Real-world test shows overheating issues with EOS R6 make it unusable for serious video work
Jul 27, 2020
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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Up until now, most of the overheating hyperbole has been hypothetical. It’s based on documentation that Canon has released. But how closely does it represent the real world? Well, the fact that Canon has apparently patented an active cooling EF to RF adapter should be a big clue. But if you needed some real-world evidence, check this out.
Johnnie Behiri over at Cinema5D recently used the Canon EOS R6 for a couple of days shooting in Japan to produce a short film as part of his review of the camera. It was a pre-production unit, and perhaps there have been some changes to the final production camera, but this assessment does not look good at all.
The Canon EOS R6 does boast some nice features. Features that Johnnie thought he was going to be talking about and saying how awesome they are. Things like the autofocus system, the in-body image stabilisation, and the headline full-frame 4K 60fps 10-Bit 4:2:2 video. But, sadly, no.
While the film Johnnie creates is beautiful, after it’s over and he comes back to the review, the first thing he does is apologise to his subjects for not being able to include many of the moments and memories of his time with them as the camera simply wasn’t able to shoot due to what sounds like pretty severe overheating issues.
As Johnnie mentions in the video, Canon’s been fairly open about the overheating times for the EOS R5 and EOS R6 cameras. But Johnnie also says that reading those numbers on-paper vs actually experiencing them in the field are two very different things.
When you don’t know when your camera’s going to overheat, when it’s going to be cooled down enough to shoot again, or how long it will last when you’re once again able to means it’s pretty much useless for any kind of serious work where a client is depending on you and their money is on the line. And even for personal things like vlogging, it still sounds like it’s going to have more downtime than shooting time.
If your focus is stills-only, then the EOS R6 does sound pretty awesome, and you should definitely check out Johnnie’s complete review over on Cinema5D. But as a serious video creation tool? Not so much. Again, this was a pre-production unit, but according to a comment at the end of the review, Johnnie says this was about as close to a production model as it gets.
[via Cinema5D]
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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24 responses to “Real-world test shows overheating issues with EOS R6 make it unusable for serious video work”
Rachel Curci
Has climate change got that bad?
Matti Haapoja posted this video four days ago (on the 23rd) of his using the Canon EOS-R5. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oMZlSvM7trQ Now it seems in his video he actually talks about the different video modes he shot in and how long each mode recorded for until the camera overheated. There doesn’t seem to be anything in that Cinema5D article that mentions how long the EOS-R6 recorded for only what video mode they were shooting in. Being that it was a pre production model and without knowing how long the camera rolled for, since it wasn’t Cinema5D’s goal to make an accurate review of the camera apparently, it seems like a rather harsh criticism when other content creator have gotten their hands on the actual camera by the time their review was even posted.
If you’re interested in seeing some record times before overheating check out his video I linked above. Plus he’s got a second video you can check out about using the EOS-R5.
The headline fail to state that this person was using a preproduction unit
It was pointed out in the article multiple times for those that bother to read beyond the title. :)
Antoine Hart so does canon already made some updates on this camera to address those overheating issues? i did not see any article on that. preorder backtracked.?
If your serious about video you don’t use a dslr or mirrorless camera…?
Jeremy Mailloux I keep asking myself why are DSLRs and Mirrorless cameras advertised as devices used to create “awesome videos”. They are meant for photography in my opinion. That’s why actual video cameras exist. I just don’t understand this need for a crossover. But maybe that’s just me.
Jeremy Mailloux Exactly mate, this thing will still make an awesome stills camera
Rod Cage It would be even more great if they took the video features out and dropped the price 1k! But yes I’m getting one mostly for the IBIS and 12fps. I love my RP it does everything I want except the 4fps is too slow for action or wildlife and my 300 2.8 and 500 4.5 don’t have image stabilization.
Unfortunately this is something the masses and influencers just don’t understand.
My Ford Escape won’t do zero-60 in 3 seconds. I can’t be mad that my Ford Escape doesn’t perform like a Porsche 918 Spyder.
If you need a reliable cine camera, buy a cine camera, not a prosumer camera that happens to have short 8K video clip features. This is *NO* different than when the Canon 7D would overheat after 20 minutes of 1080p, it’s not a high-end video/cine camera.
You cant use the R5/6 to shoot feature length 8K video. Do your research and buy the tool that fits the job.
that is a sad review. Pls. share any articles stated that canon already address this issue before shipping those pre ordered units? ?
Stupid canon
And you can’t call people on it, or play games etc. How dare they. It’s a camera first. Buy a dedicated video camera if that’s what you want.
Mike Sirochman EXACTLY!!!
That’s like saying a phone should just be a phone? We just need it to make phone calls – no need for internet or camera.
Chris Tobias no it’s saying if the video is that important then perhaps what you need is a video camera. As someone else put it how many videographers complain about stills?
Mike Sirochman Why can’t it do both? At this point video will always be a feature in these cameras. Why fight the progress of technology?
Chris Tobias there’s no doubt it will and it’s obvious that cooling is an issue for a lot of cameras but it may require giving up weatherproofing. What makes me hesitate on this camera is hearing about using it for still and it’s in high temp shutdown when you select to video. So will it protect itself from high temp as a still camera and if not can it damage itself in normal use?
So why did Canon even include those video features if this was a just a camera and not meant for any video work? You’re either stupid or a Canon fan boy.
You’re absolutely right! Do-it-all cameras really can’t do it all. I’m a photographer, not a videographer, so I bought a Nikon Df that only takes pictures. I can use ALL Nikon lenses from 40+ years ago until now, I get great images and my Df never overheats. But sadly I can’t program it to brew coffee. ?
Yikes.
When a company sells a camera that it claims can shoot both still photos and videos than that’s what I would expect it to do.
So for all of you people who say you should just buy a Cine camera doesn’t make sense. Unless all you do is video. Many people shoot both video and stills and they expect a camera that advertises it can do both things well to do so.
Canon should have never released this camera until they fixed the overheating issue or they should have removed the video capabilities altogether. But they knew they couldn’t sell it without video.
To me this should be no surprise, Canon is no longer the company it once was and I doubt it will ever will be again. It just seems like they dont care what kind of product they sell anymore.