March 27, 2024

Canon R5 - using the BR-E1 remote

I bought one of these (about $42 on Amazon). I works via Bluetooth with a 16 foot range.

Pairing

You have to put the R5 into "pairing standby mode". To do this, hit the menu button and go to menu 1 of the ones marked with an "antenna" icon. If need by, turn airplane mode off and enable bluetooth in bluetooth settings. Then go to "Wifi/Bluetooth connection" at the top of that menu.

At first I was confused because this just shows the name of my Wifi connection, but there are other screens to the left and right. Spin the dial on the back of the camera and you will get a new screen showing 5 icons and with the first (connect to smartphone) selected. Rotate the dial on the back to get to the last (connect to wireless remote) and you are in business. Hit set and follow your nose.

Once the camera is listening, hold down the two side by side buttons (W and T) on the remote for a few seconds. The LED on the remote will blink, keep holding until you see the camera recognize the remote. Then hit OK and be happy.

Using the remote for stills

The remote does not "just work". You have to fiddle with camera settings to select a drive mode. Use the button on the back of the camera that is marked with a square with a circle inside. Rotate the wheel up by the shutter button to select "Self time:2 sec/remote". Now the remote will work. You can also select "Self time:10 sec/remote" and it will work in exactly the same way (see below).

There is a 3 position switch on the side of the remote. In the position with a big dot, I works just as you might expect to trip the shutter.

Put the switch in the middle position and you get a 2 second delay, whether or not you set the camera for a 2 second or a 10 second delay. So there is no way to get a 10 second delay with the remote, which suits me just fine.

Position 3 is for movies and will not work to take stills. See below.

The remote has a tiny button below the big shutter button marked "AF". As you probably guessed, this causes the camera to focus, and without the 2 second delay. This is nice.

The W and T buttons are for lenses (that I don't have) that support remote motorized zooming, and indicate wide or telephoto.

Using the remote for video

Of course, the darn thing does not just work for movies.

You need to do two things.

First is that you need to put the camera into movie mode (press MODE, then info), then go into the camera menus under shooting menu 6 and you will find "remote control enable/disable" and enable it.

Second, there is a switch on the side of the remote with 3 positions. One is marked with a video camera icon. Put the switch in this position and it works nicely with no delay to stop/start video.

Don't ask me why you have to use different switch positions for stills or video, but that is how it is.


Feedback? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's Digital Photography Info / [email protected]