# File Transfer Speed EOS R5 to Windows PC



## VegasCameraGuy (Sep 4, 2020)

I’ve tested the file transfer rates with my Canon EOS R5 using the USB-C cable directly and also using card readers. These are admittedly not definitive tests as I only ran them a couple of times and used a stopwatch for the timing, but they should give you an idea of how fast the files transfer to a desktop computer in each scenario.

The limited number of tests I ran indicated that using a card reader is approximately 50% faster than connecting the R5 directly to a Windows PC. Directly connecting the R5 to the PC resulted in 55 MB/sec transfer from the Cfexpress card and 30 MB/sec from the SD card.

I haven’t seen any tests like this and was interested in the difference between transferring files to decide if I wanted to use my card readers or simply plug my R5 into my computer.

My R5 is configured to copy a RAW file to my 128 GB Cfexpress card and a large JPG to the SD card. The desktop is an Intel i7 CPU with 24 GB of Ram, running Windows 10 Professional 64-bit. The files were copied to a 4 TB SATA secondary hard disk.

The Cfexpress card is a Sony Cfexpress Tough Card 128 GB rated for 1,700 MB/sec read and 1,480 MB/sec Write speed. The SD card is a Sony SF-G64/T1 SDXC UHS-II Class 10 U3 memory card, rated at 300 MB/sec read and 299 MB/sec write speed.

The R5 has a BG-R10 battery grip with two LP-E6NH batteries, both around 90% charged for all of the tests ran below.

The methodology used to test file transfer speed directly from the R5 to PC was to plug the R5 into a USB-A 3.0 blue port using a USB-C to USB-A 3.0 cable. Using Windows File Explorer, open a folder on the secondary drive. Turn on the R5 and open the camera in the drive list. Drill down to the folder storing the files (Cfexpress or SD card). Drag the folder from the camera and drop it on the open window on the PC and, at the same time, start the stopwatch. When the transfer of the folder and files is complete, stop the stopwatch.

The test is then duplicated, and the time to copy the SD card files recorded.

The second series of tests utilize an external card reader. The cards are removed from the camera and copied to the computer using the appropriate card reader.

Using the properties function of File Explorer, record the number of files and the total number of bytes transferred. Divide the number of bytes by the seconds required to determine the average megabytes per second.

The tests were run on two consecutive days with a slightly different number of files. This is not a scientific or exhaustive study but offered to provide an approximate data transfer rate for my particular set of equipment. My desktop is an i7 CPU, a few years old, but reasonably fast.

*Results EOS R5 Cfexpress directly to PC:*

Test 1 12.6 GB (13,595,368,488 Bytes) 03:37.69 Minutes, speed 62.453 MB/sec

Test 2 14.1 GB (15,141,919,008 Bytes) 05:23.76 Minutes, speed 46.769 MB/sec

Average: 54.6 MB/sec

*Results EOS R5 SD Card directly to PC:*

Test 1 850 MB (891,862,999 Bytes) 30.45 Seconds, speed 29.289 MB/sec

Test 2 1.32 GB (1,424,027,716 Bytes) 46.11 Seconds, speed 30.883 MB/sec

Average: 30.086 MB/sec

To determine the speed of using a card reader to copy the files, I used a Wise WA-CX01 Cfexpress card reader and a generic 3.0 SD card reader to transfer the files to the PC using the same basic methodology as the direct transfer above.

*Results Card Reader to PC:*

Cfexpress 14.1 GB (15,141,919,008 Bytes) 178.64 seconds, speed 84.762 MB/sec

SD Card 1.32 GB (1,424,027,716 Bytes) 19.12 seconds, speed 74,478 MB/sec


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## amazin (Sep 5, 2020)

VegasCameraGuy said:


> I’ve tested the file transfer rates with my Canon EOS R5 using the USB-C cable directly and also using card readers. These are admittedly not definitive tests as I only ran them a couple of times and used a stopwatch for the timing, but they should give you an idea of how fast the files transfer to a desktop computer in each scenario.
> 
> The limited number of tests I ran indicated that using a card reader is approximately 50% faster than connecting the R5 directly to a Windows PC. Directly connecting the R5 to the PC resulted in 55 MB/sec transfer from the Cfexpress card and 30 MB/sec from the SD card.
> 
> ...






VegasCameraGuy said:


> I’ve tested the file transfer rates with my Canon EOS R5 using the USB-C cable directly and also using card readers. These are admittedly not definitive tests as I only ran them a couple of times and used a stopwatch for the timing, but they should give you an idea of how fast the files transfer to a desktop computer in each scenario.
> 
> The limited number of tests I ran indicated that using a card reader is approximately 50% faster than connecting the R5 directly to a Windows PC. Directly connecting the R5 to the PC resulted in 55 MB/sec transfer from the Cfexpress card and 30 MB/sec from the SD card.
> 
> ...


Hi, to be honest in my humble opinion you're just mesuring the speed of your 4TB SATA secondary hard drive with this setup.

There is always a bottleneck in speedtests.
I would recommend to do the test with copy on a fast SSD drive.


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## VegasCameraGuy (Sep 5, 2020)

You certainly could be right but I'd like to think that my internal hard drive is faster than the USB connection. I have a 2 Tb SSD for the primary hard drive and maybe I'll try that. I've always used a card reader to upload files and was just wondering if the camera could beat the card reader in transfer speed. It tells me to continue using the card reader unless I just need to grab a file.


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## YuengLinger (Sep 5, 2020)

VegasCameraGuy said:


> You certainly could be right but I'd like to think that my internal hard drive is faster than the USB connection. I have a 2 Tb SSD for the primary hard drive and maybe I'll try that. I've always used a card reader to upload files and was just wondering if the camera could beat the card reader in transfer speed. It tells me to continue using the card reader unless I just need to grab a file.


Which card reader are you using? Thanks!


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Sep 5, 2020)

VegasCameraGuy said:


> You certainly could be right but I'd like to think that my internal hard drive is faster than the USB connection. I have a 2 Tb SSD for the primary hard drive and maybe I'll try that. I've always used a card reader to upload files and was just wondering if the camera could beat the card reader in transfer speed. It tells me to continue using the card reader unless I just need to grab a file.


Generally, a card reader always is faster than a camera at transferring files. I'd be shocked if a proper card reader wasn't much faster.


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## bdp (Sep 5, 2020)

Using a Lexar 256GB CF Express card and ProGrade card reader (using USB C) - I still only get 370MB per second reads to a Sabrent 1TB Rocket NVMe 4.0 Gen4 PCIe M.2 SSD. On a completely separate note - larger video files show as 0MB when I connect the camera directly so I am not able to check transfer speeds from the camera. Not sure what would cause that glitch.


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## adigoks (Sep 5, 2020)

bdp said:


> Using a Lexar 256GB CF Express card and ProGrade card reader (using USB C) - I still only get 370MB per second reads to a Sabrent 1TB Rocket NVMe 4.0 Gen4 PCIe M.2 SSD. On a completely separate note - larger video files show as 0MB when I connect the camera directly so I am not able to check transfer speeds from the camera. Not sure what would cause that glitch.



thats only speed of usb 3.1 gen 1. what is your motherboard usb 3 version? 
to get usb 3.1 gen 2 speed from R5 you need same version of cable, same version usb port on your pc , & fast enough ssd.


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## bdp (Sep 6, 2020)

adigoks said:


> thats only speed of usb 3.1 gen 1. what is your motherboard usb 3 version?
> to get usb 3.1 gen 2 speed from R5 you need same version of cable, same version usb port on your pc , & fast enough ssd.


It is a USB 3.2 Gen 2 (Gigabyte x570 Aorus Pro board). Just checked the case specs though and it is a 3.1 Gen 2 for the front USB C. But even a 3.1 Gen 2 should top out at 1250 MB/ s shouldn't it? I will have to check the speeds on the rear USB-C.

The drive itself should be over 4,900 MB/s.

EDIT: Using the rear 3.2 Gen 2 I am getting 740 MB/s read and 525 MB/s write speeds.


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## Joakim (Sep 7, 2020)

How DO you transfer files to the computer?

I have the R6, i connect it with the USB-C port on the camera and USB 3 to the PC and nothing happens.


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## VegasCameraGuy (Sep 7, 2020)

Joakim said:


> How DO you transfer files to the computer?
> 
> I have the R6, I connect it with the USB-C port on the camera and USB 3 to the PC and nothing happens.


Assuming you're using Windows 10 (I haven't tried it with my Mac) and plug the camera into a computer USB port, File Explorer should load and show a drive in the left-hand window marked "Canon EOS R5." Do you know for sure that the cable and USB-A port work? If you have a card reader, can it read a card? If Windows file explorer doesn't automatically load try loading the program manually to see if "Canon EOS R5" shows up or I assume R6 if it's an R6.

*Remember to turn the camera on or else it doesn't work.*

To manually run File Explorer, click the Folder icon in the taskbar, or type "File Explorer" in the search box. As shown in the screenshot below, File Explorer shows the camera along with the CFexpress and SD card.


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## Joakim (Sep 7, 2020)

Turns out it was the cable that was the problem, or rather cables. None of the USB-C cables i had at home worked with the camera. I went out and bought a new one and that one works.

Thanks for the reply


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Sep 7, 2020)

Joakim said:


> How DO you transfer files to the computer?
> 
> I have the R6, i connect it with the USB-C port on the camera and USB 3 to the PC and nothing happens.


There are USB C to USB 3 cables that just won't work for this. People had trouble that way with the EOS R and bought different cables which solved the issue. If this camera is like the R, Canon only supplied a USB C to USB C cable so you have to buy your own cable to get the conversion. I also bought some ISB C to USB A adapters which worked.

I purchased Anker Cables from Amazon for my R and they worked fine.

There are several possibilities. Install the latest Canon Utilities which should also let you download from the camera.


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## Joakim (Sep 7, 2020)

No cable came with the R6, only the one to connect charger to wall socket


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## dcm (Sep 7, 2020)

Joakim said:


> No cable came with the R6, only the one to connect charger to wall socket



This is a USB-C to USB-C cable that can also be used to transfer files to your computer if it has a USB-C port. You don’t need two separate cables anymore.


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## Bdbtoys (Sep 7, 2020)

Joakim said:


> No cable came with the R6, only the one to connect charger to wall socket



Phew... glad I got the R5 then (that extra price was worth it)... jk btw.

Anyways... I almost thought you got the short end, but looked at the site and it seems they didn't include USB cables in the R6 (or even the cable holder/mount). I assume most replying to you are running the R5's... and like me assume a USB-C>USB-C was included.


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## VegasCameraGuy (Sep 8, 2020)

Make sure that the USB cable you buy is certified for data access. Some cables are only designed to charge the device. Also, it's usually better to use shorter data cables rather than a ten-foot one.

On the topic of charging, if you want to charge using the camera and the camera & battery grip combo, you can buy a USB-C charger for $25 from Amazon that works instead of the $150 Canon one. You just have to make sure the battery charger has Power Delivery or PD capability and is of sufficient capacity. PD makes the charger smart and it figures out what the device requires for charging as there are a number of USB-C type charging requirements.


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