Caution - R5 is geocoded in China

[mccasi]

I preordered and bought my R5 in China as I'm usually (not this year) visiting once a year either way.
As image.canon gateway went straight to baidu cloud and no way to change this I've reached out to Canon UK repair centre.

They explained, that if I want to use image.canon, I will have to replace the PCB (!) with them, which has the geocoding and serial number that prevent me from chosing a server. This is a 465.72 GBP + shipping extra cost AND I would also forego my Chinese warranty by doing so.

This is the first instance of geocoding that I've experienced with Canon, so I was not prepared for that. I caution everyone who wants to buy their Canon gear in China, that they will (pending firmware update) not be able to use the key feature of image.canon - for me on the top 3 reasons why to get this one over the R6 (which has 2.4ghz slow wifi).

 

[Deleted member 381342]

Thanks for the heads up. This seems perfectly logical and reasonable on Canon's part. Never mind them not wanting people to buy in different markets, they likely have to lock the device to use Chinese only services in China. It's not like a person in China can use outside services, Google has long been blocked there and I don't think they'll want to try putting image.canon servers up, it would be quite a roadblock to releasing the camera.

 

[mccasi]

Thanks for the heads up. This seems perfectly logical and reasonable on Canon's part. Never mind them not wanting people to buy in different markets, they likely have to lock the device to use Chinese only services in China. It's not like a person in China can use outside services, Google has long been blocked there and I don't think they'll want to try putting image.canon servers up, it would be quite a roadblock to releasing the camera.

...ish, it's still entirely a firmware question, just pop up which region you want to be in. My R5 connects either way to a canon.com.cn server first, so they set this up either way, but it doesnt connect with the image.canon app in the end.

 

[Drakester1791]

I’ve just encountered this too. im in the UK and bought my R5 online from Panamoz in HK, so I’m assuming its a Chinese version. Saved £600 On UK prices.

I tried to register to use image.canon and got an email back in Chinese, which when Google translated seemed to be allowing me to set up an account, but I didn’t proceed any further as wasn’t to sure what to do.

As an amateur I’m not too worried, but it would be nice to upload to Adobe Cloud if possible, but not sure what my options are now?

 

[mccasi]

I’ve just encountered this too. im in the UK and bought my R5 online from Panamoz in HK, so I’m assuming its a Chinese version. Saved £600 On UK prices.

I tried to register to use image.canon and got an email back in Chinese, which when Google translated seemed to be allowing me to set up an account, but I didn’t proceed any further as wasn’t to sure what to do.

As an amateur I’m not too worried, but it would be nice to upload to Adobe Cloud if possible, but not sure what my options are now?

if you have a HK or Chinese phone number, you can setup a baidu account and and then you could upload to baidu cloud.

Or you change the PCB with Canon UK, which is what I mentioned above.

Canon UK further clarified that it's due to Chinese regulations, but I feel this i s just a bad implementation.
Anyhow, resell value will be affected.

 

[zim]

Oh! What about uk grey market suppliers?

 

[AnotherCanonUser]

Has there been any firmware or work around a for this? Keen to know as considering buying through panamoz but the geocoding of the camera is a bit of a concern...

 

[mdcmdcmdc]

This may not be Canon’s fault. Doesn’t China have laws saying that online services serving their citizens must be hosted locally? I recall Apple had some issue with that for iCloud a while back. Canon may only be doing what they have to in order to comply with Chinese laws and continue to do business there.

 

[Deleted member 381342]

This may not be Canon’s fault. Doesn’t China have laws saying that online services serving their citizens must be hosted locally? I recall Apple had some issue with that for iCloud a while back. Canon may only be doing what they have to in order to comply with Chinese laws and continue to do business there.

This is very much a China thing. My company are currently expanding into China and if you have user comments, anything Google, any user tracking(Facebook), and even external fonts then you will be blocked. They make sure users remain in the bubble and that user data does not leave China. We have to change our product to remove all analytics and to only use servers and services inside China. Now Canon could make a service in China and even on China's AWS, but even then the user base is more comfortable with services they know.

 

[sebaR]

Hello,

Has anyone found a way to solve this problem? Are there other "disadvantages" for cameras purchased in China?

Thank you

 

[Joules]

Hello,

Has anyone found a way to solve this problem? Are there other "disadvantages" for cameras purchased in China?

Thank you

The solutions are right in the OP:

Ship it to Canon to replace the PCB or just don't buy products designed only for the Chinese market.

I am pretty sure this isn't new for the R3, I recall seeing threads discussing this exact same thing with the R5. Probably every recent Canon ILC with cloud capabilities.

Edit: Whoops, I misread this title as being about the R3, when in fact this is just that old thread about R5 I remembered

 

[kaihp]

It's not like a person in China can use outside services, Google has long been blocked there and I don't think they'll want to try putting image.canon servers up, it would be quite a roadblock to releasing the camera.

That's a bit back-and-forth. Yes, you can use some services outside China. Last time I heard, you could actually use Google Translate in China (it might have changed since). But Play store, gmail and all social media - nope, because they don't comply with Chinese law (that you have to filter/censor all materiale, and take down any material that the CCP don't like - like searching for "Tennis" these days, apparently).

 

[sebaR]

Do you think, regarding accessing the image.canon.com will be other issues with a camera made for China market? I bought it already at a good price and I don't know whether to return it or not. I don't know if that could be the only downside (the cloud thing).

Thx