Canon R5 II: Mysterious Humming Sound Explained

Unexpected Sound from the Canon R5 II: Should You Worry?

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👍 Gear Used 👍
Canon EOS R5, Canon RF 50mm F1.2, SmallRig RC22B, Angelbird AtomX, Atomos Ninja V

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0:00 Whirling
6:35 Unique to the R5 II?
12:47 R5 I or Z8?

The views and opinions expressed in this program are not intended to serve as a substitute for consultation. Each viewer has their own use cases and needs requiring individual research and analysis of needs.

[ANDREW_BESS]

I recently acquired an R5 Mark II and i think the reason why this noise is heard more on the R5 Mk II than on other models is due to its heat dissipation system which was created to let the air out with the battery grip, that space acts as a resonance chamber and increases the sound output.

[philipz]

received my R5 Mk II today and immediatley noticed the noise. Constant humming, with the RF 24-70 2.8 or with an older EF 50mm with the control ring adapter. It sounds like a fan but also like constant IS motors working, super constant. In my living room without any noise around it is clearly noticable, i guess outside it is fine but no setting made the noise go away

[denyamiga]

I don't understand why there are so many Canon haters in the vlogging world.

[CrowPal]

I did some tests with my R5 Mark I, which were revealing.

I get exactly this noise, plain as day. Press your ear against the Mark I body and you will hear it. Shoot a silent video using the internal mic, then play it back with your ear against the camera's speaker, and you will hear the noise in loud, high-fidelity. I did this test with the Canon RF 100mm macro lens fitted, which is a very noisy lens. I did it in manual focus, with IS turned off at the lens. I repeated the test with an EF 85mm f/1.2 (no inbuilt IS) - still noisy. Same with the RF 85mm f/1.2 (no inbuilt IS) - still noisy. With no lens attached, still noisy.

How many years has the R5 Mark I been out? How many people have complained about this? Ergo, the noise itself is almost a nothingburger, but what about power drain?

The noise is different with the 100mm macro attached. In addition to the IBIS hiss, there is a high-pitched whine, most likely the IS mechanism of the lens. Pressing my ear against the lens makes the high-pitched component really loud. Turning IS on or off at the lens makes no difference - it's there all the time, until I turn the camera off.

I tried again with the RF 50mm f/1.2 (no inbuilt IS), and as expected, I just got IBIS hiss. With the RF 135mm f/1.8 fitted, its IS doesn't give off a whine like the 100mm macro. It makes a similar noise to IBIS, and is really quite quiet, but it's energized all the time, regardless of the IS switch.

I repeated the test with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS II USM, and this gave a different result. With IS turned off at the lens, it only emitted IS noise after half-pressing the shutter release, and even then, only whilst maintaining the half-press, or for a few seconds after taking the shot. After that, silence. With IS turned on, its behaviour was similar, only much louder, accompanied by interesting whirring noises if I jerked the lens around. Here's the kicker though: when the IS of this lens shuts down, what do I hear by pressing my ear against the camera? Total silence! So it seems Canon are capable of de-energizing IS/IBIS when they want to. Why don't they do this with all lenses? Why would we want IS/IBIS energized all the time, even if we aren't using it?

So different IS lenses make different noises, and for some IS lenses, it looks like IS and IBIS are energized all the time, both making their own noises, so long as the camera is powered on - even if you have IS turned off at the lens. Other IS lenses seem to work as one might expect, and make the camera body behave likewise.

When a non-IS lens is fitted, there's a menu option available to enable/disable IBIS, which has no effect on this constant noise, although when IBIS is set to "always on", it emits an interesting set of additional noises whilst holding focus. So fit a non-IS lens, and you get this constant noise regardless.

Based on the above, I conclude that the sometimes continuous IS/IBIS noise emitted by the R5 Mark I is a firmware bug that should be fixed by Canon for all camera/lens combinations (including the R5 Mark II and others) that exhibit this. IS/IBIS should only be energized when needed, subject to user settings.

But my question is this: if IS/IBIS were only energized when needed, how much longer would the battery last? A camera that gets warm and runs down your batteries when not actively shooting is not a good camera.

Edit 1: Following another test, it seems the R5 Mark I also works properly with the RF 50mm f/1.2, but not the RF 135mm f/1.8 [see also Edit 3 below].

Edit 2: For the sake of clarity, I changed the word "activated" to "energized". Judging by camera sounds, there are two things the IS system does: (1) send power to the IBIS mechanical system, and (2) apply the IS algorithm to move the sensor in response to camera shake, with 1 being a prerequisite to 2. Energizing IBIS seems to occur independently of camera settings, and inconsistently across lenses.

Edit 3: After further testing with the RF 50mm and EF 100-400mm lenses, I found IBIS still energizes at times it shouldn't, such as in movie mode with all IS and IBIS settings disabled, and while navigating menus. It seems Canon need to do a comprehensive review of when IBIS should and should not be energized. There are many scenarios here, and the deeper one digs, the messier it gets. Simplifying their firmware coding might resolve this, and improve battery life.

[kennethlui]

People are very intelligent in finding problems in Canon new gears, especially the very popular R5 series. Always some negative stuff. Instead of pressing my ears against the camera to hear noise, I go out to take pictures.

[jannievanderhaar]

Have the same sound, just bought it a week ago

[simrtechd]

I stumbled upon the video by chance, and I've had an R5 Mark II since its release, and I have the same sound; you can hear it from a distance! I have a Z8, Z6 III, and before that, the S1R and S5 II—the IBIS is audible, but once you're far from it, you can't hear it anymore. However, with the R5 II, even at one meter, I can hear it!
Personally, I've never worried about it, but the noise is twice as loud as a Z8.

[ShannonSweeneyRealtor]

I had an R3 for several days on loan from Canon CPS and heard the same noise. I assumed it was the IBIS. It worked perfectly while I had it and was very impressive. The noise was hardly noticeable. It is interesting though.

[russstarke]

At 10x speed it is clearly the caterpillar drive of the Red Oktober submarine.

[pierremontague]

I have an R5II, and some observations, but no insights or explanations. The camera definitely makes a rushing noise, most prominent at the back and bottom of the body. The camera has what appears to be an air duct at the bottom, rear (just in front of the bottom edge of the display) that the R5I and R6II do not have. This makes sense — the grip with a fan needs some kind of opening to push air through or extract air from the camera.

The R6II also makes the same sound, but as someone said, it's subjectively about half the loudness of the R5II's fan. I never noticed the noise in the R6II until I heard it i the R5II and started poking around online today. Notwithstanding Canon's denial of an active internal air handling device, the noise is exactly what I imagine a miniature fan would sound like. I do not perceive that there is any electronic hum to it — it just sounds like air being moved. I don't think it's likely to be controlled by a thermostat, since it's present from the moment the camera powers up to the moment it shuts down. The noise disappears when the camera is powered down, or when it is powered up and goes to sleep.

That's what I got. Sorry I don't have any more info.

[Ahmet-qns]

my r5m2 also makes this sound and it just started. I didn't have this issue at all and all of a sudden started doing it. Even when I don't have any lense attached it still makes this sound.

[addltd]

Simon, I just wanted to let you know I got my R5 MKii, cooling grip and 2 spare batteries last night vis UPS. My guess was that they expected it would be delivered Monday or Tuesday. I charged one of the batteries last night and will be using it today...just not outside because I live in Texas and it is too hot to roam around with a heavy camera. If there is anything you want me to validate about the camera I am happy to do so. Best regards I hope you heal quickly!

[JohnDrummondPhoto]

Pros and serious amateurs use external mics almost exclusively. Someone should have checked the internal mics for noise. It's no issue for me, but I can see some users being put off. Can you or someone check if shotgun mics pick up the noise?

Sorry to hear about your emergency hand surgery. I wish you a speedy recovery.

[markcain]

It's only when the cameras get into the hands of independent reviewers' issues like these are discovered. The real question is WHY! Inhouse testing, pros in the field, and then the Canon field trip. That's why I wait to see what others are saying before spending my hard-earned cash. Canon should have known that the Canon R1 and R5 would be heavily scrutinized.

[notallthatdifferent]

I have the same in my R7. And it is picked up even when I use an external, wireless mic. So frustrating.

[MarkCavanah]

Glad you're doing well and keep the information coming 😊

[rainermenes]

A bit late, but I am very sure the humming sound on the R5 II is coming from the DC/DC converters, which are supplying the CPU and AI accelerator. If it is very quiet, even the EOS R makes a very similar sound, but not that loud. The sound volume changes with the power consumption on the EOS R. On my R5 II, it is more obvious, but the sound level doesn't change.

[bearcub]

I´ve got mine yesterday and immediately noticed this sound, after some testing I figured out it comes from when the electronic viewfinder turns on, every time it turns off, the sound disapears. Don´t know if that´s an issue or not, camera seems to work properly

[JeffandLeslie]

I was recording playing my guitar last winter. The hum in the background sounded exactly like what I heard in this video. The culprit on mine? The central furnace vent. It was very cold and the furnace was on. The sound in this video may well be the sound of air moving from the fans associated with air conditioning or a heater. May be in the camera but sounds just like background noise from HVAC.

[hervedelnorte]

I would not ‘excuse’ the noise if it can only be picked up by the internal microphone. Yes most people may use an accessory mic. but there are many times I would use the internal microphone alone. For example outside when wind is low or inside in less reflective atmosphere.