External cooling for the Canon EOS R5 overheating problem
Wednesday 29 July 2020, 15:15 by Nando Harmsen | 4,256 views | 3 commentsThis article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.
The announcements of the Canon EOS R5 and EOS R6 were warmly welcomed. Two excellent cameras with specifications that seemed to be just what the photography world was waiting for.
The video specifications in particular are impressive, with a 4K resolution at 120 fps, and even an 8K resolution at 30 fps.
The possible overheating problem immediately became apparent. Cameras that have to work hard quickly become hot, and achieving these specifications requires a great deal of processing power.
Canon soon made it clear that the camera's passive cooling, chosen to keep the body compact, is not sufficient for filming at the maximum resolutions for long periods.
In practice, this means that the EOS R5 and EOS R6 cannot be used very effectively for filming at these high resolutions and frame rates. The problem is clearly shown in the video below from Cinema5D, although it says little about how long the filming lasted or which resolutions were used.
The Tilta Cooling Add-On for the Canon EOS R5
Tilta has already announced a Cooling Kit for the Canon EOS R5. It is an external, active fan that simply clips into the recess for the tilting LCD screen and is powered via a USB-C cable.
The little device weighs approximately 170 grams and has a seven-blade fan that produces 34 decibels of noise. A sensor detects the temperature and automatically activates the fan when the camera sensor becomes too hot.
The company claims that the temperature can be reduced by 15 degrees Celsius within one minute, and by up to 28 degrees in total. This should extend the time that you can film with the EOS R5 to some extent. We will have to wait and see how it performs in practice.
The price of this external fan is not yet known. More information can be found on the Tilta website.
A patent for an EF-RF adapter with cooling
Canon also appears to be working on the temperature problem affecting the EOS R5 and R6 models. They have applied for a patent for an EF-RF adapter with built-in cooling.
Of course, a patent is not yet a product, but it makes clear that a lot of work is being done on a solution to this potential problem with the new Canon EOS mirrorless models.
What about the noise from a fan?
All these active cooling systems use fans. They produce noise, which will certainly be audible when the built-in microphone is used.
In practice, however, this should cause few problems, as any serious filmmaker will use external microphones. Both an EF-RF adapter with active cooling and the Tilta Cooling Kit should therefore cause few problems in terms of noise.
About the author
Nando Harmsen has been photographing for more than 40 years. He specialises in wedding photography and landscape photography. Nando also gives talks, workshops, masterclasses and photo trips, and regularly reviews new and interesting equipment.
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3 comments
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Peter van den Broek wrote on Tuesday 4 August 2020 at 11:57 | replyThat's something! you've just got a new camera; you have to buy a cooling system for it.
Translated from Dutch. -
paul wrote on Tuesday 4 August 2020 at 16:19 | replyThe Canon eos R5 is a photo camera that you can also shoot a video with once in a while and not the other way around. If you want to make a feature film in one go, then buy a film camera. Everyone is talking about 8K these days, but do people realize what gigantic files those will become that your computer will eventually have to be able to process? Let alone already having a TV or projector that can handle 8K. What can it be useful for: suppose you think that a kingfisher that comes to sit on a stick in front of your hide will dive into the water, then you film it in 8K. Since a film consists of images one after another, you can save a photo from a still film frame of a great moment when that kingfisher dives into the water. Those files are still very large, so you can print that photo in a large format. I can give another 100 examples of what that 8K is useful for and for which you only need to film for a few minutes.
Translated from Dutch. -
Nando
wrote on Wednesday 5 August 2020 at 09:44
| reply
@Paul;
Translated from Dutch.
I partly agree with you. If filming is your goal, then I also wonder why you would want to work with this kind of camera. In that case, choose a Canon C200 or C300.
On the other hand, I notice that I am also filming more and more often, alongside my photography. A good filming function is then very useful.
But in my opinion, 8K is not necessary, it is of course a nice selling point for a manufacturer.
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