This is how you downgrade the firmware on a Canon camera

[EricN]

I JUST TRIED IT WITH MY MAIN R5 AND OPTION 1 WORKED GREAT (as im typing im downgrading the firmware on my backup R5 now
EOS UTILITY WILL NOT WORK FOR THE R5 BUT I FEEL BETTER NOW HAVING MY FIRMWARE BACK AMY CAMERA FULLY WORKING THEY WAY I WANT IT TOO WORK
KH CAMERA SAVED ME $300-400 if I had sent it in too CANON CPS PLATINUM IN VA
IF YOU OWN A R5 OR R6 DONT UPGRADE YOUR FIRMWARE TOO 1.5.0 TILL CANON ACTUALLY FIXES AND ADDRESSES THESE AF PROBLEMS IT BRINGS
JUST MAKE SURE YOU UPGRADE YOUR LENS FIRMWARE ON ALL YOUR RF GLASS THOUGH ASAP "alot of folks fail too update their lens firmwares"View attachment 202016

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[danfaz]

I've had no issues at all with 1.5.0.
As some others have mentioned, whether you have animal or people selected makes more of a difference than previously.

 

[Big_Ant_TV_Media]

Given your posting history, I would not expect the mods to take any action on your reporting. Sort of a pot calling the kettle black thing.

oh the guy who lives in these FORUMS REPORTED

 

[mpmark]

So why would I care to downgrade from 1.5.0?

 

[KiagiJ]

I did a shoot last week with my R6 and RF 24 – 70 f/2.8 lens and put unexpected poor autofocus issues down to low light after updating to the latest software prior.

It was strange, in an easy fashion type shoot with one static female model, I struggled all shoot with eye auto focus. The apartment was low lite and with no model lighting on my AD200’s so I put this down to low light, but AF was noticeably poorer than previous shoots.

I did wonder at the time re the latest firmware update, I had installed pre shooting. I got the shoot done and on my PC the images are pleasantly sharp, but the camera struggled all through the shoot, with me constantly having to focus and re compose to get the servo AF to find my models eye, unlike previous shoots.

Normally I wait some time before updating firmware, in case of bugs or errors but on this occasion, I’d heard no different in reports re the latest firmware, so I updated my R6. I was genuinely disappointed with the performance of AF on my last shoot, how can Canon get this wrong!

The R6 is actually pretty bad at focusing in low light despite whatever fancy -EV rating they give it. It's not just the latest firmware as i've experienced it with every firmware version. I've used it and the 1dx2 in 100s of low light scenarios and where the R6 struggles, my old 1dx2 didn't, that was better at focusing in low light via live view

Hopefully with later mirrorless generations they'll catch up to the low light af performance of the 1dx2 in live view, as funny as that sounds

 

[Viggo]

The R6 is actually pretty bad at focusing in low light despite whatever fancy -EV rating they give it. It's not just the latest firmware as i've experienced it with every firmware version. I've used it and the 1dx2 in 100s of low light scenarios and where the R6 struggles, my old 1dx2 didn't, that was better at focusing in low light via live view

Hopefully with later mirrorless generations they'll catch up to the low light af performance of the 1dx2 in live view, as funny as that sounds

Something’s is off somewhere if that’s your experience. I’ve done a lowlight test with every camera I’ve owned, and even the EOS was MUCH better than the 1dx2, or any previous dslr.

 

[Viggo]

So why would I care to downgrade from 1.5.0?

If you’re having AF issues and/or frequent freezes.

 

[KiagiJ]

Something’s is off somewhere if that’s your experience. I’ve done a lowlight test with every camera I’ve owned, and even the EOS was MUCH better than the 1dx2, or any previous dslr.

Did you test live view focusing or just optical viewfinder focusing? i mentioned live view as that was amazing low light focusing on 1dx2 compared to it's optical viewfinder focusing, i'd never use that in low light, no dslrs were good lowlight af through viewfinder except maybe their middle points

you said 'a' test? like one test? i've done 100s of real world environment tests, 100s of night events so that seems more exhaustive in testing than literally 1 test

 

[Viggo]

Did you test live view focusing or just optical viewfinder focusing? i mentioned live view as that was amazing low light focusing on 1dx2 compared to it's optical viewfinder focusing, i'd never use that in low light, no dslrs were good lowlight af through viewfinder except maybe their middle points

you said 'a' test? like one test? i've done 100s of real world environment tests, 100s of night events so that seems more exhaustive in testing than literally 1 test

No, not ONE test, and yes with LV. It’s a controlled test of specific targets etc. I’ve shots hundreds of thousand images with most my cameras so I know how they work in any situation. The 1dx2 was much more hesitant and did some smaller adjustment the mirrorless just doesn’t do. The only thing the 1dx2 was better at in a target test is focus on horizontal lines, but I already knew that before I got the EOS R.

 

[Refraction]

This worked for me on the R5 but not by opening the battery door but my opening the card door. (video instruction is best to follow) V1.4 available from Canon USA website.

 

[Xaver13]

EOS R5. I "downgraded" by replacing the card. Everything went O.K. But I was unsuccessfull. The camera indicates after it firmware 1.5 and well, is working.
But! Now I am unable to reach "1.5 to 1.5" install.
I get "update file cannot be found" instead of this.
Game over

 

[tron]

Funny I had started taking pictures and the camera was locating the eye. Then I noticed I had forgotten the setting to animals! Of course I set it to people but in the few photos i shot it seemed to be able to locate the eye. Now I have to not forget changing it back when I take my camera for birding!

EDIT: I mean with firmware 1.5.0 But no extensive tests were made yet. I didn't reset the camera before upgrade but I think this is a good advise and I will follow it next time.

 

[entoman]

My first attempt was to download 1.5 from Canon (UK). Download seemed to be successful, but R5 could not find the file. Then the download link mysteriously disappeared from the UK site and a few others that I checked, indicating that there was a problem somewhere. Comments here and elsewhere showed that this was a widespread problem.

A few hours later I downloaded 1.5 again (this time from Canon USA), and it installed successfully. I haven't noticed any difference in AF performance, and I'm still getting the same (very occasional) lock-ups that have occurred with previous firmware versions.

It strikes me as risky to attempt to revert to earlier versions, unless Canon specifically recommends it. I'm not going to risk bricking my R5. If there are issues with 1.5, it makes more sense to me to just wait a few weeks for the next firmware update...

 

[Viggo]

My first attempt was to download 1.5 from Canon (UK). Download seemed to be successful, but R5 could not find the file. Then the download link mysteriously disappeared from the UK site and a few others that I checked, indicating that there was a problem somewhere. Comments here and elsewhere showed that this was a widespread problem.

A few hours later I downloaded 1.5 again (this time from Canon USA), and it installed successfully. I haven't noticed any difference in AF performance, and I'm still getting the same (very occasional) lock-ups that have occurred with previous firmware versions.

It strikes me as risky to attempt to revert to earlier versions, unless Canon specifically recommends it. I'm not going to risk bricking my R5. If there are issues with 1.5, it makes more sense to me to just wait a few weeks for the next firmware update...

«Wait a few weeks” ? Canon has yet to recognize the issue so if they even do, we’re looking at 6 months at least…

 

[entoman]

«Wait a few weeks” ? Canon has yet to recognize the issue so if they even do, we’re looking at 6 months at least…

Canon for sure knows that the issues exist and will definitely be working on bug fixes, even if they don't publicly "recognise" their existence.

In the 18 months since the R5 was announced, there have already been 6 firmware updates:

1.1.0
1.1.1
1.2.0
1.3.1
1.4.0
1.5.0

So a wait of "a few weeks" seems realistic.

Personally I don't like being a guinea pig, but if you are impatient, go ahead and revert to 1.4.0, and inform us whether it fixes the issues you encounter, or whether it bricks the camera. Good luck.

I spent last week photographing birds in flight in Gambia, and I didn't notice any difference in AF tracking performance compared to 1.4.0
I took about 2000 shots, and had one instance when the camera locked up, fixed by removing and reinserting the battery.

 

[Viggo]

Canon for sure knows that the issues exist and will definitely be working on bug fixes, even if they don't publicly "recognise" their existence.

In the 18 months since the R5 was announced, there have already been 6 firmware updates:

1.1.0
1.1.1
1.2.0
1.3.1
1.4.0
1.5.0

So a wait of "a few weeks" seems realistic.

Personally I don't like being a guinea pig, but if you are impatient, go ahead and revert to 1.4.0, and inform us whether it fixes the issues you encounter, or whether it bricks the camera. Good luck.

I spent last week photographing birds in flight in Gambia, and I didn't notice any difference in AF tracking performance compared to 1.4.0
I took about 2000 shots, and had one instance when the camera locked up, fixed by removing and reinserting the battery.

I mean 6 months from now if they eventually confirm the issue. I’ve been talking to someone pretty high up in the system who have spoken to the top guys; “I don’t think there is any issues” so there is that.

I’ve gone between 1.3.1 , 1.4.0 and 1.5.0 several times that last few days to compare. 1.5.0 definitely screws up my AF and 1.4.0 doesn’t seem to have any problems at all, just like it was before 1.5.0 came out. I would love to have the new features and improved Eye AF, but as of now I’d rather have a camera that can focus. I’ve had zero issues up- and downgrading.

 

[Alan B]

For the 1DX MkIII owners if you want to downgrade then read on...........................

1st off I did NOT use any of the the methods in that video to downgrade the firmware on my 1DXIII !

All I did to downgrade from v1.6.0(latest) back to v1.5.0 was use the EOS Utility as per normal via the update firmware section, then just chose the 1DX30150.fir file. It transferred the file to the memory card and installed perfectly. So now I am back on v1.5.0, YAY

The reason I wanted to roll back was there was something with that v1.6.0 firmware that was messing with the focusing on my 1DXIII. It would hesitate, miss focus on shots and it seemed a bit slower. Plus when using live view and spot tracking on a subject it would miss focusing(even when filming when you tap on the screen on where you want the focusing to stick it done the same). I had NO problems with v1.5.0 so the cam is back to how it was(and yes I have tested it)

 

[SHAMwow]

I wish there were an official statement from Canon. On one hand I know firmware updates can have unintended consequences, but on the other I know a lot of people have placebo or self-fulfilling prophecy issues when they go out and shoot. So I'm kind of just waiting. Never had issues on my current firmware, so I guess I'll just stay for now.

 

[digigal]

I wonder if any of these issues may be related to any customization that may have been done to the individual camera and the interaction with the software update. I was having crashes fairly regularly that would always be fixed with removing the battery and rebooting. This continued after Canon replaced the motherboard on my camera. I downloaded the 1.5.0 update and my camera became almost nonfunctional--crashing after every 10-20 photographs, terrible focusing abilities--this was while I was at Bosque. The IS would make horrible noises. I was making plans to send it back to Canon insisting that it be replaced because it was so bad. I have to disclose that I had my camera extensively customized with 3 !! back button focus buttons--one for single point, one for eye, and one for zone and had changed the functions of other buttons so that they could easily accommodate my reach. I had also had other Canon pros including Explorers of Light add their modifications to my camera along the way. When I returned from Bosque, I decided as one last desperate try, I would reset the camera to factory settings (except for the My Menu favorites at the end) and start over. I programed a single BBF and changed a dial to modify ISO and now I cannot get my camera to crash on tests I have done around my home with the RF 35 or RF 100-500. Focusing seems to be excellent for the birds around my house. There is no noise that I can hear from the IS unit. There was a comment I read on the forum here that said it was possible to create some conflicts between customization and the software. I now believe that this has been my problem all along and that I owe Canon a big apology.
Catherine

 

[LesC]

I've not bothered updating my R5 to 1.5.0 yet and will see what happens when the next update is released. The only problem I can foresee is if Canon do not acknowledge there is an issue with 1.5.0 as updates always include any previous ones you've missed.