Canon's recently released firmware 1.0.4.1 for the EOS R5C includes a new power saving mode to help extend recording times. Canon's press release on the firmware update said that we could expect to see a 30% increase in record times when power saving mode is enabled.
Interestingly, a 30% increase in record time is very close to the performance difference we see on the EOS R5 when switching between line skipping standard quality mode, and down sampling high quality mode when shooting at 4K. However, what makes the option on the R5 so attractive, is that line skipping also provides a significant improvement in rolling shutter performance as well.
Given the similarities in power saving, I was interested to see if we'd see a similar improvement in the new power saving mode on the R5C.
Alas, while my testing showed an average of 46% longer record times with power saving enabled (when using a battery), there doesn't appear to be any improvement to rolling shutter performance with the new setting. Moreover, just when and where you'll see the power savings seems to differ, as I couldn't measure any power saving when powering the camera over USB-PD while there was significant power savings when using the internal battery.
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Gear I Use to Make Videos
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(Affiliate links)
⯈ Canon EOS R5 - amzn.to/3uJNNVI
⯈ Canon EOS R5C -
⯈ Anker 747 USB Power Bank for R5C - amzn.to/3i5hIEd
⯈ Canon RF 15-35mm f/2.8L IS USM - amzn.to/37SuLDw
⯈ Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM - amzn.to/3Oi7YBO
⯈ Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8L IS USM - amzn.to/3M9I0yQ
⯈ Rode NTG2 -
⯈ Rode Wireless Go -
⯈ Zoom F6 - amzn.to/2TWsSvo
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Chapters
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00:00 Intro
00:44 Power Saving Mode Discussion
01:00 Context - What I was hopeing for
04:14 Power Saving Mode - What did we get?
04:30 Limitations
07:08 Does it work?
07:26 How does this work and do we get any other benefits?
07:52 Rolling Shutter Performance Tests
08:56 Power Consumption USB-PD
11:46 On Camera Run-time Estimates
12:46 Full Battery Run Time Test
15:26 What the heck is going on here?