Re: Canon R5 - major tethering problems - need urgent help
Liiszu wrote:
Let me set the scene: I am a photographer working for a major fashion brand, shooting mostly packshots and e-commerce. That means I need a good, but reliable camera, since I am working a lot with deadlines and speed and accuracy are important. I use an HP ZBook Fury G7 with Windows 10 as the operating system. I tether using the Tether Tools TetherPro USB-C to USB-C cable. My image editing program is Capture One, where I shoot directly.
I must say I've had problems with tethering to the camera from the start (it's been a month now). In the beginning, the camera would, after every 2-10 minutes, disconnect (camera icon turning dark in the CO program), and when I tried simply switching the camera off and back on, the camera upper display would say "saving" images. The only way I could resolve this was by taking the battery out and starting the whole cycle again. Then I got the firmware updated and my laptop got more power (because I thought it was a power issue since the R5 has the charging feature which annoyingly can't be turned off) and for a week or two, I had practically no issues. Until today, when I almost wanted to pull my hair out. I received a new desk, and so there was a lot of disconnecting and reconnecting the cables and moving things around. After about 30 minutes of shooting the problem started again, where the camera just would not tether to my laptop, although I could see it was connected to the computer. Nothing I did would fix it - not unplugging the USB, not restarting by taking the battery off, not by switching it on and off.
I contacted Canon support and I must say I got a very non-helpful and non-empathetic response. First of all, they tried to get me to download the EOS Utility program, even though I told them I need to use the image editing software Capture One and my workflow does not allow me to first shoot photos, then transfer and then edit. It just. doesn't. work. like. that. Then the guy said that there is a cable included with the camera that is perfect for tethering and is developed for this camera, and rather arrogantly suggested that since I am using a third-party USB cable (which is industry recognized?!?) I might not receive the support I need. Again, I had to tell him the cable does not serve my needs, as it is way too short (I can of course try the extension cable tomorrow) - he seemed to display a complete lack of understanding of what kind of people might be using their camera, other than people who go out and shoot directly on the card.
Has anyone else heard of or encountered this problem? I have contacted Tether Tools and they said this seems to be an issue with the Canon R5 specifically, could be a firmware issue related to the power consumption. He recommended turning off the charging via cable option but was also aware that the R5 does not seem to have that possibility.
-camera is on airplane mode
-firmware is up to date.
Please, any help is welcome. I am at my wits end, and my deadline is looming....
I have always had problems tethering with Canon whether I'm shooting on a SD III/IV, 6D, or EOS RP on both LR and C1. Cameras will go into "busy" mode (forever) if the connection is interupted. You will see canon tether photographers complain about this frequently.
Generally, it seems the problems are related to Canon going to sleep or offline or otherwise disconnected and then trying to read the SD/CF card. It seems that tethering software will try to read all the images off the memory card unsuccessfully resulting in a locked camera.
How I minimize the problem is:
1. turn off all power management in the camera
2. keep several empty memory cards around.
3. secure and tape cables to computer, extension cables and camera.
4. Pray
5. Note that If your connection get lost, it's likely the last 2-3 shots will not get transferred to your computer.
Hope this helps. Have you tried wireless tethering on C1? I imagine it would be worse depending on the wireless inference from other networks.