Canon R5 - major tethering problems - need urgent help

OH MY GOD. This is literally the story of MY life and I have been struggling with this for monthssss.

I am also professional photographer working for major institutions and museums shooting art and objects for those museums and my work requires speed, accuracy and a reliable camera. Industry standard for commercial work is capture one and even if it wasn’t industry standard if it’s the program you work in then your camera should work with that program.

I feel that I have really been pushed around on this topic and to hear that it’s not just a me issue is totally changing how I want to now approach this. But honestly it’s caused such an issue for me on jobs and then the personal stress, plus not to mention how unprofessional it is to show up to shoots and your equipment not work. The clients aren’t paying you to have camera issues, and we aren’t paying canon to have cameras that have issues!

I bought this camera from a local camera store. I told them right away hey something is wrong with this camera it’s not working right. I had a canon 5D mark iv and same laptop and capture one set up and everything worked fine. Now I switch to the R5 and it’s not working. So they said ok try all these things - all the things you said they made you try - none of them worked for me (and it’s comical that they think using that short cord plugged into a laptop is reasonable… like come on….and to shoot through their program, export, edit, etc is not feasible. It’s not seamless. Ok I’m digressing here. Ugh the frustration. So they had me try everything they said to you PLUS they were like maybe it’s the tether cords so I bought more and tried them, then I bought the extra speed transfer component for tether cord, then I bought the tether block bc they thought maybe it was slipping out and losing connection, then they thought well maybe it’s YOUR laptop and I was like ya right my laptop is a super nice MacBook Pro and I didn’t have this issue with the Previous canon camera. The problem came overnight and nothing changed but the camera - so it’s clear the camera is the issue. But none the less I entertained them - I tried it out on other MacBooks - still happened. By this point I’ve sunk in like 5 hours just doing all the things they suggested - to no avail.

Then the shop said hey we have a canon rep in today why don’t you bring your camera in. So I did. And he played around with it and said yes somethings definitely wrong with it, let me work with ____ (manager of the store - let’s just call him George) let me work with George and he will let you know. When George got back to me and told me what the rep said it was this: we don’t know what the problem is or what to tell you. I replied: I want a refund then because this is ridiculous I can’t work like this. They said we can offer you $4,500 in store credit - not a refund - store credit and I originally paid $5,000 before tax. They want me to eat $500 for a camera that does not work. And that in order for this to work I have to have all the plastic parts/styrofoam that was inside the box when I bought the camera or they wouldn’t take it back. I’m like first of all are you joking - it’s not like you’re restocking it so you need the box and all those little plastic things - IT DOES NOT WORK - it NEEDS TO GO BACK TO CANON TO BE FIXED…or thrown out. So why do you need the plastic container for this deal. And when I said I didn’t think this deal was fair of them keeping $500 when the camera is here because it does not work and hasn’t worked from the get go but now I have to pay for that? They said hey look we are doing you a favor here, we don’t normally do this, we are taking this back it’s way past the return window and that’s a favor. And I was just thinking omg don’t even get me started - “you don’t normally take back cameras that you sold that do not work that the customer told you from day one that something is wrong with and you ask them to do ALL these things - which they do - none of them work - and so naturally they want their money back and you tell them ok but we are keeping $500 and your remaining money doesn’t go to you for your to spend where or how you’d like - it’s going to go to a store credit that you’ll have to spend here”. Nice favor.

So also - I picked the R5 because of its megapixels and bc I’ve always been a canon supporter. Lots of money spent there - and they truly aren’t taking care of this how they should. But I want to say - they let me try an r6 and it had no problems. So they were like oh here just switch to the r6 then and I was like um no…I want the megapixel count that’s why I upgraded from the canon 5d mark iv to the R5 in the first place.

So I bought this new R5 camera and 5 lenses and now I’m up a creek without a paddle bc I don’t have a body that works to use those lenses. So I’m already losing because the body doesn’t work and they want to keep $500 from the original cost I paid. Plus now on the side I have to figure out how to sell these lenses and will never make back what I spent even though some of the lenses are in unopened boxes.

I mean at this point canon HAS to know that this is an issue bc clearly it’s happening to people. So they should be handling this and those of us who are loyal customers much better.

We should join forces on this because with two people saying the same exact thing happened to both of us is clear it is not a fluke it is a problem THEY need to take accountability for. And maybe some of the other people in the thread who have had similar issues will also join in. Because at least with two people they are more likely to listen than just one person - who they can corner and say to them - not our problem it’s clearly your other technology not our product.