What’s next for the Canon EOS R5 and Canon EOS R6?

Being on the west coast, I set my alarm for 5:30AM to order the R5 once it was announced (I've never participated in a camera "launch" before, so I figured it would be like Apple products that go on sale once they are announced -- not once the presentation starts). As such, I am fairly certain I bought it within the first hour of it being available on B&H (my confirmation email didn't arrive until around 6:03AM). The R5 availability email from B&H arrived at 5:23AM, so at worst I ordered it in the first 40 minutes I believe. Anyways, I guess that was too late because today I received the backorder email from B&H, so I guess I probably won't be getting it until November? I've gone ahead and canceled my RF lens orders, and will probably be returning the only one that's arrived so far -- it doesn't make sense to have them sitting around unused and eating up their one month return period. I'll reorder them closer to the actual ship date in case there's any issues with them that I can't find until actually trying them. At this point I don't know what to want -- if there's going to be some hardware change I guess I prefer to be part of the second batch? Who knows. I have to say that regardless of the product itself, this launch seems... chaotic. The email from B&H seems really vague, saying it is "still backordered", treating it like I purchased an existing item that was clearly marked backordered at the time, instead of the reality of being one of the first to order an item in very short supply and messaging it that way (this portion is of course not Canon's fault, but it's part of a larger weird experience).


Crazy, a difference of 30 mins or so and I got mine. I ordered almost the second it was possible, hitting refresh on BH page while watching the release videos. It was like 6:02AM. I was still not the first shipped, my notice came almost a full day later than some.

Either there are supply problems (I would believe before any other reason) or a lot more have sold than expected. Mine says made in Japan on the bottom but I no longer think you can decode the serials. I really wonder if it is doing well, or a very small number were made.

I have also never pre-ordered, and so I think many of us were beyond tired of waiting to upgrade and ordered. I usually buy refurbished bodies that are at least a year past release. I have never been a must have the newest, but this R5 enables things I was pushing the limits on with the 5D4 often, so I wanted the newest.
 
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Just as a sidebar question. Has anybody here read or heard of the R5 overheating doing regular stills photography?

No I haven't heard any report of that with only stills. In theory it could IF you heat up the internals enough- the camera does not care what is going on, once it sees a certain temp it shuts down.

I tested it today by leaving it in direct sunlight at 85 degree ambient air temp. I left it sitting there and took 4K60P IPB video for 30 mins, followed by 30 mins of 1080P video, then 30mins of 4K30P, and took a few stills in the middle. I tired to take another 30 mins of 4K60P and it shut down about 8 mins into that. 20 minutes later the body was cooled in my house AC and back to normal. Shooting stills it I never noticed any appreciable heat. I do notice that the thermal conductivity of whatever magnesium alloy they use feels warm even if you hold the camera powered off in your hands for a few minutes- it conducts heat from any source much more easily than other magnesium bodies from the past. This is a good thing and indicates the body is the heat sink as Canon has stated, and they did think about it. I got basically what Canon promised and more.

Unless you are going to torture it in direct sunlight for a long, long time, I think it will be fine for the vast majority of stills with limited video use. Of course, at higher ambient air, like Phoenix (118 today I heard) the camera will get too hot very fast, but so will any other camera or electronics. If you listen carefully you can hear the reports in the noise that other cameras also overheat, even the A7S3- and it would not be great for stills and to me not that much better for my video needs.
 
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This video is quite convincing. I work in the imaging industry and am very familiar with the amount of time, scrutiny, testing, and validation necessary to get a single feature into production. So I find it extraordinarily ridiculous that overheating was not addressed and solved during testing LONG before these cameras were even officially announced. It was certainly flagged as an issue during that time, yet someone must have made an as-is decision to avoid the production cost of an overhaul and the associated time delay. Ironically, this decision is going to be much more costly for Canon.

On the plus side, I’m a nature photo hobbyist: I don’t do video. So I’m still looking forward to enjoying the R6.
 
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Thanks for the info, already saw this when he first posted it and I immediately ordered a Ninja V. Got hte Ninja V, but my R5 is delayed. However while this gives me limitless 4K60 it still means that if I ever want to use the 4K120 mode I must do so at the start of a shooting day, otherwise the accumulated heat buildup will already be too much for the camera to even start recording.

What has me worried is the following scenario:

I get up pre-dawn to shoot dragonflies covered with dew. The past week that meant temperatures between 15 and 21C (60-70F). Say I setup the camera on a tripod and start doing focus stacks. About an hour or so later the dragonflies will start moving, so no more focus stacks. I set it to 40k30HQ to film the dragonflies grooming, what will it say for the max record time?

Taking the manual at face value, it should show 20-ish minutes, since it's close or below the ambient temperature listed.

Taking twitter message at face value (I know, I know) it would show 0 minutes since the hour of stills capture will have heated up the internals.

I know that even in the 'no time left' case I can set it to 4k30 low quality and still get great looking footage. But I would feel annoyed :)

It would be different if I decided to try doing 4k120 of a grasshopper jumping away since there's no 'safe' mode for that. Maybe the rumoured 1080p120 in the also rumoured firmware update would solve that.

I pre-ordered the R5 for its stills capability, so I'm not cancelling, but I would very much appreciate a firmware update and/or updated manuals to make it more predictable before it gets delivered.
 
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I pre-ordered the R5 for its stills capability, so I'm not cancelling, but I would very much appreciate a firmware update and/or updated manuals to make it more predictable before it gets delivered.

My camera has no CFexpress card in it. It has one video mode available that it shouldn't have (according to the manual) and no 8K modes available (even though the manual says one should be), table page 904. (It would also be nice if a URL was given for "Refer to the Canon Website" as I searched in vain for that information last night so I could make an informed decision which CFexpress card to buy. I eventually found another copy of this very same table, telling me to refer to the Canon Website, which is where I already was.)

I also discovered typos on page 899.
 
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I am WTF on that one indeed. Was looking for a nice copy of 400/2.8 IS II
I tested my 400 2.8 IS II and it works pretty good, probably not "quite" as fast as the vIII but its pretty snappy so I'm not as concerned as I was before.
The general rule of thumb I've been able to ascertain when it comes to EF lenses on the R5 and R6: the newer the better.
My 600 f4 IS is pretty darn slow in mechanical shutter.
 
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Thank you I was just trying to sort that out. As a R user I do like the touch and drag but it is nice to have the option!!!!
I don't understand why that is not the default setting for the joystick. Why would anyone want to have to push the button forst, then move the joystick? Its not like a button that gets accidently pushed or anything. I have used my 7dii like this since day 1 and never had a problem.
 
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I don't understand why that is not the default setting for the joystick. Why would anyone want to have to push the button forst, then move the joystick? Its not like a button that gets accidently pushed or anything. I have used my 7dii like this since day 1 and never had a problem.
I think Canon is promoting the touch and drag because R users got used to doing that. I still prefer using the screen now as I find it is quicker and more accurate for me. There is really should be a question during the setup asking if you are DSLR user or R/RP user and set the Camera accordingly.
 
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I don't understand why that is not the default setting for the joystick. Why would anyone want to have to push the button forst, then move the joystick? Its not like a button that gets accidently pushed or anything. I have used my 7dii like this since day 1 and never had a problem.

Never owned a camera with a joystick before. I keep going to the dial to try to work the menu. :D

The joystick, it seems, I'm going to have to learn, multiple times I've tried to press on it and had it shift on me in some direction instead, or vice versa. But I *did* disable the button that needs to be pressed before moving autofocus with the joystick. That was aggravating, instantly. (Oh and two dials will move the AF point up-down and left-right.)
 
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I received my r5 Thursday, but it never had the chance to overheat because it kept throwing an Error 70 every 10-30 seconds. Called B and H because Canon said it was a dead/defective camera, but B and H can’t get me a replacement.
 
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I think Canon is promoting the touch and drag because R users got used to doing that. I still prefer using the screen now as I find it is quicker and more accurate for me. There is really should be a question during the setup asking if you are DSLR user or R/RP user and set the Camera accordingly.
I really tried to make the screen for moving focus points on the R, but being left eyed, I found my nose moved it more than my finger did. I tried limiting which area of the screen was active, but had no luck. I definitely prefer the joystick or the eye detect.
 
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