How frequently does your R5 freeze/lock up?

How frequently does your R5 freeze/lock up?


  • Total voters
    97

vjlex

EOS R5
Oct 15, 2011
514
430
Osaka, Japan
My R5 froze at least 2 times in the middle of a shoot a week ago. I don't remember the specific message, but it mentioned something about not being able to read the SD card. I'm using the Lexar 2000x 128gb UHS-II SD card and Delkin 128gb CFexpress. I didn't have to remove the battery, only turn the camera off/on to get it working again.
 
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H. Jones

Photojournalist
Aug 1, 2014
803
1,637
I've had it happen maybe once in the past 3 months. The viewfinder froze with a bright pink line across the top of it and the camera totally locked up, I think it was when I rotated the camera to portrait orientation while changing a focus switch on the lens. I've had other cameras (1DX2, EOS R, 5D3, 5D4) do this in various weird scenarios, so I just immediately knew to pop the battery and put it back in.

No issues afterward. Random glitches are to be expected with any camera, it doesn't become a problem when you have the muscle memory mid-shot to replace the battery quick.
 
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So my question is, how confident are you that this freezing issue can be resolved with a firmware update? During the first week or so of owning my R5, I only had 2, maybe 3 freezes. This past week I had a couple of days of pretty intense photographing, and had another couple of freezes. Each time the VF would freeze on the last image, and the camera would not respond to any input from buttons/dials. After a few seconds, it would come back to life and I could carry on. No power off or battery removal was necessary. This has been the case on every instance.

I am still within the 30 day return window if I feel like trying to return the camera and try for a replacement. Just wondering what would be the best course of action. I hate to have to do a return and hope for a replacement in what would likely be another agonizing wait. Any input on this would be greatly appreciated. If a simple firmware update fixes it, I'm fine with putting up with an occasional lockup for a few seconds until then.
 
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JPAZ

If only I knew what I was doing.....
CR Pro
Sep 8, 2012
1,164
641
Southwest USA
I only have a few hundred shots on this R5 (and am impressed with it as a stills camera). Yesterday, while chasing grandkids around the yard, I powered up to get a long red light on back then an error message, “reading error card 2.” Immediately turned off, popped the battery out and in, powered up and continued. Took about 10 seconds.........

Using Lexar 64gb V90 UHS ii and Prograde 128gb CFexpress. Did I just experience what others are describing?
 
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I only have a few hundred shots on this R5 (and am impressed with it as a stills camera). Yesterday, while chasing grandkids around the yard, I powered up to get a long red light on back then an error message, “reading error card 2.” Immediately turned off, popped the battery out and in, powered up and continued. Took about 10 seconds.........

Using Lexar 64gb V90 UHS ii and Prograde 128gb CFexpress. Did I just experience what others are describing?
I think this is different to the lock ups other people are experiencing. Usually the camera will freeze and become unresponsive with no warning message about the memory card. Someone please correct me if I am wrong about that.

I had a similar issue to you with the memory card error message. In that case I had forgotten to eject the memory card properly from the computer. Formatting the card once On the computer and then once on the camera itself fixed the issue for me. I would say your memory card is at fault and not the camera in this instance.
 
Upvote 0
Jan 27, 2020
53
31
I did not seem to have it happen much until the latest (Nov?) FW update, but I was not shooting as much, or using EF lenses either.

I have only ever had this happen with EF lenses. I mostly use 400 f/2.8 with 1.4x. After a burst and a short (on long) rest, I go to shoot and it is frozen. Requires battery removal to resolve. Also seeing message to put the lenscap on when powering down normally.
 
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Mar 25, 2011
16,848
1,835
It would be interesting to run the survey again and ask what memory cards are being used to see if that possibly has a relevance to the lockups?

I've seen quite a few provide that information on the Fred Miranda forum but no correlation, some were using multiple brands, all with the same issue. I use a Pro Grade 325 GB Cobalt (I see they are on sale for $417). I've never had a lockup. I have multiple SD cards, my Lexar 128 GB V60 is usually the one installed.
 
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AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
CR Pro
Aug 16, 2012
12,355
22,534
It would be interesting to run the survey again and ask what memory cards are being used to see if that possibly has a relevance to the lockups?
I use the cheapest cards; a Manfrotto 128 gb CFExpress (probably a rebadged Delkin) and the slowest UHS-II 1667x 128GB Lexar. Never had a single lock-up or freeze in 10,000 actuations. For about 1/2 of those, the CFExpress slot was empty and the Lexar performed fine.
 
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JPAZ

If only I knew what I was doing.....
CR Pro
Sep 8, 2012
1,164
641
Southwest USA
Was beginning to suspect the Lexar SD card as the culprit but based on the experiences of others, this is not so clear. Since my report of November 2, it has not happened again. Still using the ProGrade CFExpress and the Lexar SD. I have two CFExpress cards and it is possible I've not used the original one (when I had the issue) since then. I do know I've formatted bot the the CFExpress and the SD since then. So still no idea what could be hardware vs. firmware vs memory cards.
 
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digigal

Traveling the world one step at a time.
CR Pro
Aug 26, 2014
283
586
I thought I would follow up on my repeated freezes of my R5 requiring me to remove the battery to restart. It was not related to the battery status (state of charge, R5 battery vs R vs 7DMII, etc), card I was using (SD vs CFE--I was using compliant cards ie Type B CFE and SD UHS-II), shooting mode, speed of shooting, temperature, or lens. I've used all Canon batteries, lenses, and adapter when these freezes occurred. I spoke with a Canon tech at phone support and he said I would need to send the camera in so finally 10 days ago I did. They called me a couple of times to get more info while they were working on it about the episodes but basically they could find nothing wrong with the camera and were not able to replicate the crashes. They decided to replace the motherboard anyway and I received it back yesterday. I went out to shoot last night with it and shot about 1500 pictures and typically in the past there would have been a 50-50 chance of having it freeze but things were fine. Cautiously optimistic but time will tell.
Catherine
Also when I talked to the Canon tech guy, he said that the camera keeps a log of all the times it crashes and the techs can see this when they examine it
 
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I thought I would follow up on my repeated freezes of my R5 requiring me to remove the battery to restart. It was not related to the battery status (state of charge, R5 battery vs R vs 7DMII, etc), card I was using (SD vs CFE--I was using compliant cards ie Type B CFE and SD UHS-II), shooting mode, speed of shooting, temperature, or lens. I've used all Canon batteries, lenses, and adapter when these freezes occurred. I spoke with a Canon tech at phone support and he said I would need to send the camera in so finally 10 days ago I did. They called me a couple of times to get more info while they were working on it about the episodes but basically they could find nothing wrong with the camera and were not able to replicate the crashes. They decided to replace the motherboard anyway and I received it back yesterday. I went out to shoot last night with it and shot about 1500 pictures and typically in the past there would have been a 50-50 chance of having it freeze but things were fine. Cautiously optimistic but time will tell.
Catherine
Also when I talked to the Canon tech guy, he said that the camera keeps a log of all the times it crashes and the techs can see this when they examine it
I’m very curious about how you progress with the camera from now on. Hopefully the new motherboard has done the trick. Please keep us posted
 
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JPAZ

If only I knew what I was doing.....
CR Pro
Sep 8, 2012
1,164
641
Southwest USA
They decided to replace the motherboard anyway and I received it back yesterday. I went out to shoot last night with it and shot about 1500 pictures and typically in the past there would have been a 50-50 chance of having it freeze but things were fine. Cautiously optimistic but time will tell.
Catherine

Wow. Keep us posted and good luck!
 
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SteveC

R5
CR Pro
Sep 3, 2019
2,678
2,592
Also when I talked to the Canon tech guy, he said that the camera keeps a log of all the times it crashes and the techs can see this when they examine it

If so, did they actually affirm that the crashes had happened?

I'm guessing they considered them real or they'd not have replaced the motherboard.
 
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