Real-world test shows overheating issues with EOS R6 make it unusable for serious video work
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]
