Kolari Vision Unveils a Canon R5 Heatsink Overheating Mod Service
Kolari Vision — a company that makes both filters and modifications for cameras — has announced what it claims is the first commercially available after-market mod for the Canon EOS R5 that it claims will nearly double 8K recording time and cuts its overheating recovery time by a factor of three. They were the first to tear open the EOS R6 and publish what they saw. They also identified the timer that was causing the camera to shut down at the predetermined times with the original firmware. Even after Canon software patched the R5 to allow it to record longer in high-resolution modes, Kolari says that it was minor.
“Even with this upgrade, the performance boost was minor. For example at 20 degrees Celsius, instead of overheating after around 19 minutes, the new firmware allowed you to shoot around 25 minutes,” Kolari writes. Additionally, the extended recovery time the camera required after such tasks could take several minutes.
The modification only seems to be available for the EOS R5; while the EOS R6 isn’t completely immune to overheating issues, it less impacted by them due to the fact that it shoots relatively limited video compared to the 8K and 4K 120fps of the EOS R5 – which are still the main culprits for its overheating issues, despite numerous firmware updates.
The modification essentially involves installing a custom copper heatsink to draw heat away from the camera’s processors. This decision was made as to the result of a number of thermal analyses performed by Kolari to see where the most heat was assembling – something which was also tested by the folks over at Lensrentals.
“In the stock design, Canon places two thermal pads partially over the processor and pumps the heat into a small heatsink,” Kolari writes. “That heatsink however sits under another board and does not vent heat anywhere further.”
“We tested aluminum initially, but eventually settled on a thick copper heatsink to transfer heat more efficiently,” Kolari says. “This design draws heat out of the processor and brings it around the motherboard and out to the rear case where it transfers heat through a high-efficiency thermal pad. This design is fully internal to the camera and maintains the weather sealing of the camera.”
According to Kolari’s tests with their new modification installed, the new heatsink assembly will double the record time of the camera at 20°C room temperature. And after 5 minutes of cooling downtime, you can record again for almost three times the duration of the stock camera. Cooling the environment down just slightly to 15°C means you can record internally indefinitely – according to the chart below.
“What’s even more important is that the camera recovered a lot faster after it did overheat, giving more shooting time after a short recovery,” Kolari says. “With the stock camera, we could only get about eight minutes of additional shooting after a five-minute recovery, where the mod was able to shoot 22 minutes after the same five-minute recovery which is almost a three times faster-overheating recovery.”
While the modification void Canon’s warranty for the R5, Kolari Vision says that it covers the camera for an additional year after performing the modification.
The modification service costs $399.99 while the modified camera can be purchased for $4,440. Additionally, Kolari is offering what it calls the “R5 Unlimited,” which is a modified sensor package that also includes the heat mod and comes with a UVIR user-removable cut sensor clip filter for $4,790.
More info on Kolari Vision’s website.
