Opinion: The USB-C DSLR problem isn’t as bad as you think

[EricN]

The fact your even asking tells me Richard did a bad job of informing his readership. The title should have been "All Devices Already On the Market are EXEMPT from New EU Requirement" and it should have led with the part of the directive that explicitly says so. Instead he only mentioned this like half-way through the article, where you and probably many or most others missed it.

I missed it, but it's more my fault than Richard's.

 

[Del Paso]

How do you account for California forcing truckers to replace engines in their trucks 2 or 3 times just to keep up with incremental changes in emissions rules? Also, they forced retirement of perfectly good earthmoving equipment and put many contractors out of business in the process. Bargain prices on used dozers here in Oregon thanks to CA rules. As I said before, when the Govt turns authoritarian, they can do whatever they darn well please (at least until the next revolution).

In some European countries, some supremely intelligent and wise politicians (yes, that's a contradictio in adjecto) introduced a "scrapping" incentive law, France, for example.
Result: cars in perfect running order were scrapped so the supremely intelligent and wise owners could benefit from this scrapping bonus. My neighbour scrapped his 9 years old Honda Legend (mint condition!) in order to buy one of these subsidized cars...No comment!
And all this in the name of environmental protection. I wonder how much co2 was wasted to produce this new "cleaner" car.
California is, unfortunately, not alone. Yet, California did a lot for cleaner cars, excesses you mentionned excluded!
PS: Nothing, absolutely nothing against demanding emission control regulations. But wasting energy is a different topic!

 

[EricN]

You make good points but arguably we just need a clear set of symbols. As a 56 year old with a bad cataract (who until recently had TWO bad cataracts!) I also hate the ENTIRE ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY for making symbols so small and hard to read. My desktop system's front ports are labelled in 3 point dark matte silver on a charcoal background. From 50cm/18" away I can't even tell for sure they're labels not dust specs. And this despite the equivalent of 8 60W bulbs in the ceiling just 120cm/4ft behind me. My monitors have rows of 9 identical black buttons on them that have labels embossed on them I've never been able to read. Same with consumer hi-fi, where not only the front panels but even the back panels are labeled in this nearly impossible-to-see text... Funny, no matter the maker at least their BRAND can be read from across the room!

I started taking macro photos of the ports and labels. I don't know if it will help you, but it made things easier on me

 

[EOS 4 Life]

Both my R and R5 can be charged through USB-C already. Just put the cable in the USB-C port on the camera and it will start to charge. I think this applies to most if not all of Canons new cameras. It works with LP-E6N and LP-E6NH

It all should be good right, or did I miss something? View attachment 212734

Those are not DSLRs.

 

[EOS 4 Life]

The problem could be with Canon's older models that have a micro USB port

If they do not use the micro USB port to charge then there is no problem.
Even if they did then Canon could disable charging over USB in firmware since they come with a battery charger.

 

[EOS 4 Life]

How do you account for California forcing truckers to replace engines in their trucks 2 or 3 times just to keep up with incremental changes in emissions rules? Also, they forced retirement of perfectly good earthmoving equipment and put many contractors out of business in the process. Bargain prices on used dozers here in Oregon thanks to CA rules. As I said before, when the Govt turns authoritarian, they can do whatever they darn well please (at least until the next revolution).

The USA changing the policy on EV tax rebates without grandfathering existing inventory has caused vehicles to pile up unsold at dealerships.
I understand that taxes usually do not grandfather anything but this matter was entirely predictable.

 

[-pekr-]

I am kind of radical on this topic. USB-C is here since 2014, period. There was no point to release ANY Micro USB devices after 2020+. Yet Canon (Zoe, Selphy) and other manufactureres (Mikrotik, Raspberry) were continuing to release it. So really, WTF? Do those companies have any special procurement teams, searching some old abandoned basements to look up for all this retro shit?

Charging more resouce hungry devices like notebooks, is not problem at all either. We've got over 300 Lenovo notebooks, all use USB-C 65W chargers. Yes, mechanically, it is not the most sturdy connector - we've got something like 3-5 broken ports, as someone kicked the cable on the ground.

As for the camera, it might be similar to notebooks. I don't worry about the wattage, but the port security. Similar to having Micro HDMI vs the full HDMI port. But even with lights, e.g. new Elinchrom units do allow to use USB charging, power banks plugged in while shooting on the battery. Noone is imo prohibiting companies to produce specialised external battery chargers.

Unifying on USB-C (or any other standard) is a great convenience move, the rest is just unfounded stubbornness ...

 

[Dragon]

The USA changing the policy on EV tax rebates without grandfathering existing inventory has caused vehicles to pile up unsold at dealerships.
I understand that taxes usually do not grandfather anything but this matter was entirely predictable.

The real problem was offering an unsustainable rebate in the first place, but changing policy midstream is equally dumb. The tax rebate did little or nothing for Joe Average, but it was a nice perk for the rich and the rude that want to show off their green creds by having an EV while they fly around in private jets.

 

[YuengLinger]

I haven't figured out why I get vastly different speeds on USB-C depending on which end of a cable I plug into my PC or laptop and which end I plug into a card-reader or SSD. Tried different cables on different PC's, same result. Bizarre.

And, really, shouldn't ALL screws be Phillips heads? Shouldn't we ban the pesky star-heads and hex-heads, etc.?

Glad we've focused on some really big problems to tackle, now that issues of energy, ocean pollution, social fragmentation, drug abuse, and homelessness are wrapped up.

 

[TAF]

And, really, shouldn't ALL screws be Phillips heads? Shouldn't we ban the pesky star-heads and hex-heads, etc.?

Of course not! Torx (those star heads) should be mandatory and the Phillips banned. Hex are for industrial use only...

And we should stop changing our clocks twice a year...although there is quite a debate to be had as to whether we should stay on Standard Time or keep to Daylight Savings Time (summer time in the EU).

 

[EricN]

Of course not! Torx (those star heads) should be mandatory and the Phillips banned. Hex are for industrial use only...

And we should stop changing our clocks twice a year...although there is quite a debate to be had as to whether we should stay on Standard Time or keep to Daylight Savings Time (summer time in the EU).

Have you ever tried explaining Daylight Savings Time to someone from a country near the Equator?

 

[gdanmitchell]

I chose to put this as an opinion because I’m not a lawyer, and while my background is in engineering, we are talking about a rather convoluted subject matter. That really can only be answered accurately by lawyers familiar with the legislation. We won’t know for sure until after December 28th, but in my opinion,

See full article...

As I understand it, this isn't a problem at all in most cases, and it can be easily solved in others.

First, old devices that charge via USB-A rather than the newly-required USB-C will continue to work with their existing chargers. In addition, even if your power supply has a USB-C plug, it is an easy matter to attach an adapter that lets you charge your USB-A device. (I recently tested this with a new iPad Pro that uses USB-C. I attached a USB-C to USB-A converter to the end of a cable and plugged it into an older USB-A charger and it worked just fine.)

Beyond that, though I haven't kept up with recent Canon releases, I know that other brands are already using USB-C on their cameras and external chargers. I have a year-old Fujifilm XT5 and both the camera n=and its dual charger have USB-C connections.

On one hand, I'm not totally thrilled with requiring USB-C on _all_ devices, since it has a larger plug than on some other devices. For example, I'm still fond of the small Lightning connector on my iPhone 14. It also seems like many o fate USB-C cables are a bit heavier and stiffer. But to counter that, knowing that essentially all devices will work from the same charging system and use the same cables has some pretty substantial benefits — I can carry fewer charging devices and cables when I travel, and a USB-C charging device is unlikely to be left orphaned by something newer any time soon.

 

[Dragon]

And, really, shouldn't ALL screws be Phillips heads? Shouldn't we ban the pesky star-heads and hex-heads, etc.?

Actually, screws are much more complex than you might think. Torx is best for Torque (funny that), but very bad for self alignment. BTW, there is also an external torx that uses a special socket. There are three cross-head screws in common usage. Philips, JIS (Japan Industrial Standard), and Posidriv. The screwdrivers are NOT interchangeable. Philips is the oldest and by far the worst in that it cams out easily and consequently strips. Posidriv will handle the most torque, but is relatively uncommon in the US and more popular in Europe (where it originated). Virtually all electronic equipment coming from Asia uses the JIS standard for cross head screws and that design works quite well if (and only if) you have a proper JIS screwdriver. Use of a Philips screwdriver on JIS screws almost always results in disaster, so anyone contemplating lens repair needs a proper set of JIS screwdrivers. There are a few more types of screw heads (like security torx), but most folks won't encounter them often. Philips really should be discontinued.

So now you know more about screws than you ever wanted to. Craig needs to post a new rumor, but as you can see I did manage to work something about lenses into this comment.

 

[Richard CR]

Here the issue is if external battery chargers are covered or not. The 2021 impact assessment (https://op.europa.eu/en/publication...d71a1/language-en/format-PDF/source-274907121) states (page 108, footnote 133):

"The proprietary external charger to charge removable batteries is not considered an EPS. This type of charger is significantly different to mobile phone EPS and therefore it is not possible to use the same assumptions in our estimations and the stock model. The unbundling of this type of chargers could be explored by the Commission, and it will be assessed qualitatively in the final report of this IA study."

I didn't follow what happened later. For in-device charging as far as I can see all new cameras use USB-C connectors and IMHO they cannot require proprietary chargers. JCBE noted it: https://www.jbce.org/images/positio...mity/JBCE-comments-on-the-revision-of-RED.pdf

I find now that the same note is present in the final report (https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-12183-2021-ADD-2/en/pdf, page 100, footnote 166):

""The proprietary external charger to charge removable batteries is not considered an EPS. This type of charger is significantly different to mobile phone EPS and therefore it is not possible to use the same assumptions in our estimations and the stock model."

Unbundling the charger is anyway possibile - although as many user don't replace cameras as quickly as phones (I'm not talking about many forum members, of course...) it doesn't create as much e-waste. Having external battery charger require a separate EPS and a USB cable would look like a bizarre requirement to me, and would impact a lot of chargers - including for example AA/AAA ones.

Thank you! I missed that.

 

[koenkooi]

Actually, screws are much more complex than you might think. Torx is best for Torque (funny that), but very bad for self alignment. BTW, there is also an external torx that uses a special socket. There are three cross-head screws in common usage. Philips, JIS (Japan Industrial Standard), and Posidriv. The screwdrivers are NOT interchangeable. Philips is the oldest and by far the worst in that it cams out easily and consequently strips. Posidriv will handle the most torque, but is relatively uncommon in the US and more popular in Europe (where it originated). Virtually all electronic equipment coming from Asia uses the JIS standard for cross head screws and that design works quite well if (and only if) you have a proper JIS screwdriver. Use of a Philips screwdriver on JIS screws almost always results in disaster, so anyone contemplating lens repair needs a proper set of JIS screwdrivers. There are a few more types of screw heads (like security torx), but most folks won't encounter them often. Philips really should be discontinued.

So now you know more about screws than you ever wanted to. Craig needs to post a new rumor, but as you can see I did manage to work something about lenses into this comment.

Using a philips driver to try opening up an MP-E lens to get rid of the stalk of grass inside is a bad idea. Don’t ask me how I know.
No one could have predicted that a Japanse company would use a Japanese industry standard screw!

 

[-pekr-]

I haven't figured out why I get vastly different speeds on USB-C depending on which end of a cable I plug into my PC or laptop and which end I plug into a card-reader or SSD. Tried different cables on different PC's, same result. Bizarre.

And, really, shouldn't ALL screws be Phillips heads? Shouldn't we ban the pesky star-heads and hex-heads, etc.?

Glad we've focused on some really big problems to tackle, now that issues of energy, ocean pollution, social fragmentation, drug abuse, and homelessness are wrapped up.

Apples to oranges comparison here? Does using different screws produce any environmnet problems you seems to indicate? Because those pesky charges do. I do remember owning several Nokia phones in the past, having all different chargers.

If it would be on me, I would let the market decide, no problem with Apple ecosystem vs USB-C. But I still take my right to troll stupid decisions like Canon Selphy using Micro-USB in their Canon Selphy Square QX10.

 

[David - Sydney]

We've got over 300 Lenovo notebooks, all use USB-C 65W chargers. Yes, mechanically, it is not the most sturdy connector - we've got something like 3-5 broken ports, as someone kicked the cable on the ground.

USB-C power connectors are shite for laptops. Yes, they work but the chances of damage are high and expensive to fix.
My MBP with magsafe power is a brilliant design.
For my work PC, the USB power is now dodgy so I have used a 3rd party magnetic version to avoid future problems. A few variants around including this one
https://www.amazon.com.au/Magnetic-Adapter-Degree-Thunderbolt-MacBook/dp/B0BQLNCHG8/ref=sr_1_10

 

[DhlcadR6]

USB-C is a mess of a standard.
If the EU is going to mandate USB-C PD then they should be part of the standards body.

The problem with the USB-C connector is that it is capable of handling multiple different protocols and charging. However there is no requirement for ports to provide anything over then basic usb 2 connectivity. This means that a consumer had no way of knowing what a usb-c port on a device is actually able to do.
This leads to massive confusion because people see a USB-C port an expect it to do things it may not do.

The same problem applies to cables. Alot of usb c cables don't even support USB 3 speeds let alone thunderbolt or 100w charging. Just by looking at a cable you have no idea if it supports high speed charging, usb 3, thunderbolt, display port etc because there is no obvious way of telling. The only way to find out is to plug it in a see what it does.

Usb-C is a great connector. But the way the USB forum has implemented is so catastrophically stupid, misleading and confusing it's beyond a joke.

I think the core issue is no one ensuring all modern devices use a minimum of USB-A/C 3.0 & notify consumers if there's PD or not.

I know some Sonynoobs(yes, they are similar to iSheeps imho) mock Canon cannot use non-PD cables and chargers, while their Sonys can use slow/dodgy cheap cables/powerbanks until it screws up the cameras.

EU law is still too relaxed to allow companies find gaps to keep using cheap/unreliable connectors. And on the other hand, Canon underestimates the number of consumers not reading the manuals before mess with the product.

 

[dbcooper]

The quicker they can get rid of propriety charging the better. I’m sick of it.

I have an attic full of perfectly working cables and chargers, because I can’t get myself to throw them away if they are working. Around 70% are still unopened. What a shameful waste and total disregard towards the planet.

Thank you EU.

 

[SwissFrank]

I started taking macro photos of the ports and labels.

I've done that on an ad-hoc basis, yes!