EOS R5 awb white Priority problems with flash

[Alaazahlan]

I am a long-time Canon professional user and currently own the EOS R5. However, I am encountering a critical and disappointing issue with the camera's Auto White Balance (AWB) in White Priority mode when using flash, especially in mixed lighting conditions (e.g., LED, tungsten, or warm ambient light combined with flash).

Despite setting the camera to AWB White Priority, the resulting images often show strong warm/yellow/orange casts, especially when using on-camera or off-camera flash (TTL or manual). The white balance does not seem to prioritize accurate whites as expected, and skin tones often shift in unnatural ways.

What’s even more surprising is that my older Canon 5D Mark III—with no AWB White Priority option—produces far more accurate and pleasing colors under the same exact shooting conditions using AWB. The 5D Mark III renders natural skin tones and neutral whites with flash far better than the R5, making the difference extremely noticeable and frustrating.

I am reaching out to ask:

1. Is Canon aware of this issue with the R5's AWB White Priority mode combined with flash in mixed lighting conditions?

2. Are there any upcoming firmware updates planned to address or improve this behavior?

3. Is there a technical explanation why the R5, despite being a newer and more advanced camera, performs worse than the 5D Mark III in this particular scenario?

I love many aspects of the EOS R5, but this AWB + flash issue is a serious obstacle for professional use—especially in fast-paced environments like weddings and events, where color accuracy is critical and post-processing time must be minimized.

Note: I'm using Canon r5 with rf 28 70 f2 usm

[deebatman316]

What speedlite are you using. Is it Canon or a 3rd Party speedlite. Canon speedlites starting with the 580EX (Classic) report color temperature information data as part of E-TTL II. The manual for these newer flash units say to set the camera to AWB. If set to Flash a proper color temperature may not be achieved.

[p4pictures]

Have you tried using the standard AWB not the white priority version. The standard one works much the same as AWB on your EOS 5D Mark III. 

Secondly are you shooting RAW or JPG? If RAW what software are you processing the RAW files with? 

[jrhoffman75]

Here's what the Canon manual says for the R6 Mark II. May be also true for R5.

 

[Alaazahlan]

I'm using godox v1 pro, the yellow and orange casts in mixed ambient light is not accepted while using flash. Note that when not using flash in the same mixed ambient light, the awb white Priority works great

[Alaazahlan]

Hello, I am shooting both jpg and raw, and I use lightroom classic for raw files and this is another issue in colors

[Alaazahlan]

Hello, if the awb white Priority with flash behaves the same as ambient white balance that will be fine, but unfortunately it is not, and while using awb ambient Priority without flash in same mixed ambient light it works pretty well though a little warmer what white Priority 

[deebatman316]

You said that you use Lightroom classic? They don’t handle CR3 files very well. That’s probably why your 5D MK 3 looks right. That camera is too old to support CR3 files.