When the R5 II launched, Canon said that while it was not recommended to use older batteries in it, they would work with some limitations. However, in August, PetaPixel reported that there were limitations with using these older batteries beyond what Canon stated.
Along with the R5 Mark II came a new LP-E6P battery which has the same form factor as the older Canon batteries such as the LP-E6NH that launched with the original R5 and R6, but came packed with stronger power delivery.
According to the R5 Mark II manual, there were limitations to using the older battery: 8K recording would be disabled, oversampled 4K “fine” mode would not be usable, and 240p, 120p, and 60p (as well as 100p and 50p for PAL shooters) would also be disabled (limitations with using third-party batteries were also discovered).
However, PetaPixel confirmed that these were not the extent of the limitations and Canon also locked out All-I codecs and all 24p frame rates. The R5 Mark II could shoot at 30p while using an older battery, but not the more “cinematic” and slower 24p frame rate.
“24p video and All-Intra codecs are essential for most professional video shoots, and it’s incredibly frustrating that in its current state, those video settings can only be used on the R5 Mark II with the new LP-E6P battery,” PetaPixel’s Zach Morris wrote. “People are buying the R5 Mark II for its robust video features and professional codecs, so this feels like a huge missed opportunity to cater to existing Canon shooters (in addition to a bit of a slap in the face).”
During an episode of The PetaPixel Podcast discussing the topic (starts at 12:41), YouTube Director Jordan Drake said he was confused and “blindsided.”
Because the 24p limitation was not disclosed, Drake believed he could swap to an older battery when the newer one ran out and continue shooting a review for the PetaPixel YouTube Channel, which he typically shoots at 24p. Losing 8K and faster frame rates was not an issue, but when he put the older battery in and saw he was limited to 30p, it caught him off guard.
Back in August when the issue was put forth to Canon, the company said it was “looking into this,” and today it announced a solution is coming.
“Later this year a firmware update for the EOS R5 Mark II will be released and add 24p/23.98p recording when using the LP-E6NH battery,” a Canon representative says. “The recommended battery choice for the EOS R5 Mark II is the new LP-E6P, but as consumers have voiced their requests for 24.00p/23.98p video recording when using the LP-E6NH Canon felt it was important to release the upcoming firmware.”
An exact date and time for the availability of this update was not provided at the time of announcement.
New Firmware Update Launches Today
In addition to the promise of unlocking 24p on the R5 Mark II when using older batteries, Canon is pushing a new update (version 1.01) today which addresses the following:
- Fixes an issue in which movies captured in RAW format may not play back properly on applications due to the attached lens and camera not communicating properly.
- Improves the stability of the touch operation control when the Touch Control is set to Sensitive.
- Fixes an issue in which the camera LCD display may become abnormal after the camera resumes operations from the viewfinder off state.
- Fixes an issue in which the camera may stop working properly when the shutter button is operated while the BUSY message is being displayed on the screen.
- Fixes an issue in which Err70 may be displayed when the display mode is switched between the LCD screen and viewfinder while the BUSY message is being displayed on the screen.
- Fixes an issue in which the camera LCD display may become abnormal after using EOS Utility to capture and import movies.
- Fixes an issue in which movies captured using EOS Utility may not be played back on the camera.
- Optimizes the auto white balance for specific environments when the Custom Picture function is set to ON.
The update can be downloaded directly from Canon’s website today.
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