Camera Utility 2.11.4 closing without warning or error

[jonathan7007]

All,
On a location shoot last Wednesday I had my first chance to tether my 5Dmk3. I tested the night before, which was good (!) because I found I had to update to 2.11 -- so far so good. Software opened and operated camera with no incident the night before, although it was a short test. Length of operation not a factor though as you will see.

On the shoot the first few times I tethered the EOSUtility shut down in a few seconds, often before I even attached the camera. Throughout the day thew sw would shut down in between shots, before shots (during setup) from LiveView and from the control pane, plugged in to AC and on battery... it was FLAKY.

When working the controls did what they were supposed to do.

Canon had no suggestions. I did not uninstall 2.10... perhaps I should try that and re-install the sw. I also have not tried running in the discrete-graphics-only mode which has all graphics go through a nVidia Quadro 1000 factory-installed laptop daughterboard. But I have tethered successfully without doing this in past... with a 5Dmk2.

Not good in front of a client, by the way.

Any thoughts, anyone?

Win7, 64-bit.
8 GIGs RAM, nothing else running
w520 Lenovo workstation-class laptop

jonathan7007

[jonathan7007]

Sorry, should have added that I had three or four USB cables with me including one that I am pretty sure came with the 5Dmk2: skinny, white, about three feet long, and including a cylindrical signal processor. (That's a guess.) Hard to see a pattern of improvement that proved a sensitivity to cor, but I know that cords are an issue.

SW closed with all three cords.

jonathan7007

[pwp]

On a location shoot last Wednesday I had my first chance to tether my 5Dmk3. I tested the night before, which was good (!) because I found I had to update to 2.11 -- so far so good. Software opened and operated camera with no incident the night before, although it was a short test. Length of operation not a factor though as you will see.

On the shoot the first few times I tethered the EOSUtility shut down in a few seconds, often before I even attached the camera. Throughout the day thew sw would shut down in between shots, before shots (during setup) from LiveView and from the control pane, plugged in to AC and on battery... it was FLAKY.
Win7, 64-bit.

I feel for you Jonathan7007. On both PC and my current Macbook Pro, I have come to accept that EOS Utility will crash and generally behave very badly as a matter of course. For tethered shooting on a PC laptop, I used to use the sensational BreezeBrowser Remote Pro. This is a mature, bulletproof remote shooting program. I just about blessed its existence just about every time I used it. Test drive the demo.

However when I switched to the MBP I discovered that the Mac version of BreezeBrowser Remote Pro is a stripped down version with just a fraction of the functionality of the PC version. So it was in an atmosphere of annoyed frustration that I reverted to the very flaky EOS Utility. For this reason alone my next laptop will be another PC. Communications with BB suggest no intention of bringing the Mac version up to the functionality level of the PC version.

Is there any other highly regarded remote shooting utility out there worth trialling?

-PW

[DianeK]

Makes me wonder if this is why Reikan FoCal has not yet released a Mac version since the calibration software relies on EOS Utility for tethering.
Diane

[pwp]

It's one of those very odd issues. A fashion shooter I know uses EOS Utility on his MBP almost daily and has just about perfect stability.
I gather the issues are often related to compatibility between the Mac OS version you are running and the EOS Utility version that is installed.

The Reikan FoCal Mac OS question? Maybe you're right...

-PW

[jonathan7007]

So I set up for a EOS Utility test with all the same gear (my one mk3, Canon USB cable, laptop, etc.) and everything ran smoothly (!) The only difference that I can think of was that the card in the camera was a fast SD instead of the fast CF that was used in the session that gave me problems last Wednesday. I will continue the checking tomorrow, especially with different cables and cards. I have an extension cable that Amazon reviewers claim works perfectly to try out, too.

This same laptop and my 5Dmk2 (v2.9 and v2.10, I believe) never had the hiccups.

When LR4 can tether it may be cleaner but it won't have as many camera control options. Paul, I remember BreezeBrowser in its earlier days. I had *no* idea they built tethering capability! I will see what they have done with the mk3. But, again, the camera control in EOS Utility is cool.

I haven't made a LR4 watched folder import automatically, either. Tried, but no luck yet! Gotta make this work reliably!! I shoot with tilt and shift lenses and the live view focus checking is great. Easier than running the 8x loupe all over the ground glass under a stuffy cloth at the back standard...

jonathan7007

[obbsey]

Just purchased a 1Dx and upgraded to Mac OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) and EOS Utility 2.11.4 can't even be opened.
Theres a bunch of other Canon Utilities that apparently aren't supported or limited use only with Mountain Lion.....
http://www.canon.com.au/Support-Services/Support-News/Mountain-Lion-Support#camera
Hopefully a fix soon? Surely all software would have to be operational for Photokina in almost 2 weeks time.
 

[Crapking]

Canon website says 'expected' Oct firmware update for EOS utility for 1D-x.