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I'll say it right off the top, nailing down when firmware is going to be announced has always been difficult to nearly impossible. Though, the odd time it does work out.
We recently saw new firmware for the R5 Mark II and R1, those updates focused more on compatibility and bug fixes than new features.
New Features!
I have been told that a “firmware announcement” is tentatively scheduled for February ahead of CP+, and that it looks like it'll be announced before it will be available for download. This has happened many times over the years, so it's not a new thing.
If they're announcing the firmware, that means it would be adding features to the cameras, and it won't just be bug fixes.
It's pretty much impossible to know what new features are coming to future firmware. If Canon does have a schedule, it doesn't mean everything that they want to do will be ready at that time. We want reliable cameras, not just added things in the menu that make the experience worse.
The person did mention that there could be a further bug fix or compatibility firmware update before then.
Precapture Binding
Since the EOS R6 Mark III can have precapture binded to a button, obviously the EOS R5 Mark II and EOS R1 can also have the same simple thing added via firmware. I'd be happy if they released a firmware update today just for that alone. Maybe it's a niche thing, but it's annoying for some of us.
Open Gate and all of that
I have no idea if we're going to see some of the video features from the R63 make their way to either the R52 or R1.
Open Gate is the feature du jour that the internet clamours for. Whether it's needed or not doesn't really matter, it's going to sway a certain segment of buyers. If Canon can add it, there's really no reason not to.
I would think adding shutter angle to the three latest full frame cameras would be a relatively simple thing to do.This is a topic that seems to be comign up more often. It feels like in this day and age, it should be a core feature.
I have my doubts that the people buying the Cinema EOS C50 will bail on that plan just because Canon adds this to the “hybrid” cameras. Ok, maybe the R1 isn't a “hybrid”, but you know what I mean.
Keep Hope Alive
As I mentioned, and if you've been around these parts for a while. Firmware tends to come when it's done, and timelines can be fluid for lack of a better term.
In the past when I have been told a similar thing about coming firmware, it has worked out on schedule a few times.
Also consider there there is a marketing aspect to new features added via firmware updates. It can make the old new again and the hype machine (ya me) gets behind it and brings older cameras back to the forefront of the conversation. Throw in a new instant rebate and the R52.5 is born, or for the older people amongst us, the R5 Mark IIn.
Put these things together and you tend to see a spike in unit sales.
More to come…
Photo by Mohammad Rahmani on Unsplash
"Since the EOS R6 Mark III can have precapture binded to a button, obviously the EOS R5 Mark II and EOS R1 can also have the same simple thing added via firmware. I'd be happy if they released a firmware update today just for that alone. Maybe it's a niche thing, but it's annoying for some of us."
...precapture is indispensable for certain tasks, a fact that first became evident (for me) when using an iPhone to gather images.
Simple birthday snapshots are so, so much better with precapture/LIVE view enabled...remarkably so.
Certain bird shots...and almost all sports shots...under certain circumstances precapture makes me look like a much better photographer than I am.😉
It is almost like 'cheating'.
...anything that improves the usability and convenience of Canon's precapture feature?
👍
Yes! This would be my biggest ask. Since it is in the R6 III, it makes sense to port to the R5 II and R1. Both these cameras should(?) have longer refresh cycles and matching functionality with the R6 III for simple FW features early in the cycle makes sense. At least it makes owners of the R5 II / R1 happy and more likely to keep R5 / R1 series cameras.
UVC/UAC Live Streaming is another one I would like to see. The R6 III allows the user to set the video output quality up to 4K60p. The R5II/R1 has a fixed 2K30p output. That would be another nice update.
I don't do a lot of video aside from the talking head streaming, so not too sure of those features. Open Gate for instance, isn't that just recording the full sensor as opposed, say, to a 4K subset (or sampling the whole sensor and outputing 4K in oversampled/high quality mode)? If that is the case, doesn't the R5 II (and R5 for that matter) already provide an "Opener" Gate by recording in 8K, as opposed to the R6 III 7K Open Gate?
At any rate, useful feature updates are exciting!!! Aside from features released in the R6 III, we have the features present in in the older cameras like 400MP images in the R5 (which I'd like if they can make it actually work with improved IQ over AI upscaling) and the R3's 195fps burst mode, which is useful for certain settings. These are niche, though, so not sure we'd see Canon spending time on them.
Then there is actual new functionailty that hasn't been introduced before. Unless there is some competitive pressure, I wouldn't expect to see a lot of them, except mabybe some trial features like the 400MP Pixel Shift or the 195fps high burst rate.
What I would expect (ok, hope) is that they would come up with significant AF improvements for the R5 II and R1 that leverage the Digic Accelerator to make the AF capability of these cameras more noticeably better than the non-Accelerated cameras to help differentiate the higher end models.
I have never seen Canon source code, but working on Magic Lantern has shown me that there is a lot of variation from camera to camera.
It is much worse now with Digic X.
I use back button focus and just keep pre capture on all the time. Pressing the shutterbutton fully for a normal burst and half pressing it, when I want precapture to do its thing.
The open gate thing is nice to have I guess, but I don't really know, what all the fuzz is about. Never had the feeling that recording in 8k DCI had me longing for even more pixels to crop my image.
Shutter angle would be awesome though.
I don't hop between framerates that much, but when I do, having shutter angle as I do on other cameras just makes life much easier and its one less thing to have to remember.
Id also take open gate recording if its going, features like this wouldn't hurt to have.