I recently took my R5MK II into Canon for a cleaning and checkup. I had an older version of the firmware installed, as it was working very well. While in for service Canon loaded the latest firmware as part of the checkup. I wasn’t worried as I had a an SD card with all my custom settings. However when I tried to reinstall the custom setting from the card the camera says there are no custom settings on the card. When I open the card on my computer, I can see a bunch of different files. Has anyone experienced this issue, are those custom settings only available if you are trying to install on a camera with the same firmware as when the custom settings were recorded.
As an aside I had a friend that had 2 of the R5 MK II cameras and wanted to try my custom settings, knowing he could revert to the old settings with the memory card he made of his settings. One camera took my custom settings without any problem, however his brand new camera had old firmware installed that needed to be updated before it would take my settings..
I can get his copy of my custom settings, but he is running the older firmware as well. I am trying not to have to go through every change I had made to get back to where I had the camera before service
There should be a CAMSET file whenever you save camera settings. Often they are usable across several FW updates, but I suggest keeping all CAMSET files on a computer for reference. Update FW and save the CAMSET before sending for service.
It kind of makes sense for the settings to be firmware dependent, at least for updates where the settings options may have changed.
For the record, this is one of the features I missed most about my R6 Mark IIs coming from 1DX Mark IIs. I understand that Canon has added this feature to the R6 Mark III though. If you use more than one camera, this is a very nice quality of life feature to help keep them in sync.
A firmware update can break the CAMSET file compatibility, but I have not figured out how consistent it is. I first noticed this with the 1DXII. The weird thing is I was able to load the settings from a preproduction R1 on a production model one a year later…
I’d recommend saving a new CAMSET file after every firmware update.
garyvot wrote:
It kind of makes sense for the settings to be firmware dependent, at least for updates where the settings options may have changed.
For the record, this is one of the features I missed most about my R6 Mark IIs coming from 1DX Mark IIs. I understand that Canon has added this feature to the R6 Mark III though. If you use more than one camera, this is a very nice quality of life feature to help keep them in sync.
Canon is stingy with allowing settings to be saved. In the DSLR era you had to have a pro body to save and load the CAMSETs. Even today the R7 doesn't have it, which is a travesty compared to other brands.
Only R5/R5II, R3 and R1, currently. I agree, it should be a standard feature, especially considering how complex the menu systems are now on cameras and how many settings might be adjusted. I miss having it available on the R6/R6II...
garyvot wrote:
It kind of makes sense for the settings to be firmware dependent, at least for updates where the settings options may have changed.
It’s an example of Canon’s weakness in software. Long ago the software industry learned to use plain text formats for this, which are generated on save and parsed on load. Speed is not a consideration since you rarely save and load, and implementation takes maybe an hour if you do it from scratch, although these days the fashion is to use a library to read and write XML or JSON.
Then instead of the viewfinder sleep timer being the integer at whatever offset it was for that firmware, it’s a line "viewfinderSleepTimer: 120". And if you buy a new model camera with different settings, it can read whatever makes sense from the old ones even if there are some new ones you have to do manually.
It’s absurd that the one time you most need to restore settings, after camera service, it might not work because the firmware changed.
Dave_E wrote:
As an aside I had a friend that had 2 of the R5 MK II cameras and wanted to try my custom settings, knowing he could revert to the old settings with the memory card he made of his settings. One camera took my custom settings without any problem, however his brand new camera had old firmware installed that needed to be updated before it would take my settings..
If he’s planning to update both his R5 Mk II cameras to the latest firmware version, the following sequence might work:
1. He loads your settings onto one of his R5 Mk II cameras from your old format settings file, leaving his settings on the other.
2. He updates the firmware on that camera to the version on yours (presumably the latest, if not update yours to the latest).
3. He saves the settings on that camera and copies the file to his computer for sending to you. These are your settings in the new format.
4. He updates his other R5 Mk II to the latest firmware.
5. He saves the settings from that body (his settings) onto a card.
6. He moves that card into the other body, the one with your settings, and loads the settings from the file on it, which has his settings.
I’m assuming here that what went wrong is that the technician reset your camera rather than the firmware update itself losing the settings. Usually updating the firmware preserves the settings even if old settings files are no longer readable. I’m not saying a firmware update can’t lose the settings but I’ve never seen it.
melcat wrote:
I’m assuming here that what went wrong is that the technician reset your camera rather than the firmware update itself losing the settings. Usually updating the firmware preserves the settings even if old settings files are no longer readable. I’m not saying a firmware update can’t lose the settings but I’ve never seen it.
The service folks typically will reset the camera and update FW if necessary in order to work on it. You cannot expect them to figure out what all custom settings you are using when they have piles of cameras to service. They might honor a specifc request not to reset settings if you ask.
EB-1 wrote:
The service folks typically will reset the camera and update FW if necessary in order to work on it. You cannot expect them to figure out what all custom settings you are using when they have piles of cameras to service.
Assuming the card slot is working, they could and probably should work as follows:
1. Save the settings on a card.
2. Reset settings and update firmware.
3. Work on the camera.
4. Restore the user’s settings from the card.
(This will only work if new firmware can read old settings files, which maybe it can’t.)
I personally wouldn’t expect the service centre to have this kind of customer-friendly process in place, but it’s reasonable to do so especially if your experience is with phones etc.
The order probably depends on the problem and maybe you can ask for them to save the settings. IME they always update FW before sending it back out. I'm not sure what happens if the mainboard is replaced. Some might always have the same FW even if it is old. There's just no way to control what they do.
Canon is pro consumer when they release things like the rf 45mm 1.2 but at the same time are anti-consumer when they gatekeep simple firmware features to their most premium bodies. Smh
