Removing the Memory Cards ‘Fixes’ EOS R5 Overheating Over HDMI

The plot thickens… in a pair of videos released this week, YouTuber and Twitch streamer Wayne from No Life Digital shows how simply removing the memory cards from the Canon EOS R5 basically “fixes” the camera’s overhearing problems when shooting to an external recorder.

If you have been following the video overheating debates surrounding Canon, you know that the camera has issues when shooting both internally and externally when using its oversampled 4KHQ mode (8K recording isn’t possible externally). Typically, recording HQ 4K/30p or 24p video to an external recorder will cause the camera to overheat at around 60-75 minute mark.

However, a simple hack seems to solve this problem entirely: remove the memory cards.

The warning sticker on the Canon EOS R5’s card door is pretty clear: “BE CAREFUL, HOT”

The original video prompted several questions from keen-eyed viewers wondering how this simple change could possibly have such an impact. Some pointed out that he used a dummy battery, which may have removed some heat, and others wondered if 4KHQ was actually being sent to the recorder.

Wayne addresses some of these questions in a follow-up video (below), in which he seems to confirm his results: shooting 4K/30 externally is limited by overheating with the memory cards in, but that limit seems to disappear if you simply remove the memory cards. This was still the case even while using Canon’s own battery to power the camera.

Why this happens is another question entirely, and one that only Canon can answer. Obviously the memory cards are not being used for recording in this scenario, whether they’re inserted or not. The fact that this essentially “fixes” overheating over HDMI has some speculating that this could be a software limitation, or point towards a flaw that Canon could fix via firmware.

Of course, if you shoot exclusively stills, this probably doesn’t affect you at all. Every review we’ve seen show the Canon EOS R5 to be an exceptional stills camera. This also has no impact on the internal video recording limits of the camera, since you can’t exactly remove the memory cards and keep recording in that situation.

However, if you do want to use the EOS R5 for high-end video recording, and overheating limits are a total deal-breaker, these findings point to one potential workaround for professional workflows.

Check out both videos above to see these tests for yourself, and let us know what you think in the comments.

(via Canon Rumors)

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