Shedding some light on CFexpress firmware and camera compatibility

Canon Rumors Guy

Canon EOS 40D
CR Pro
Jul 20, 2010
10,779
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www.canonrumors.com
Yesterday I reported on compatibility issues with the Canon EOS R5 running firmware v1.4.0 and Exascend CFexpress memory cards.
After talking to a few people, I have come to somewhat of a conclusion that there will likely be some bumps along the way when it comes to CFexpress firmware and camera firmware. Exascend is not the first company that has had some compatibility issues with the Canon EOS R5 and CFexpress cards.
I spoke with “Tig” from Camnostic this morning about the issues that have come up with CFexpress and compatibility. Be sure to check that site out for great information on CFexpress cards and more.
What it appears to boil down to is that CFexpress is a relatively new standard, and there are going...

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koenkooi

CR Pro
Feb 25, 2015
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The Netherlands
I was not aware that memory cards need firmware to run.
They do, since they are in essence tiny computers nowadays. But what we're talking about here is that the changes Canon made to use the new VG400 standard for CFexpress seems to have bad interactions with Exascend cards.
 
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frjmacias

EOS R5 and EOS M50
May 14, 2020
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I use Delkin CFE-B cards in my R5 without any problems, but I'm still on firmware 1.3.1.

I think it's advisable for all R5 users to stay on 1.3.1 until it becomes clear whether other card brands are affected by the latest update.
I have that card and I have the new firmware installed. I have had no problems with it, but that is for the 128GB version. Not sure if any other storage sizes make a difference.
 
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Aug 27, 2019
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For those holding off on upgrading to 1.4.0 on the R5. I can confirm no issues with Sony Tough 128GB CFe and ProGrade Gold 128GB CFe cards after multiple formats in camera.

This is likely a knock on bug from - "Adds support for the VPG 400 (Video Performance Guarantee Profile), a standard based on the CFexpress 2.0 specification." in 1.4.0.

I would not be surprised if Exascend missed something in the CFexpress 2.0 protocol that was not an issue until VPG 400 was enabled on the R5. I see this all the time with the Onvif protocol and manufacturers cutting corners.
 
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The only problem I've had with the 1.4.0 firmware update is that it turns off eye detection on the R5. I didn't expect the update to turn off eye detection and it took me a minute to figure out what was going on. Eye detection seemed to partially work but after going through the menu, I realized that the update turned it off. I shot almost 1,000 shots last weekend with 1.4.0 and no problems that I can see. Once you get eye detection turned on, it seems to work better than the previous versions. This is just an antidotal opinion and not based on any actual tests.
 
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The only problem I've had with the 1.4.0 firmware update is that it turns off eye detection on the R5. I didn't expect the update to turn off eye detection and it took me a minute to figure out what was going on. Eye detection seemed to partially work but after going through the menu, I realized that the update turned it off. I shot almost 1,000 shots last weekend with 1.4.0 and no problems that I can see. Once you get eye detection turned on, it seems to work better than the previous versions. This is just an antidotal opinion and not based on any actual tests.
To be fare eye detection being disabled has only been reported by @VegasCameraGuy at this point so this may not occur for most users.

From the 1.4.0 thread
Firmware 1.4.0 Problems. The update turns off Eye Detection and turns on touch display to take a picture. Go into AF and set the AF Method to Eye (1st selection) then Enable Eye Detection which the update turns off.

I had no issues when I updated and I loathe touch to activate shutter!!!!! So I would have noticed that PDQ:D

Not for me though. I updated yesterday and both are still set to my last settings.

No changes in the configuration for me, also. Both are still set to my last settings.

@VegasCameraGuy not doubting your personal findings just that you may have a customization\setting that at least 3 others (myself included) do not have that resulted in some strange things on your Camera and not ours.

Cheers
 
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