Okay, we all know it by now: the Canon EOS R5 is prone to overheat, which makes it unusable for serious video work. And what about the EOS R6? It’s less impressive in specs, but should you disregard it for video? Dan Watson compares the two models in his latest video and he’ll tell you why you should not underestimate the Canon R6 when it comes to video work.
Of course, the Canon R6 has its disadvantages in comparison to the R5. The most obvious ones that it’s missing 8K shooting, as well as 4K at 120fps. But interestingly enough, 4k/24p and 4K/60p footage from the R6 looks much better than R5’s downsampled 8K footage in low-quality mode. Even when you shoot 4K/60p in full-frame mode on both cameras, the R6’s footage still looks better, according to Dan’s tests. But in crop mode, the footage from the R5 looks better in both 4K/24p and 4K/60p.
As for the overheating issues – well, both cameras have it. Dan did a bunch of tests and discovered that the R5 overheats in every mode except 4K/24p and 4K/60p in low-quality mode or in the APS-C crop modes. Only these modes will give you unlimited recording, which means that you can’t use the full potential of the R5’s other shooting modes. Which is a shame. According to Dan’s tests, the R6 can last longer in high-quality modes, but there’s no mode that’s gonna give you the unlimited recording. The R6 will eventually overheat in every shooting mode, and recording over approximately 45min will introduce a high chance of overheating. Now, there’s the 1080p mode in both cameras, and neither of them overheats when you use it. But according to Dan, the 1080p footage it doesn’t look great in either camera. Another plus of the R6 is that it performs better in low light. It holds up really well in ISO 6400 in terms of noise, and the overall quality of the footage is better than one of the R5 with the same settings. And just like the R5, you have amazing AF and IBIS in the R6, which add to both the video quality and the ease of shooting. The cameras also share the same downsides, other than overheating. They both have the 30-minute recording limit and allow single card shooting only. Now, the Canon R5 is superior in many aspects than the R6. Even though it overheats, it still allows more shooting time than the R6, at least in low-quality or crop modes. However, this doesn’t mean that the R6 is to be disregarded completely. It shares some perks with the R5, and it even beats it in some aspects. So if you are new to video work or you simply do it less often than photography, perhaps it’s worth considering buying the R6. What do you think? [Canon EOS R5 VS R6 for VIDEO | Don’t underestimate the R6 via No Film School]