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If you own the Canon EOS R5 and use Canon’s Camera Connect app, you’ve probably already been notified that your camera has a firmware update. The most recent firmware update, originally pushed out in late July 2025, had a long list of updates that mostly focused on security add-ons to the camera. But is it critical to update your camera?
Firmware Version 2.2.0 Details
This is an update of our ongoing review of the Canon EOS R5. For the sake of brevity and focusing on the biggest changes that might impact a photographer, we’re omitting changes that are either video-centric or would not typically be used by a stills photographer. You can view the full list of changes here.
- Improves security features. A password must be set initially.
- Adds the ability to review the history of any changes made to the password, network information, or other settings.
- Adds a function that simultaneously protects images when they are rated.
- Adds the ability to use up to 8 TB of CFexpress cards.
- Note:
- Cards larger than 8 TB require low-level formatting by the camera.
- Cards larger than 8 TB are treated as 8 TB cards.
- Cards larger than 2 TB cannot be used for firmware updating.
- Note:
- Adds compatibility for Peripheral Coordinated Control with RF16-28mm F2.8 IS STM lens.
- With RF16-28mm F2.8 IS STM, Peripheral Coordinated Control only applies to still photo shooting.
- Fixes an issue in which Err70 may occur when repeatedly shooting in the “High-speed continuous shooting +” mode.
Security Changes Are Mostly Regulatory Compliance
When I first began researching the security improvements in this update, and quite frankly, several security changes across Canon’s lineup of cameras, I was genuinely concerned of some kind of malicious hack that was the impetus behind this revamp of how security is handled on the EOS system. Much to my relief, I found out that this big push to update the EOS R5’s (and just about every other Canon camera with connectivity features) was so that they would be compliant with the EU’s Radio Equipment Directive (RED). RED requires the following:
- Secure boot
- Encrypted communications
- Privacy-by-design (including just privacy-by-policy)
- Tamper resistance
- Secure update mechanisms
- Compliance documentation, including threat modeling and risk analysis
In effect, RED requires that any device with connectivity features be certified secure and not just safe to use. Although there is a series of exemptions, i.e., a device that does not transfer any personally identifying information (PII), because geolocation is classified as PII, it only makes sense that Canon (and others) would be quick to update how data is transferred to and from their devices.
This security update most evidently involves RED’s “secure boot” provision. Upon completing your firmware update, you will be required to add a 6-character (minimum) password. Whenever the camera resets or powers on, you will be asked to re-enter your password before the camera is operational. You can opt to disable the password on wake-up or change it if you forget it. In either case, the camera will keep logs of any changes to your password and network, as a means of complying with RED’s other standards – specifically “tamper resistance” and “compliance documentation.”
Workflow Protections
If you’ve ever accidentally deleted a keeper, you’ll be happy to know that Canon has added a feature that automatically protects an image that you’ve added a rating for in-camera. I’m not one to use this feature often (though thinking on it, I probably should), but I’m glad that it’s there, as I’ve made the mistake of deleting an image after transferring to my phone during a shoot. It’s a small, yet consequential update for the photographer that does some initial culling from their camera on-site.
The RF16-28mm F2.8 IS STM Gets Peripheral Coordinated Control Compatibility
In our November 2023 update of the Canon R5, we noted that Peripheral Coordinated Control allows photographers to shoot with wider lenses without adding to post-processing stress. In that review update, we said:
We used the Canon EOS R5 with the RF 24-105mm f4 L IS USM for this test. And honestly, we were quite pleased. Canon says that you don’t need to enable this function at all. Combined with other lens correction offerings in-camera, Capture One didn’t find a single issue with the distortion in these images at the wider end. It allowed us to sit there and consider all the other needs for editing…. But not need to do a lot of lens corrections made me feel like my in-camera framing was all that much better.
This update adds the RF 16-28mm F2.8 IS STM to the lenses that benefit from the Peripheral Coordinated Control technology that we loved when it was first offered. As a photographer who has been fully embracing wider focal lengths in their photography, this has given me additional confidence that the framing and composition of my images are being accurately represented in-camera, versus having to apply lens correction in post. And the less time I spend in front of my computer screen, the better.
The following are images taken with the RF16-28mm F2.8 pre-update:
Below are a few images taken with the RF 16-28 F2.8 IS STM and the Firmware Version 2.2.0 Canon R5:
The Canon EOS R5 (Mark I) in 2025
It’s hard not to like the Canon R5 as a workhorse camera. From its initial release, it has been packed with a solid balance of technological advancements and character in the images it creates, and this latest firmware update adds that much more for photographers to love. Behind the scenes, many of the editorial discussions around this camera have been a longing for the Canon R5 Mark II to be more like its older sibling in terms of offering more features specifically for photographers. If I had to decide between picking between the two, the R5 Mark I would easily earn my vote and my dollars.
