Canon R5 hotshoe upgrade/replacement?

With the newer R5 delayed, and the newer flashes coming out that have a newer hotshoe design (ie EL-5), does anyone think there will be "upgrade" program for the first generation R5 or are we forced to upgrade to say the R5c or even R5 Mark II when it comes out?

The only two retros I remember was an older 580 foot which had a poor design. It had a locking wheel instead of a lever. You could actually change that yourself, which I did. The other was Canon offered a locking mode dial retro for the 7D which as only about $100.

How knows. Maybe they will or a third party may come up with an adapter?

Well, I don't think that we can really say the R5ii has been actually delayed. It was never announced or promised for any date. The only thing is that something on Canon Rumors didn't pan out (at least, it seems). But to say it's delayed presumes that the rumor was true to begin with.

Anyway, I'm fairly certain they will not have a hotshoe retrofitting program for the R5. It would take something of a significant architecture change, since the new shoe is a multi-function shoe, transferring data as well. It would probably require a significant reconfiguration of the internal components of that part of the camera, as well as a split between firmwares.

More importantly, I can't see the financial sense in bringing this to the R5 (given the engineering costs). Who is the market for this? It's not like flash is a new feature. You can simply use any other flash on the R5. There are tons of them. And while some of the data-integration features may make flash use slightly more convenient, it's not like the R5 is in ancient history. Standard R5-compatible flashes are far more common and will remain so for some time. I do not think that there is a significant number of people who really, really want to use the R5 with this one specific flash.

Smooth_J wrote:

With the newer R5 delayed, and the newer flashes coming out that have a newer hotshoe design (ie EL-5), does anyone think there will be "upgrade" program for the first generation R5 or are we forced to upgrade to say the R5c or even R5 Mark II when it comes out?

What does the fancy new hot shoe offer, besides compatibility with one flash model (which isn’t even available yet?).

The only feature that seems new is “Controllable from smartphone app,” but I’ve used enough Canon software to have little faith in it.

MarshallG wrote:

Smooth_J wrote:

With the newer R5 delayed, and the newer flashes coming out that have a newer hotshoe design (ie EL-5), does anyone think there will be "upgrade" program for the first generation R5 or are we forced to upgrade to say the R5c or even R5 Mark II when it comes out?

What does the fancy new hot shoe offer, besides compatibility with one flash model (which isn’t even available yet?).

The only feature that seems new is “Controllable from smartphone app,” but I’ve used enough Canon software to have little faith in it.

It can communicate with the camera more. So for example it will integrate the menus together more and so on. The shoe can also work with microphones without using another connector and so on. Nothing game-changing, though.

I would be totally happy with a hot shoe that you can actually use without fear of it loosening and coming off.   Basics count.

antonio-salieri wrote:

MarshallG wrote:

Smooth_J wrote:

With the newer R5 delayed, and the newer flashes coming out that have a newer hotshoe design (ie EL-5), does anyone think there will be "upgrade" program for the first generation R5 or are we forced to upgrade to say the R5c or even R5 Mark II when it comes out?

What does the fancy new hot shoe offer, besides compatibility with one flash model (which isn’t even available yet?).

The only feature that seems new is “Controllable from smartphone app,” but I’ve used enough Canon software to have little faith in it.

It can communicate with the camera more. So for example it will integrate the menus together more and so on. The shoe can also work with microphones without using another connector and so on. Nothing game-changing, though.

I don’t want to be disrespectful, but that’s a very vague answer.  I’ve used Speedlights for a long time, and I’ve used the wireless transmitter. But I wouldn’t upgrade my camera and flashes for a newer hotshot design anyway.  Canon still hasn’t integrated a wireless transmitter into any of their cameras, which would be interesting.  But flash with built-in transmitter is pretty useless cause if I’m putting one flash off camera I’m going to put them all off camera.

MarshallG wrote:

antonio-salieri wrote:

MarshallG wrote:

Smooth_J wrote:

With the newer R5 delayed, and the newer flashes coming out that have a newer hotshoe design (ie EL-5), does anyone think there will be "upgrade" program for the first generation R5 or are we forced to upgrade to say the R5c or even R5 Mark II when it comes out?

What does the fancy new hot shoe offer, besides compatibility with one flash model (which isn’t even available yet?).

The only feature that seems new is “Controllable from smartphone app,” but I’ve used enough Canon software to have little faith in it.

It can communicate with the camera more. So for example it will integrate the menus together more and so on. The shoe can also work with microphones without using another connector and so on. Nothing game-changing, though.

I don’t want to be disrespectful, but that’s a very vague answer. I’ve used Speedlights for a long time, and I’ve used the wireless transmitter. But I wouldn’t upgrade my camera and flashes for a newer hotshot design anyway. Canon still hasn’t integrated a wireless transmitter into any of their cameras, which would be interesting. But flash with built-in transmitter is pretty useless cause if I’m putting one flash off camera I’m going to put them all off camera.

I don't think it was that vague, but many are not aware of the new multifunction hot shoe purpose. Its more for the creator folks. Mics connected to the body without other wires like Canons's Stereo Microphone DM-E1D (canon.com) and thrid party offerings too We now know a little more about the 'accessory shoe' on Canon's forthcoming EOS R3 camera system: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com) and a phone adapter Smartphone Link Adapter AD-P1 (Android) (canon.com).

MarshallG wrote:

antonio-salieri wrote:

MarshallG wrote:

Smooth_J wrote:

With the newer R5 delayed, and the newer flashes coming out that have a newer hotshoe design (ie EL-5), does anyone think there will be "upgrade" program for the first generation R5 or are we forced to upgrade to say the R5c or even R5 Mark II when it comes out?

What does the fancy new hot shoe offer, besides compatibility with one flash model (which isn’t even available yet?).

The only feature that seems new is “Controllable from smartphone app,” but I’ve used enough Canon software to have little faith in it.

It can communicate with the camera more. So for example it will integrate the menus together more and so on. The shoe can also work with microphones without using another connector and so on. Nothing game-changing, though.

I don’t want to be disrespectful, but that’s a very vague answer. I’ve used Speedlights for a long time, and I’ve used the wireless transmitter. But I wouldn’t upgrade my camera and flashes for a newer hotshot design anyway. Canon still hasn’t integrated a wireless transmitter into any of their cameras, which would be interesting. But flash with built-in transmitter is pretty useless cause if I’m putting one flash off camera I’m going to put them all off camera.

It sort of has to be a vague answer, because it's a flexible connector. It's kind of like USB. It can be used to send power or operate very simple devices. But it can also be used to transfer data (like in the microphone adapters, or in the menu integration data). Basically, as long as the firmware knows how to hook into it, the device attached can communicate whatever data it wants to the camera and vice versa.

On the other hand, none of this is really necessary for flash functions. But that's why it's the multifunction hot shoe. Flashes remain what they are.

Of course, other devices can still be mounted on the shoe as well. Microphones, for example, were already commonly mounted on the shoe. They just couldn't connect through it; they had to record digital audio externally or hook into the mic jack.

antonio-salieri wrote:

MarshallG wrote:

antonio-salieri wrote:

MarshallG wrote:

Smooth_J wrote:

With the newer R5 delayed, and the newer flashes coming out that have a newer hotshoe design (ie EL-5), does anyone think there will be "upgrade" program for the first generation R5 or are we forced to upgrade to say the R5c or even R5 Mark II when it comes out?

What does the fancy new hot shoe offer, besides compatibility with one flash model (which isn’t even available yet?).

The only feature that seems new is “Controllable from smartphone app,” but I’ve used enough Canon software to have little faith in it.

It can communicate with the camera more. So for example it will integrate the menus together more and so on. The shoe can also work with microphones without using another connector and so on. Nothing game-changing, though.

I don’t want to be disrespectful, but that’s a very vague answer. I’ve used Speedlights for a long time, and I’ve used the wireless transmitter. But I wouldn’t upgrade my camera and flashes for a newer hotshot design anyway. Canon still hasn’t integrated a wireless transmitter into any of their cameras, which would be interesting. But flash with built-in transmitter is pretty useless cause if I’m putting one flash off camera I’m going to put them all off camera.

It sort of has to be a vague answer, because it's a flexible connector. It's kind of like USB. It can be used to send power or operate very simple devices. But it can also be used to transfer data (like in the microphone adapters, or in the menu integration data). Basically, as long as the firmware knows how to hook into it, the device attached can communicate whatever data it wants to the camera and vice versa.

On the other hand, none of this is really necessary for flash functions. But that's why it's the multifunction hot shoe. Flashes remain what they are.

Of course, other devices can still be mounted on the shoe as well. Microphones, for example, were already commonly mounted on the shoe. They just couldn't connect through it; they had to record digital audio externally or hook into the mic jack.

Thank you for explaining.  Sounds like it’s not a benefit for flash photography, at least, not with the current crop of cameras.