Canon Releases Video-Centric, Slightly Nerfed R5C

Canon launched the long-expected R5c that fixes the R5 heat issues with an integrated fan and provides for limitless 8K 60p internal recording. But… they did not include an expected full-size HDMI port, and they removed – oddly – the in-body image stabilization that the R5 already had.

Canon told Gordon Laing – an excellent reviewer who had access to a pre-production model – that this absence was due to its tendency to add more heat in the core of the camera, and was needed less often by the gimbal-wielding video crowd.

The camera is only about $500 more expensive than the R5.

Perhaps the biggest disadvantage of the new version is a slightly clunky process for switching between pictures and videos mode. There is a new switch on the top left toggling between essentially two different operating systems. Stills mode uses the interface employed by the R5, with its video capabilities subtracted out. Video mode eliminates the stills capacities, and uses the quite different Canon cinema operating system, which essentially requires a camera reboot that can take just under 10 seconds. That will frustrate wedding, news and event photographers looking to switch instantly between the modes.

As expected, the new smart hotshoe is included. Also included is a timecode port; a tally light; some additional custom buttons; dual gain (800 and 3200) sensor in C-Log 3; and a bevy of video features like waveforms that comes with the alternate Canon cine menus.