The next Canon EOS R5 firmware update is coming soon

Jul 16, 2012
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Maybe an unpopular opinion, but if you're actually trying to get the best out of a $4000 camera, why worry yourself with anything less than first-party batteries that can cause trouble with the FPS? Will never understand why people spend thousands on a camera(close to 1500 more than a R6, which is easily the cost of 20 real LP-E6NH) but worry about the $30 difference in knock-off batteries.
The flip side is why not see if you can save $30 a battery with a few minutes of research. Most people dont have infinite money.
 
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LSXPhotog

Automotive, Commercial, & Motorsports
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Apr 2, 2015
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After using both the R5 and R6 since launch nearly every single day, I echo what a lot of people have already stated.

Probably the most important improvement would be the issue where the camera is freezing up. I have only experienced this on the R5 between 4-6 times...not bad considering that I have used it almost every single day in an extremely wide variety of scenarios. The main preventative measure I’ve discovered for this has been to just turn the camera off manually when I’m not using it. This hasn’t really happened unless I’m walking around with the camera powered on and by my side. I personally believe this has something to do with the IBIS system getting overworked because it’s constantly working and Canon doesn’t allow it to eventually shut down/return to center when idle.

The R6 needs video Tv priority at a very minimum. I and many others have a legitimate use for shutter priority in video that would come in very handy for quick, run/gun video when walking around and just need a quick clip that I’m not trying to win an award with...but I would like smooth motion without thinking much.

This is another personal preference, but I would like to see the option to have aspect ratios available in crop modes when shooting photos. However, I realize I’m probably alone in this need, so I don’t think it will happen.

**1** Electronic Shutter Options
OK...now down to business. Silent shutter mode needs to actually have various frame rates to choose from. The fact it’s either 20fps or 1fps is ridiculous. I don’t need 20fps...and I shoot motorsports for a living! I like the idea of having it available, but I would love to be able to shoot in electronic shutter on the R5 with 10, 12, 15, etc. frames per second. I also agree that the addition of an optional audible shutter would be beneficial for me in some situations as well.

**2** Smaller RAW Format Options on the R5
I’ve been in several discussions with people about this and heard both sides of the spectrum...but I own an R6 because it’s 20mp and the R5 because it’s 45mp. I, and many others, don’t really NEED 45mp all the time. Having the option to shoot in smaller RAW formats would be fantastic for myself and many others in my industry. We are routinely shooting 1,500-3,000 images in a day and while storage costs may be incredibly cheap, processing power certainly isn’t. When I offload 1,000+ 45mp RAW or cRAW images on any of my machines (all Intel mobile i7 on the road or my Ryzen 7 3700X desktop) they chug along. It’s extremely demanding to import and edit 45mp RAW files in Lightroom and that’s all well and good when I’m at home in the office with a powerful desktop and more time...but when I’m on the road with a pretty powerful Dell XPS 15 or XPS 13 laptop it can be a problem to import and offload images in a timely fashion. If we could be given the option to shoot in 20-24mp full frame RAW, it would come in handy - ESPECIALLY at a wedding when I absolutely have no need for a 45mp image of a dance floor. LOL If I could switch the R5 into 20-24mp after the portrait session is complete, it would work out extremely well with the R6.

**3** Video CODEC Options to Support Slower Cards
I love love LOVE that CLog-3 is potentially coming to the R5 soon. But I hope we do see alternative CODECs that are more manageable. Understandably, H.265 was chosen for a good reason - it’s a very efficient way of taking a LOT of information off the camera. But, as it stands right now, I only own ONE CFExpress card that can write sustained 4K120 without reaching the buffer limit. If I’m in a pinch and only have an SD card or inferior 128GB/256GB CFExpress card in the camera, being able to use a smaller CODEC (which will inevitably reduce quality) just so I can actually SHOOT the video is a very valuable for me.

**4** The IBIS System and a High-Res Mode
What’s going on here, Canon? The IBIS system is a tremendously strong performer for stills and extremely weak when it comes to video. Walking movements can be exaggerated wildly and some camera movements look like a drunk slob took them. It also can’t be detached from the lens?!? WHY! Why can’t I just use lens IS or combined or just IBIS? Why does IBIS have to constantly be working when the camera is on? Why doesn’t it eventually disengage from operation after a certain amount of time after you let your finger off metering only when using an IS lens - a feature already available when using a non-IS lens? This would help with battery life quite a bit. Can we please get a high-resolution mode? The camera processing and IBIS system are surely up to the task.

**5** Make the R6 Great and the R5 Even Greater
While the average Joe looks at the R5 and R6 and says “why pay $1400 for 20 more megapixels and 8K video I’ll never use!” There are some serious optimization differences between the cameras that make the R5 a superior camera in every single way. But why can’t the R6 store custom functions for video? Why can’t it shoot in any ALL-I formats? Why can’t it record video in shutter or aperture priority - just full manual or full auto? All of that could be considered for a firmware update and adding some of the aforementioned features to the R5 would help them keep their distance in the market.

This was long as I thought out loud. I doubt anyone will have read it, but if you did, thank you. Haha
 
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tron

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Nov 8, 2011
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Hi. I am lost about third parties batteries since of course I want to reach the H+ mode and 12fp/20fp speed.

I have found a Patona Platinum battery LP-E6NH 2250mAh 7,2V and a generic brand (DSTE), LP-E6N with 7,4V and 2600mAh. Question: which of the 2 batteries might provide best performances for the R5 and to get H+ and 12fp/20fp shutting speed?
To avoid confusion I must say that I was referring strictly to Canon batteries. But even so LP-E6N is much cheaper than LP-E6NH (3 LP-E6N cost as much as 2 LP-E6NH) so it has great value for money. I don't wish to get involved with 3rd party Canon batteries so I am afraid I cannot help.
 
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tron

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Nov 8, 2011
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The R came with LP-E6N, the E6 is from before the 5Div days so if you bought your R used someone gave you a old battery that didn’t come with the R
I agree: R, 5DIV, 7DII, 5DsR come with LP-E6N. But by the time you get them (I assume used) even LP-E6N would show with one red bar as its status anyway. Better get a new battery to enjoy the camera more.
 
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I agree to many of the suggestions given before.
My two biggest wishes are:
1. Functionality like Olympus's Pro Capture. (Example: Some birds sit perched for a long time, and then suddenly takes off - I need help to catch that)
2. Some options for electronic shutter:
- range of fps-settings, like single shot + 5, 8, 12, 20 fps
- optional 'almost silent' shooting to give me audible feedback on how I am shooting
 
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as for Codec(s), my bet is on
  • H265 4:2:0 10bit ... has hardware support in many CPUs and GPUs... current H265 4:2:2 10bit does NOT
  • H264 - less computationally intensive to transcode, has hardware support in all kinds of devices
something to back this hypothesis up is Apple's own FinalCut Support website - a mishap or a flaw... be my guest:
Canon EOS R5
Format: Cinema RAW Light / H.264 / H.265
also it makes sense. Everybody offers a codec that offers faster transcode, but I'm not sure their DigicX can encode H264 efficiently... but 4:2:0 H265 should be possible.

My own firmware wishes for the R5:
  • AF point related metering in photo and video mode!!!!! We have this amazing subject/eye tracking, why on earth can't the metering be evaluated on this point of interest... no excuses, it's computationally pathetic!
  • sRAW and mRAW for lower resolution photos!!! Why did they ever stop providing this?
  • better (Sony-like) white balancing option for video! - oh my god is it stupid right now!
  • more than 99 pictures in intervalometer
  • some sort of RAW-like video at 4k and 1080p, giving best dynamic range
  • ability to deactivate IBIS fully independently of lens IS
 
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Mar 4, 2020
17
16
"Sometimes it feels a bit weird having absolutely no shutter sound with the ES so maybe it would be nice to have an optional (very) quiet shutter emulation."

Yes, it's a pain in the a$$ when you accidentaly touch the button and find that you've shot 20+ shots of *nothing* because you were unaware that the shutter was firing. The flashing white outline that indicated shutter activity is pretty useless. It would be nice to have a choice of sounds available, and a choice of volume levels. Such a simple thing to fix in firmware.
I have an old Olympus that is able to make animal sounds as you press the shutter. Yes. I also had a nav-system (TomTom) that had a cow go booooo indicating an illegal speed. When I had small kids we used to prank mom with it. When she told the kids something I went a bit faster ot get the BOOOOO sound at the end of her sentence. Boy we had some fun. So yeah. We need ES-sounds. Let me upload a .waf
 
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SteveC

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Sep 3, 2019
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Yep, having 2 (or more) x Rate buttons does appear to be an overkill
I've been lampooning the fact that you can't reassign the rate button to something else, but you can assign other buttons TO "rate" ever since I heard about it. Just in case you want more than one. Including pretending someone is asking for two of them when they complain about not being able to reassign it. (No one has killed me yet.)
 
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If we could be given the option to shoot in 20-24mp full frame RAW, it would come in handy
cRAW is still 45mp but compressed so best of both worlds if card/disk space and file transfer is the issue. Expanding for editing does mean additional processing power though. Slightly lossy in the shadow recovery from what I can see.
If you mean sRAW/mRAW then that was more substantial lossy compression without any real benefit from my perspective. Smaller file but poorer ability to edit. Dance floor shots (IMHO) can be the worst when it comes to dynamic range and bringing up the shadows could be important. Certainly hard to expose correctly without flash.
2 options I can think of:
- Using crop mode or your R6 is the only way to output true RAW shots.
- Use 10 bit HEIF format for better output and editing ability than JPG but not as good as RAW... or record both (RAW to CFe and HEIF to SD card) and only work on the HEIF files unless you need RAW as the exception.
https://helpx.adobe.com/in/lightroom-cc/kb/heic-files-support.html

I'm using a 2013 specced up 16" Macbook Pro and it runs okay (excluding video) but wouldn't be good enough for 1500+files a day (although I have done it before). I am looking forward to the 3rd quarter when Apple will release their new 16" MBP which should be a massive improvement in both photo and video processing from what I am using now and the existing Intel competition. I guess what I am saying is that your main issue appears to be computing power and the new 16" MBP will be your friend :)

For the money, even the current 13" MBP is a big jump in processing power over the equivalent Intel device and the cost is relatively low. Editing on a 13" screen isn't ideal but it would improve your travelling workflow if processing power is the bottleneck.
 
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sRAW and mRAW for lower resolution photos!!! Why did they ever stop providing this?
Because they offer cRAW, crop mode and HEIF options... and computational performance has improved dramatically in the 5 years since the 5DS/R was released. There are pros and cons for all formats of course
The 5DS only offered 5fps vs 20fps for the R5/R6 for instance. Haven't things changed :)
 
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Mar 4, 2020
17
16
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but if you're actually trying to get the best out of a $4000 camera, why worry yourself with anything less than first-party batteries that can cause trouble with the FPS? Will never understand why people spend thousands on a camera(close to 1500 more than a R6, which is easily the cost of 20 real LP-E6NH) but worry about the $30 difference in knock-off batteries
Well, I tried but new Canon batteries could not be found in july. I ended up buying 6 Baxxtar units. Sanyo cells, compatible chip. Does onboard charging, high speed fps. Last as long as original. After 100.000 exposures with R5 no problems or freezes. So yeah, I wanted to buy 6 originals but in the Netherlands that sets you back 940 dollars. The Baxxters are a fraction of that cost.
 
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