Canon Explains EOS R5 Overheating, Why There’s No Fan, and More

Jul 14, 2020

Canon sent out a media alert to press this morning addressing the overheating concerns that have come up regarding the new EOS R5 full-frame mirrorless camera. The statement explains why Canon didn’t include a fan, when the camera will overheat, and what you can do to avoid these issues.

The statement covers a lot of ground, explaining the steps that Canon took to avoid overheating, why the company chose not to install a fan for active cooling, an explanation of the “Overheat Control” feature, and tips for “reducing heat buildup” when shooting video. They even included a section about the lower-resolution EOS R6.

Canon also published (again) official overheating and recovery times for the EOS R5:

Regarding the omission of any sort of fan—notably included in the Panasonic S1H—Canon writes:

The decision not to install a fan within the body was made in order to maintain the EOS R5’s compact size, lightweight construction and weather resistance.

In terms of tips for avoiding these overheating limits, Canon offers five bullet points of advice:

Set Overheat Control function to “ON” (default). When the overheat control function is enabled, the movie size and frame rate are automatically changed while the camera is in standby mode to suppress the rise of the internal temperature
Between recordings, it is recommended to turn off the camera
Position the camera out of direct sunlight
Use an external fan to dissipate heat

Finally, regarding the EOS R6, Canon admits that “at the highest frame rates and resolutions heat is inevitably generated,” but the limits seem to be negligible for standard use. According to Canon’s official statement:

The EOS R6 can record up to the 29 minutes 59 second recording limit in the 5.1K oversampled 4K 60p mode at (23°C / 73°F) before encountering any heat related issues within the camera and up to 40 minutes of 4K at 30p.

You can read the full statement, unedited, below.

There has been a lot of debate about whether the limitations described by Canon can be described as overheating “issues,” or whether it’s all being overblown by critics and those who “want” the EOS R5 and Canon to fail. In the end, we won’t know how serious these issues are until the full reviews begin to come out.

To Canon’s credit, they’re being incredibly transparent about the potential for issues.