Hey Canon, Why Are Your Cameras Falling Apart?

Judging by my title, you'll be shocked to know that I have always been a Canon loyalist. From learning with the Canon A-1 inherited from my grandmother in 1999, to the latest mirrorless models, I have been a devoted customer and an advocate of the brand for over two decades. That is, until the Canon EOS R5. The Canon R5 is where my bond to the brand was systematically dismantled as the hardware itself did. 

Let me walk you through how I'm falling out of love with Canon as its product went from buzz-worthy to broken, held together with rubber bands.

Good pics when it works

— Canon Reviewer

Why I Have Loved Canon

If I could sum up my sentiment about the Canon EOS R5 in the most condensed phrase it would be this simplistic but accurate review at the top of the Canon review site. Canon has always been my uncontended choice. I have worked with files from almost every major brand and for me, Canon leads in what is most important to my work: color, sharpness, and dynamic range. For my commercial work, it gives me everything I need to capture color, detail, and texture.  It delivers sharp, crisp images. For my sports work it gives me incredible burst rates and great dynamic range. They have top-of-the-line of lenses for every different subject matter. As my peers left Canon for the award-winning Sony mirrorless cameras or the game-changing Nikon Z9, I stayed the course with Canon... until my R5.

What the Short-Term Versus Long-Term Reviews Are Uncovering

If you read many of the glowing reviews online regarding the R5, a large portion of them are from newly acquired bodies — i.e written within the first two years of owning the camera. With these reviews, I would agree.

The viewfinder is terrific. The files are very large, so is the ability to crop dramatically and still get a great image. I've been using it for about 6 months with no problems. Animal, people, and eye tracking for autofocus is really impressive

— Canon Review

I've had the R5 for a little over a month. I'm using it with an RF 70-200mm f2.8 and an EF 17-40mm f4 with a control ring adapter. I continue to be amazed by the versatility of this camera and the stunning image quality.

— Canon Review

I have been using the Canon R5 for a couple of months. I have several EF lenses and it works flawlessly with them. In December I purchased the RF 100-500 L lens. What an incredible combination. I do photography only (no video) and I can honestly say that this camera impresses me every time I shoot with it. Best camera I have ever owned.

— Canon Review

I agree with all of these reports and more: color is what has sustained my love affair with Canon for over two decades now. But what is being echoed by users of over two years?

Good pics when it works. I've had the R5 for over a year now and am glad I read the reviews about it frequently freezing up before buying it. If [you] leave it on for several minutes it may freeze up requiring it to be turned off for several seconds before it resumes normal functioning again. If you leave it on for more than several minutes [while] shooting it can shut down for half a day, however. I've had to adapt by frequently turning it off then on again when I'm shooting so that I don't miss (more) shots.

— Canon Review

Great camera but fragile shutter system. The R5 is all I wanted. A better autofocus than my 5D Mark IV, rotating screen, IBS, etc. and I was very happy with it until an error code No 20 appears on the screen. I sent it to Canon and the shutter system had to be changed. The camera had 40,000 shoots.... less than 10% of the 500,000 promised. Now I am not so confident with the Camera.

— Canon Review

Long-term review: frequent crashes, subpar build quality. I loved the camera at first. After over a year, I'm still mostly happy with it. In terms of features and image quality, it's a winner. The autofocus is amazing. However, it crashes too often for a pro camera. Lately, it's been OK, but it went through a nearly unusable phase in the last version of the firmware and I missed many shots because of camera crashes. It's also not well weather sealed and if I'm out in light rain, I quickly get condensation behind the viewfinder. Honestly, I just don't trust it out in the weather and that prevents me from getting the job done. Similarly, the build quality in general is nowhere near the standard of Canon's older pro cameras. Unfortunately, for me, Canon just doesn't have the right offerings anymore. I'll likely be moving over to another brand. It's such a shame because Canon still has great technology, features, and optics. But build quality, repairs, customer service, have all gone downhill and those things are critical for professionals.

— Canon Review

I could continue this with more reviews from Canon's site, additional ones from B&H, and a whole slew of messages on Facebook groups, discussions on Quora regarding the recurring "Error 20" code, camera malfunctions, and cameras just plain falling apart. Now though, let me now tell you my story.

How My R5 Systematically Fell Apart

Error 20

I bought my R5 just over two years ago. Similar to the experience of other reviewers, I was over the moon about my new gear. It delivered on advanced auto-focusing, state-of-the-art image stabilization, high-speed continuous shooting, and showcased many of the flagship Canon characteristics such as rich color, sharp images, and high-resolution files. Just past its first-year mark, however, I started getting the error 20 code. This code is described vaguely on the Canon website.

As the message describes this error required me to turn off my camera, remove the battery, and restart the camera. At first, it was once or twice a week, then every day, and soon up to to a dozen times a day. This happened for weeks on end. I did some research and it is a widespread problem. There was everything from Quora discussions about it to YouTube tutorials, Facebook chats, and more.

This problem occurs nowhere near the promised shutter count. After researching the problem, I reached out to Canon directly with the data I had gathered in 2022. I was redirected many times until I reached the Sr. Specialist Public Relations for Canon. She replied to my email positively and requested me to gather information and specific testimonials. After collecting the requested data, I sent the testimonials with the users' full names and additional information to Canon. Here are two of many examples I provided.

Photographer 2: He works in the studio as a fashion photographer and his camera is around 105k actuations. It happens when he is shooting normally (not live view). The mirror gets stuck and frozen and the camera displays error 20 and this cycle repeats itself. He brought it in for repair, it was 600 euros to swap a new shutter and mirror. This cycle has started happening again. The mirror gets stuck. The camera says 'error 20'. He doesn't know why. 

Photographer 7: 'I purchased my R5 in February of 2021. It worked well for two months then died completely. I contacted Canon and then sent it back for repair. Turned out that the entire main motherboard failed. They replaced it and two weeks later it was back at home with me.'

Per the request of the Canon PR contact, I kept track of what I was shooting with when receiving the error 20 messages, noting if there were any commonalities. I took notes on:

1) Whether it was a Canon battery or an off-brand battery
2) What type and brand of memory card I was working with
3) If I was using strobes or shooting natural light
4) If I was shooting bursts or single shots
5) If I was using an RF or EF lens
6) If I was shooting tethered

There were no patterns. No matter what lens, battery, card, or lighting I shot with, the error 20 code continued. By the end of my data collecting it was around a dozen times a day. I offered to send my camera in for the engineers to look at it.  After meticulously tracking all the requested information and providing it to Canon with the offer to look over the problem on my camera, the PR woman stopped responding. That was in 2022.

It was a $479 repair for a shutter that stopped working after only one year of purchase. This is a shutter that was listed to have a half-a-million count shutter life on it. 

Canon never answered me again. 

Gray Pocket on Screen

Earlier this year I was shooting in my studio. My camera was on a tripod and I was shooting products on a simple white background. When I set the next product up to be photographed, I came back to my camera and my LCD had a large grey pocket that took up about 1/5th of the screen. Initially, I thought there was a shadow on my scene. There was not. I hooked my computer up for tethering and looked at the shot on my Mac. Nothing was in the image; It was the LCD. 

I was told in my repair report that the LCD had been impacted. At the time of this occurrence though there was no impact. I had a very simple "shopping cart" on white set up with the camera on a tripod. 

LCD Detaches and Dangles by Wires

I had intended to send it in for repair but I was in the middle of a hectic month of back-to-back contracts so I decided to work my way through them shooting tethered. One day as I was working camera in-hand, the LCD just plopped out of the frame and dangled by a braided set of small colorful wires. Shocked, I pushed it back in and it fell right back out. I was forced to hold it together with a rubber band. 

The Hot Shoe Becomes Unscrewed

So there I was, my two year-old camera broken again, being held together by a rubber band. I contacted CPS about sending it in for repair, planning to do so upon my return from my weekend contract. I head out to my job, strap on my flash, and walk to my starting point. As I'm walking though, the flash feels as though it's wobbling around on the hot shoe. I stopped and had a look. I discovered that the screw which holds the hot shoe down had become loose and had made the connection between my flash — as well as my pocket wizard for the strobes — unusable. I thought perhaps that if I could find a screw driver I could tighten it back up; but in the R5 model they moved the screws to the inside of the camera body. Now, 15 minutes into my two-day shoot, my rubber band-jimmied camera is officially unusual able for flash or strobes. I had to pivot and use my Mark IV all weekend — a big step down from the dynamic range and ISO capabilities of the R5. The images suffered.

The following Monday, I finally sent it in to CPS and a whopping $759 repair got me functional again for the 2nd time.

In total the repairs were priced at $1,238 for the $3,699 camera: I spent 33% of the cost of the camera to keep it working. Within two years the repairs totaled a third of the cost of the camera.

I am not the only one.

Why Isn't the R5 Lasting?

Why are so many Canon users experiencing these problems with the R5?  Why the surge in reports about mechanical shutter errors, overheating, and the camera falling apart structurally? It used to be that cameras were built for durability. I remember shooting in the desert and seeing my peer throw his camera into the sand — actually throw it — leaving it there for a good 15-20 minutes while he resolved an issue with a staff member. Then, he just picked it back up and kept shooting. Canons were built for it. My Mark II, III, and IV have been through water, mud, and sand. They have been dropped; they have suffered through hot, cold, wet — yet I never once had to send any of them in for repair. It's one of the many reasons I loved Canon. The cameras were built like vaults. What happened? 

I've discussed this question with many peers over the last year that I've been working on the article. I've received a wide array of answers but they have all fallen under an umbrella theme: durability is not at the top of the list of values for Canon anymore. Colleagues hypothesize that it used to be that Canon built cameras for career photographers. Durability was a central value. Now, they suspect, their audience is different. 

"They build cameras for vloggers, and hobbyists now who go out to capture lifestyle work. They want their mirrorless camera to be lightweight and have great sensors. They don't care about durability anymore." 

Others hypothesize that since photographers clamor to upgrade to the latest model every time it comes out, Canon doesn't feel the need to build a camera that's going to last five or six years anymore. 

Is it true? Is durability an extinct value in the generation of city-slicker vloggers who care about the sensor, weight, burst rate and video capability?

Not all brands are skimping on durability and resilience. OM Systems, for example, runs their cameras though rigorous testing such as this impressive splash test.

Closing Thoughts

It used to be that Canon and Nikon were the uncontested kings of the jungle. Any camera they made was the top of the line model available. Some other cameras like Leica held a close third spot especially for a certain look — but if you look at the sales numbers, historically Canon and Nikon were at the top. Over the years though, other brands have impressively stepped up their game. I feel there's rarely a month that goes by that I don't have someone asking "You're still shooting Canon?" as if Sony was now the only brand to flaunt. Nikon came out with their Z 9 and showed they they are maintaining their stance as industry leaders.

...And here is my R5 being held together with a rubber band and no hot shoe.

I had planned to purchase the EOS R3 but since my experience, Canon has lost my trust to invest thousands more towards a new body. Canon: this is my message to you. You have to worry about retaining your photographers. Other brands are stepping up and the reputation Canon once had is being challenged.

I recently walked to the meeting point for a shoot and an obnoxious photographer who always touts his mouth asked, "What are you shooting with today?" I responded, "The R5." He laughed and looked at the other  photographer standing with us, sarcastically commenting, "Really?"

He had the Z9 and the other photographer had the Sony a7R V. In retrospect, I am glad the shoot wasn't a few weeks later when my rubber band was holding my camera together.

I invited the PR contact for Canon to comment on this article. She didn't reply. I still love Canon. For me, the colors and the quality of the image is just untouchable. But I'll close with the same quote I opened with from the Canon website reviews, it's the best camera... when it works. Is it time to switch brands? Canon needs to earn my trust again.