EOS 5D Mark III Firmware 1.2.1 Available for Download

[CarpetFeet]

Will I lose all my custom settings when performing this upgrade?

 

[Rat]

I want the f/8 and bought a 2x mk II extender in anticipation, but I'm going to lose a lot of usability on my 4 third party batteries. Grunt.

 

[preppyak]

Magic Lantern is working on a true RAW and 14 bit video recording along with 4:2:2 to the card, something we'll never see from Canon.

And they've already said it will never be something that will work for video people...best they've gotten so far is 720 at 24fps for 2s...the reality is you'll never get long recording times because the camera has a buffer to deal with. 1080p wont happen.

Really, it's an upgrade for time lapsers and may have some cool other uses.

If this is the case, the soft output of the 5DmkIII compared to other cameras, as documented on many of his tests, may in fact be impossible to fix with a firmware update, at least one from canon.

That said, what they did find interesting was that the resolution of the DNGs they got from their RAW mode were way higher resolution than just the traditional h.264 video stream from Canon. Not sure if that means that Canon intentionally is crippling it, or if the h.264 encoding loses a lot of resolution, but, that could be useful for some purposes.

Of course, if you want Raw video at 2k, you'd just spend the same amount on a BMCC instead and get a much nicer workflow.

 

[Bosman]

Fixes a phenomenon, na naaaa na nana. Phenomenon, na nana na.

 

[AprilForever]

Sounds butt kicking!!! But I don't have one...

But, this bodes well for the 7D mk II!!!

 

[Lee Jay]

Enables the center AF point to autofocus when the camera is used with Canon EF lens/extender combinations whose combined maximum aperture is f/8.

Question for owners.

Has anyone tried the f/8 AF system with f/2.8 lenses with stacked teleconverters?

 

[jaayres20]

I have two 5D3s and I updated one of them and left the other alone for now. I don't have my 70-200 or 24-70 with me right now but I notice a huge difference in AF speed with my 50mm 1.2 with the 600ex-rt AF lamp. The 50mm 1.2 is a dog in low light and I almost never used it at wedding receptions because of it. This seems to have made a considerable amount of difference. Not only does it acquire focus faster it also seems like it drives the lens a little faster. Maybe I am just imagining that part. I tested them back to back just to make sure and it is the way you would expect it to be with such good camera with great AF capabilities.

 

[JonAustin]

Also noticed a small interface change. Before the update when you turn the camera on you would get an almost fullscreen icon of the sensor cleaning process. After the update, you get the Q screen with a small animated icon in the bottom right corner showing the sensor cleaning process is active.

I'm not seeing this on my copy; I still get the same fullscreen animated icon when I power on and power off.

However, I have noticed that, with auto sensor cleaning enabled, when I power up / down shortly (i.e., within a few seconds) after the last sensor cleaning cycle, the auto-cleaning doesn't engage. Seems like there must be a timer that skips the cleaning within xx seconds of the last cleaning cycle. (If this isn't new behavior, I just never noticed it before.)

 

[JonAustin]

...
15. Removed "support" for 3rd party batteries...

Really?

You can still use them, but you get a warning and they are shown as 100% charged.

The 6D firmware already has this "feature" :... Somewhat annoying, but I still use my 3rd party batteries. I just have to make sure I always carry a charged spare, since I can't tell how much juice the one in my camera has.

Is this for ANY third-party batteries?

It's true for my Pearstone battery, which I received in a 5D Mark III package deal from B&H in December. IMHO, removing features through firmware updates -- especially when biased against 3rd-party manufacturers -- is NOT cool.

 

[bk-productions]

...
15. Removed "support" for 3rd party batteries...

Really?

You can still use them, but you get a warning and they are shown as 100% charged.

But that's really annoying...

So, why are there two versions for windows in the canon usa site http://usa.canon.com/cusa/professional/products/professional_cameras/digital_slr_cameras/eos_5d_mark_iii#DriversAndSoftware ?

The firmware is packeg in a .dmg for OSX and a .zip for Windows.

 

[spinworkxroy]

15. Removed "support" for 3rd party batteries...

Yes, this is true unfortunately..All my 3rd party batteries no longer register with the camera so i won't know how much charge they have left..this really sucks.

 

[rpt]

15. Removed "support" for 3rd party batteries...

Yes, this is true unfortunately..All my 3rd party batteries no longer register with the camera so i won't know how much charge they have left..this really sucks.

Sorry about that. However, I guess as you have a number of batteries, you must have numbered them in order to keep track of them. I am guessing that you have a "bin" for charged batteries and another for uncharged batteries. Keep them fully charged. Always keep a spare. More depending on the shoot. Shoot till the battery dies. Recharge immediately (or as soon as you possibly can...). I think that all you will miss is the flashing battery indicator... As for me, even though I have only Canon batteries, I seldom pay attention to the indicator when I am in the throes of shooting. I usually look at it as an afterthought...

 

[Roger Jones]

15. Removed "support" for 3rd party batteries...

Yes, this is true unfortunately..All my 3rd party batteries no longer register with the camera so i won't know how much charge they have left..this really sucks.

Sorry about that. However, I guess as you have a number of batteries, you must have numbered them in order to keep track of them. I am guessing that you have a "bin" for charged batteries and another for uncharged batteries. Keep them fully charged. Always keep a spare. More depending on the shoot. Shoot till the battery dies. Recharge immediately (or as soon as you possibly can...). I think that all you will miss is the flashing battery indicator... As for me, even though I have only Canon batteries, I seldom pay attention to the indicator when I am in the throes of shooting. I usually look at it as an afterthought...

When you are shooting video if the battery conks out when you are rolling you are very likely to lose the current shot. It can be recovered with voodoo but its not easy.

No audio on the HDMI out makes that feature less useful for recording as well. You'll need to use a good slate and / or roll the recorder and record on internal then try to match the TC in post. Very disappointed that they hyped this feature and failed to mention the NO AUDIO part. Nikon / Sony HDMI out has audio.

 

[clifton425]

Having read the comments about 3rd party batteries, I switched to the Canon battery before doing the firmware update.

When I put the Pearstone battery in I did get the screen saying: "Communication with this LP-E6 battery is irregular. Continue to use this battery?"
After answering yes, the camera went on to operate normally. The battery levels and charge capabilities are functioning and unchanged from before the firmware update. I only get the Communication screen one time after putting in the Pearstone battery, further camera restarts do not bring up the Communication screen. Removing and replacing the Pearstone battery does bring up the Communication screen, but again, only one time. So it appears that there are some chip differences among 3rd party LP-E6 compatible batteries. (BTW the Pearstone came from B&H)

After the completing the firmware update all my previous custom settings were still in place and unchanged including all my microfocus adjustments.

 

[rpt]

15. Removed "support" for 3rd party batteries...

Yes, this is true unfortunately..All my 3rd party batteries no longer register with the camera so i won't know how much charge they have left..this really sucks.

Sorry about that. However, I guess as you have a number of batteries, you must have numbered them in order to keep track of them. I am guessing that you have a "bin" for charged batteries and another for uncharged batteries. Keep them fully charged. Always keep a spare. More depending on the shoot. Shoot till the battery dies. Recharge immediately (or as soon as you possibly can...). I think that all you will miss is the flashing battery indicator... As for me, even though I have only Canon batteries, I seldom pay attention to the indicator when I am in the throes of shooting. I usually look at it as an afterthought...

When you are shooting video if the battery conks out when you are rolling you are very likely to lose the current shot. It can be recovered with voodoo but its not easy.

No audio on the HDMI out makes that feature less useful for recording as well. You'll need to use a good slate and / or roll the recorder and record on internal then try to match the TC in post. Very disappointed that they hyped this feature and failed to mention the NO AUDIO part. Nikon / Sony HDMI out has audio.

Roger, sorry, I don't shoot video so I am not sure how easy or difficult it is to keep track of shooting time. There could be a correlation there, but you would have to accumulate shooting times some place that is referenceable by the battery you are shooting with, and correlate that with the current aggregated time for that battery. Sorry, can't think of any other solution at this time.

 

[kbmelb]

I posted this in the previous 5D3 Firmware thread but thought I put it here.

Eye-Fi users remove the card before updating.

I used a CF card to update but left my Eye-Fi card in the SD slot and my camera bricked. I tried all the usual things, powering on/off, removing battery, grip and nothing worked. With the power switched still set yo off, I removed the Eye-Fi card and the camera powered up to the Firmware screen and it said "Processing." It stayed like that for a while so I pulled and replaced the battery and powered on to normal operation.

Then I was able to update the FW without issue. I inserted the Eye-Fi card without issue.

 

[Daniel Flather]

I have one of the first 5D3s on the market. I running the original firmware. Do I need to update to each firmware to get to the latest, or can I jump right to the last version. Also, how exactly do I update the firmware? How do I get it on to the CF card without a card reader?

 

[AlanF]

I found that the original Canon LP-6 with the correct packaging etc purchased on eBay is a fake, but it still works fine - one unexpected good use of the update!

I tried the 70-200mm f/4 L IS with the Canon 2x TC III. The focussing was fine but the quality is not as good as the 100-400mm at 400mm.

 

[Camerajah]

You can get the focusing point or points highlighted in red but only for a short time after focus is attained

 

[amazin]

I have one of the first 5D3s on the market. I running the original firmware. Do I need to update to each firmware to get to the latest, or can I jump right to the last version. Also, how exactly do I update the firmware? How do I get it on to the CF card without a card reader?

Hi, no you dont need to update to each firmware, you can jump straight to the latest version.
To update without a card reader, you just need to install the latest version of EOS Utility and plug your 5D3 to your computer via USB. Then just follow the instruction you'll find on a pdf file inside the zip folder of the new firmware.

Hope it can help you and others.