The guys at Lensrentals.com have started their teardown of the Canon EOS R5. This teardown focuses on the camera design choices by Canon. I have been told that a further article about the thermal performance of the camera will come a little bit later.
Lensrentals.com is also offering 15% off all orders that arrive before October 2, 2020, with the coupon code SEPT15 during checkout.
The original ‘Uncle Roger' breaks it down as only he can.
By Roger Cicala
Published September 8, 2020
Let’s get one thing out of the way in the first sentence. If you’re here to understand the mysteries of thermal flow in the R5 I can tell you everything I know without opening the camera up: It’s small, it’s weather-sealed, and photo-body cameras have limited ability to get heat out of the camera.
I am NOT a thermal engineer. I believe that it’s better to know nothing than to know what ain’t so. So I will not be engaging in speculation about the camera’s thermal performance. I will take it apart, comment on what I know about, show you some fun pictures.
I always speculate some, but I’ll try to be clear ‘this is what I know’ and ‘this is what I speculate’. For example, 2 years ago we tore down the first EOS R. I showed that there was a big empty space in the camera, about the size of an IBIS unit. That was what I knew. Then I speculated that Canon would NOT put IBIS in their mirrorless cameras because they were so into lens IS.
Just giving you an example of how much trust to put in my speculations. Or anyone else’s for that matter.
So Let’s Take Stuff Apart!
The camera looks pretty much like the other Canon cameras with the battery door off. That’s the connector for the WFT-R10 wireless transmitter, which is kind of cool: It functions as a 2-battery grip, plus provides ethernet as well as wireless connectivity. You can connect up to 10 cameras to a server. This is not something I’m interested in myself, the onboard wireless is all I need.
But it seems a cool, albeit expensive, option for high-powered professional-type people.
The battery door itself gives us our first pleasant surprise. In every camera, the battery door is a weak area for leakage. There’s usually some weather-resistant gaskets around the edge, which the R5 has. In addition, the entire flat surface is soft gasket material in addition to the raised gaskets around the edges and hinge area.
The viewfinder rubber comes off next, Canon attaches theirs with a couple of screws rather than a clamp.
Check out the full teardown at Lensrentals.com
Anyway, the only real take away for me here is that there is little space to add components that would help with thermals without massive redesigns, Roger didn't point out any flaws that were obvious to him and the sealing looks fantastic compared to the R (which when tested still technically survived a lot of water).
The R6, from what I recall, doesn't seem to have as much Thermal Padding as the R5 (the website I saw the R6 teardown has the article but no longer shows the photos: R6 Teardown link ) . So maybe I jumped the gun with my post (but still think it was a funny reply, ha ha) . But, I would think enough thermal padding to cover the entire processor would/could have been used on the R5 but that wasn't the case here. What do I know, lol.
I got my new R5 and lenses a while back (yay!). So I decided to put it on a tripod with a RF 70-200 f2.8 lens with lens hood and put it out on my outside deck at minimum focus distance for 200mm at my hummingbird feeder. I started an unlimited 8K raw video with a formatted 325GB Prograde Cobalt card. My goal is to extract, from the video, some nice 8K pixel wide still frames of hummingbirds in flight or in a good pose while sitting there (in pre-determined focus). Since this is about the fourth time I've done this, I thought I'd go back inside and get on the computer and come back after the CFExpress card filled up.
After getting distracted for about an hour while focused on my computer, I looked outside and marveled at just how hard the rain had been coming straight down for the last 5 minutes or so. Then it hit me - BAM - wasn't my camera outside on the porch? DOHHHHHH!!!!!!
I ran to my deck, grabbed the camera & tripod (still in the pouring rain) and brought it inside. I got some nice quality towels (the kind they use at car washes) to slowly dab the water off the camera & lens. When I got most of it off I dared to look inside the lens hood to see how much water got on the front lens - and saw there wasn't a drop on it! - There wasn't any moisture at all on it! Wow - that long lens hood really made a difference, way more than I'd expect. After getting all the water off it (including the back LCD) that I could see I left it in a dry location to sit for a few hours. After that I opened the battery door (remembering seeing Sony Alpha videos of water running out of its battery compartment when people did an intentional water test with it). There was no water there - not a speck of moisture. The top LCD had no moisture anywhere (including under the glass itself which I really worried about). The back LCD & EVF had no moisture on them or under the glass. Next I slowly took the lens off and saw that there was not a speck of water around the mount surfaces, at the back of the lens or inside the camera that I could see. Looking through the lens, there was no water or moisture at all that I could see. I couldn't find any moisture anywhere.
In the few days past, I have used the same R5 and lens for lots more pictures, and there was no problem whatsoever.
All I can say is "Thanks, Canon! You did a great water sealing job!", followed by "I hope I'm never this stupid again!"
bet that got your heart going :)
This sounds like Canon did a hell of a good job.
As did your cardiologist.
I hope I don't have any more "tests" like that ever again.
But seriously, the most embarrassing thing about that moment of shock is having to admit to yourself just how much of an idiot you can be when you're not careful! Now I don't leave it outside unattended unless I check the sky, the weather report, and set a timer on my phone (oh, and make sure I'm carrying my phone, ... and its battery is charged ... and the volume is full ... hmmm ... anything else?) :rolleyes:
Weld the camera into a padded steel box.
It might--mind you might--be safe from user error that way. :D
The lens still worked, so I decided to use it till it broke, and Im still waiting for it to break. To say I was impressed is putting it mildly.
Having the chance to survive saltwater is my gold standard as thats where I seem to I kill cameras. Knowing they further prioritised sealing is good news to me, particularly given I still get unlimited 4k with it.
My 5D Mark III also took a few baths in downpours right after buying it in 2012, it hasn't skipped a beat. I also used to use old Rebels for storm chasing and never had one fail, those were abused.
I call it my 5d mk 6!
I shot for an hour in the rain today, it never missed a beat.
Canon, as a company, really pisses me off OFTEN.
But this is a great camera.