Canon releases firmware updates for the EOS R5 and EOS R6
- Thread starter Canon Rumors Guy
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Disclaimer: This really is meant to be helpful...
I have had my R5 for about a year. I've upgraded to each version of firmware when it came out. I'm not a professional but have shot an estimated 20K images or more with the R5.
I have not (yet) experienced a lockup or error.
This is only one data point, so on its own is not helpful. It also doesn't diminish the frustration of those who do experience lockups. However, if everyone (including those who have never experienced a lockup) shares their setup and use cases, data points may become trends; trends may become correlations; and correlations might become statistically significant indicators of cause, be it firmware issues, card issues, settings, or even a flawed R5 production run.
Knowing what does work can help rule things out in order to find the cause when it doesn't work. You just need data.
Also, in case it's helpful, I use the shutter release button half-press for face tracking with eye detection and the AF-On button for single-point AF. I typically use AF Case 1, but sometimes Case 2. I shoot RAW, almost exclusively in Manual mode and often with Auto ISO. Because I don't see a noticeable detriment to quality or processing latitude, I use CRaw to save disk space. I've only used SD cards (both SanDisk: one Ultra 64GB, one Extreme Pro 32GB). I'm usually shooting one shot but occasionally shoot in H+ (e.g. for barrel racing). I prefer Electronic First-Curtain Shutter as I found the images to be noticeably sharper than Mechanical shutter, and I haven't felt the need for silent or 20FPS with Electronic shutter. All my lenses are adapted EF L-series lenses.
I hope this helps -- even if I'm one data-point-spit-in-the-river!
Edited to add: Most of my shooting is in Utah. Hot and dry in the summer (100F+), very cold in the winter, wet-ish in the spring and fall. Haven't subjected the R5 to sand yet (so windy at Little Sahara that it gets absolutely everywhere and in everything, sealing be damned), though riding arenas (indoor and out) can be quite dusty.
I have had my R5 for about a year. I've upgraded to each version of firmware when it came out. I'm not a professional but have shot an estimated 20K images or more with the R5.
I have not (yet) experienced a lockup or error.
This is only one data point, so on its own is not helpful. It also doesn't diminish the frustration of those who do experience lockups. However, if everyone (including those who have never experienced a lockup) shares their setup and use cases, data points may become trends; trends may become correlations; and correlations might become statistically significant indicators of cause, be it firmware issues, card issues, settings, or even a flawed R5 production run.
Knowing what does work can help rule things out in order to find the cause when it doesn't work. You just need data.
Also, in case it's helpful, I use the shutter release button half-press for face tracking with eye detection and the AF-On button for single-point AF. I typically use AF Case 1, but sometimes Case 2. I shoot RAW, almost exclusively in Manual mode and often with Auto ISO. Because I don't see a noticeable detriment to quality or processing latitude, I use CRaw to save disk space. I've only used SD cards (both SanDisk: one Ultra 64GB, one Extreme Pro 32GB). I'm usually shooting one shot but occasionally shoot in H+ (e.g. for barrel racing). I prefer Electronic First-Curtain Shutter as I found the images to be noticeably sharper than Mechanical shutter, and I haven't felt the need for silent or 20FPS with Electronic shutter. All my lenses are adapted EF L-series lenses.
I hope this helps -- even if I'm one data-point-spit-in-the-river!
Edited to add: Most of my shooting is in Utah. Hot and dry in the summer (100F+), very cold in the winter, wet-ish in the spring and fall. Haven't subjected the R5 to sand yet (so windy at Little Sahara that it gets absolutely everywhere and in everything, sealing be damned), though riding arenas (indoor and out) can be quite dusty.
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While I
Jack
While I agree that this type of submission may be of value, it can only work if someone goes to the trouble of structuring it such that all of us can submit information in a compact useful format and I could see that requiring not only a lot of work but expertise as well. This is the type of survey Canon could set up if it were not too embarrassing. I suppose they could even solicit the information from every owner but somehow I think they would end up being shamed rather than praised.Disclaimer: This really is meant to be helpful...
I have had my R5 for about a year. I've upgraded to each version of firmware when it came out. I'm not a professional but have shot an estimated 20K images or more with the R5.
I have not (yet) experienced a lockup or error.
This is only one data point, so on its own is not helpful. It also doesn't diminish the frustration of those who do experience lockups. However, if everyone (including those who have never experienced a lockup) shares their setup and use cases, data points may become trends; trends may become correlations; and correlations might become statistically significant indicators of cause, be it firmware issues, card issues, settings, or even a flawed R5 production run.
Knowing what does work can help rule things out in order to find the cause when it doesn't work. You just need data.
Also, in case it's helpful, I use the shutter release button half-press for face tracking with eye detection and the AF-On button for single-point AF. I typically use AF Case 1, but sometimes Case 2. I shoot RAW, almost exclusively in Manual mode and often with Auto ISO. Because I don't see a noticeable detriment to quality or processing latitude, I use CRaw to save disk space. I've only used SD cards (both SanDisk: one Ultra 64GB, one Extreme Pro 32GB). I'm usually shooting one shot but occasionally shoot in H+ (e.g. for barrel racing). I prefer Electronic First-Curtain Shutter as I found the images to be noticeably sharper than Mechanical shutter, and I haven't felt the need for silent or 20FPS with Electronic shutter. All my lenses are adapted EF L-series lenses.
I hope this helps -- even if I'm one data-point-spit-in-the-river!
Edited to add: Most of my shooting is in Utah. Hot and dry in the summer (100F+), very cold in the winter, wet-ish in the spring and fall. Haven't subjected the R5 to sand yet (so windy at Little Sahara that it gets absolutely everywhere and in everything, sealing be damned), though riding arenas (indoor and out) can be quite dusty.
Jack
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I thought the same thing as as soon as I posted. A detailed and well-structured survey would allow for aggregation of data for analysis.
Anyone want to put that together? I'm happy to take part in the survey (though I'm not sure I'm knowledgeable enough to author it).
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Another thought: My bluetooth OBDII scanner allows me to take a "freeze frame" of a car's operating data (RPM, engine temp, coolant temp, O2, fuel trims, etc) when there's an error. Similarly, computer programs also often provide a "crash report" that can be sent to the vendor if something goes haywire.
What if Canon included a "crash report" feature in their firmware?
I know at least capturing a settings snapshot is possible because the R5 allows you to save your settings profile to a card. I don't think it would be hard for Canon to add a crash report option in the firmware that could package up a settings profile (along with the error code and any relevant operating data) and send it back to Canon. They could use that to rapidly aggregate the data and look for statistical relationships.
Probably wishful thinking...but one can dream, right? Maybe something those suffering from lock-ups can join together and request Canon develop?
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I assume your post was tongue-in-cheek, but if it wasn't:
I don't believe for a second that subject matter has anything to do with lockups/freezes. If you've had problems with lockups with owls and teals, it's pure coincidence, unless you are using different settings from when you're shooting shovelers and hawks.
Among other birds that I've photographed recently in the UK are swans, Canada geese species, teals, wigeon, gadwall, shoveler, mallard, herring gulls (BIF), kestrels (BIF), black-headed gulls (BIF), curlew, little tern, chaffinches, robins, siskins, kingfishers, avocets, moorhens, pheasants, coots, blue tits, godwits, brambling, little egret, cormorants, grey herons, golden-eyes, lapwing, carrion crow, pigeons, snipe, mandarin duck, oystercatcher (BIF), great crested grebe, shelduck, turnstones, tufted duck and whitethroat. I also had 10 days in The Gambia photographing a wide variety of African birds including various eagles (BIF), bee eaters, various herons, vultures (BIF) and at least 50 other species. I've also photographed butterflies in flight in Brazil, and literally hundreds of butterfly species in Peru.
I mention this purely to illustrate that in my experience subject matter is entirely irrelevant to lockups/freezes. No one knows for sure exactly what triggers lockups, but it certainly isn't subject matter, and it's unlikely to be related to memory cards unless you are using very slow ones. It's possible that the lockups may be related to unreliable electronic components, but the geeneral consensus is that they are caused by particular permutations of customisation and AF settings that create firmware conflicts.
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I agree its frustrating, but the surest way to get people on the internet to be more annoying is to ask them to stop. It just tells them its working, and adds the extra noise of people arguing that anything up to and including panda killing is a perfectly reasonable thing to do on the internet and why would you ask people to stop doing it.
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I didn't have any lockups but my R5 could not focus on a well lit great crested grebe using RF100-500 and RF2X.
Finally I was able to focus because it waited for me a few minutes
Don't tell me to not shoot them because I like them very much.
Finally I was able to focus because it waited for me a few minutes
Don't tell me to not shoot them because I like them very much.
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Exactly, and was also the same for floppy disks readers. I remember the Atari PC of a friend completely stuck. I blowed in the reader, and it went back to lifeAh, yes. The old NES Game Cartridge trick.
...
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It been a while since last posting.
On 1.5 firmware I had encountered an issue, which is present on 1.5.2 and was also on 1.5.1
I always prefer to shoot on servo using the AF-on button with the center autofocus point as my initial point of focus that locks on whatever I want it to lock on and stays locked on for as long as I hold down the AF-on button.
Exactly to the right of that button, on the asterisk button I have selected to engage the eye tracking mode.
This way I can lock to anything I want on the first button and directly on eyes with the second button.
I achieve that by selecting NO PRIORITY in the autofocus menu and it works perfectly on 1.4
So in 1.4 autofocus menu SUBJECTS TO DETECT
There are three options:
1.Animals
2.People
3.No priority (the one I have selected that works perfectly for the combo I described)
On 1.5/1.5.1/1.5.2
That menu has 4 selections.
1.People
2.Animals
3.Vehicles
4.Nothing from above (can't remember the exact name since I have reverted back but will correct it if someone can write it)
So my R6 on 1.4 knows that when I hit the asterisk and want eye tracking that it is only normal to look for faces thus using people priority automatically while holding the asterisk down.
On any other firmware that does not happen and it will not look for eyes unless People priority is selected.
But if people priority is selected then whenever a human element is present on the frame my initial center focus point will not lock on to whatever I want it but will go straight for the faces.
Sorry for the long post. Just wanted to share the story so far.
On 1.5 firmware I had encountered an issue, which is present on 1.5.2 and was also on 1.5.1
I always prefer to shoot on servo using the AF-on button with the center autofocus point as my initial point of focus that locks on whatever I want it to lock on and stays locked on for as long as I hold down the AF-on button.
Exactly to the right of that button, on the asterisk button I have selected to engage the eye tracking mode.
This way I can lock to anything I want on the first button and directly on eyes with the second button.
I achieve that by selecting NO PRIORITY in the autofocus menu and it works perfectly on 1.4
So in 1.4 autofocus menu SUBJECTS TO DETECT
There are three options:
1.Animals
2.People
3.No priority (the one I have selected that works perfectly for the combo I described)
On 1.5/1.5.1/1.5.2
That menu has 4 selections.
1.People
2.Animals
3.Vehicles
4.Nothing from above (can't remember the exact name since I have reverted back but will correct it if someone can write it)
So my R6 on 1.4 knows that when I hit the asterisk and want eye tracking that it is only normal to look for faces thus using people priority automatically while holding the asterisk down.
On any other firmware that does not happen and it will not look for eyes unless People priority is selected.
But if people priority is selected then whenever a human element is present on the frame my initial center focus point will not lock on to whatever I want it but will go straight for the faces.
Sorry for the long post. Just wanted to share the story so far.
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Many here know of my previous issue of multiple lock ups and crashes on my R5 which I recently had come to associate with my extensive custom setup of the camera. Since vastly de-customizing the camera and converting it back to "normal" except for a single BBF button and remapping 2 dial functions it had performed MUCH better with markedly reduced to rare lock ups. After reading Alan's recent post about not having lens corrections functions enabled, I turned those functions off and installed the new 1.5.2 software (was on 1.5.0--I was having so many crashes on it that I never went to the 1.5.1 when people reported focussing issues as well). I took my camera out to a wildlife refuge area yesterday and shot about 2500 pictures using both electronic and mech shutter, sometimes filling the buffer of birds and running hares. I shot only to the SD card which I've never done. I've always used the CFE card exclusively. I found the focus to be excellent, responsive, like I remembered my R5 at its best! I had NO crashes or freezes, which I certainly would have expected given my previous experience. We'll see if this holds up in the long run. I have 180,000 clicks on my camera to date. We leave in 3 weeks for a 6 week photo trip in Africa so I'm really hoping the problems are now settled down. My last couple of trips were marred by focussing and crashing issues so I will be glad to have this behind me if yesterday's shoot was any indication. Attached are some unedited, directly out of camera pics from yesterday taken with R5 + 100-500 + 1.4x
Catherine
Catherine
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This part...is how it's supposed to work. It shall search for the type of eyes you have selected. If you don't pick any, then it shouldn't search for eyes in the frame. To be honest I didn't notice that, because I always have one priority type selected, but the user manual states since the beginning that the other option won't look for eyes.
If you press the button you have setup to Eye AF (asterisk, in this case), then yes, it will immediately jump to people's eyes.
Now, assuming that you are NOT using 'L'+Tracking (which actually means FACE + tracking)...
If you press AF-ON, as long as you have that button with its default settings, then it should focus track the area you pick in the frame.
But if you're using 'L'+Tracking, then that is how it's supposed to work, it will look for eyes.
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Looks great. I hope this continues for you.
By any chance, have you had an opportunity to check what AlanF suspects about focusing close to MFD? Thanks!
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I updated my firmware to 1.5.2. It's great! I did not have any problem with my 100-500mm at any focal length, and I tested with two kids trying hard to challenge the Eye AF. Even at MFD, Eye AF worked fine--until I zoomed to 500mm and completely filled the frame with cheek, eye, and some eyebrow. Extreme closeup, with the eye the relatively large and dominant feature in the frame, the Eye AF just went to Face AF, with the blue box expanding to fill the inner 2/3 of the frame.
Other than that, for my real-world test scenarios, overall AF is better than I've ever seen it. With the kids striding towards me rapidly, I just had to remember to switch the lens's delimiter to FULL.
A dove about 60 yards away in a tree full of twigs (but no leaves yet) was "found" by the Animal Face AF (which is how I refer to tracking with Eye detect off), and the images are tack sharp. I can post a few of those soon.
Note that I also captured razor sharp images of my wife's face at very near MFD with the Rf 85mm f/1.2L, so that portrait lens is great with 1.5.2 too.
All in all, great job Canon. Personally, I've never had any of the problems complained about here regarding crashes, though I did have my doubts about 1.5.0 AF precision.
Maybe it's just a slow period, or people are experiencing FW fatigue, but here and other forums seem to have a big drop in complaints. Maybe 1.5.2 fixed things for a lot of those who were having trouble.
Other than that, for my real-world test scenarios, overall AF is better than I've ever seen it. With the kids striding towards me rapidly, I just had to remember to switch the lens's delimiter to FULL.
A dove about 60 yards away in a tree full of twigs (but no leaves yet) was "found" by the Animal Face AF (which is how I refer to tracking with Eye detect off), and the images are tack sharp. I can post a few of those soon.
Note that I also captured razor sharp images of my wife's face at very near MFD with the Rf 85mm f/1.2L, so that portrait lens is great with 1.5.2 too.
All in all, great job Canon. Personally, I've never had any of the problems complained about here regarding crashes, though I did have my doubts about 1.5.0 AF precision.
Maybe it's just a slow period, or people are experiencing FW fatigue, but here and other forums seem to have a big drop in complaints. Maybe 1.5.2 fixed things for a lot of those who were having trouble.
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My gut feeling is that Canon will regard v1.5.2 as "job done" as far as the R5 and R6 are concerned. I'll be (pleasantly) surprised if they bring out any further firmware updates for these models. The various issues have been pretty much fixed, so if you want more features or even better performance, Canon will want you to upgrade. I wonder how long we'll be waiting for the "R5 Mkii", and what the specs will be?
Exposure bracketing with electronic shutter would be nice.
User-selectable fps with electronic shutter would be nice.
Optional beep or "shutter sound" with electronic shutter would be nice.
Panasonic-style tilting flippy screen would be nice.
Exposure bracketing with electronic shutter would be nice.
User-selectable fps with electronic shutter would be nice.
Optional beep or "shutter sound" with electronic shutter would be nice.
Panasonic-style tilting flippy screen would be nice.
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unfocused
Photos/Photo Book Reviews: www.thecuriouseye.com
Good to hear. I hope your luck keeps up, as you seem to have had one of the worst cases of freezing. I'd be interested to know if you gradually add back in your customizations, whether or not that has any effect. I just downloaded the new R5 firmware, so I really don't know yet if it is helping. The new R3 firmware still seems to have issues -- I had another couple of freezes yesterday.
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