'm impressed
Its not overheat, not even in 8K.
Just a time-bomb inside firmware so you can't write too much HQ video so there will be no completion with C300 mk3.
Even in the fridge the time is same.
Interviewing someone can easy get the camera rolling for an hour.
Filming Conferences, press event...
Here its' even more complicated with the R5; If you were to take picture or just power the camera before even recording anything, you actual recording time may be closer to 0 minute, with a downtime of one hour.
i have no interest in this camera so havent taken too much notice of the issues but isnt it only in 8K there are issues? and on the back of that would you be filming any of those scenarios above in 8K?
Does any other hybrid camera (or stills camera that does video) film for an hour solid in 4K or 8K or is it only video specific devices?
The issue start as soon as you like a real 4K, what they call "HQ 4K"
All 4K HQ and 8K have overheat limitation based on the previous use of the camera.
If you are playing with the Wifi menu prior to the shooting, without taking any picture or video you will end with 0 recording time possible.
If you choose not 4K HQ, you can still record.
The worst is the recovering time which is about an hour wait to be able to record when overheat is reached, with camera turned off.
On an 8-core 10th gen intel i9 laptop it takes about 12 min to encode an 8 second 8k video to a watchable 4k (Adobe Media Encoder). 5 extra minutes equals 450min encoding time. You'd better be interviewing someone really worth interviewing :)
The problem is happening in 4K too. Yes, no one will do press coverage in 8K.
24p,25p,30 and up 4K HQ is only possible if the camera start from fresh cold.
30mn is the max recording time, but real life test shows it's closer to 5mn outdoor, with downtime of one hour, camera turned off, to restart again.
This is why people are so upset.
Cause, in the meanwhile, if you plug the camera to an external recorder, there is no limit and the camera is so hot, you can't barely touch it. Still Canon think it's safe like this.
Make no sens whatsoever.
I agree - it is frustrating. I found one interesting comparison https://wolfcrow.com/image-quality-comparison-8k-vs-4k-hq-vs-4k-vs-aps-c... - apparently the HQ mode only makes sense with an external recorder.
It's working with an external recorder, yes.
But there is no advantage on doing so, quality wise. IT will be the same than internally.
Green screen or heavy color correction, all benefits for HQ.
5 minutes. Extra 5 stinkin' minutes. It's like they're not even trying.
Just 5 more minutes before you take of the battery and press the small "Reset button" inside and change to a formatted card... So you can write ~23*minutes right away.
*it was 17 minutes, I guess its 23 now.
jared polin got extra 15 min in his latest video.
Outdoors at 89 F, no difference.
Indoors at 74 F, yes.
It's worth nothing he just had them on a stand shooting at a wall. DPReview's test is a little more realistic...ish.
If you want a camera for video, buy a video camera
That won't work for all the cheap people out there. No one cries about video cameras not having good enough stills options.
Exactly
The ergonomics for stills camera are different
The way you use a stills camera and video is different
The end product is different
Most of the challenges are too
If you design a picture only camera, why do you advertise on 8K video capability?