Windows 10 not recognising the files on canon r. Says the card is empty.

Hi All,

I have this intermittent problem with my R.    When I finish a shoot, i use my cable to plug into USB on the machine.    Most of the time I just navigate to the camera through Windows file manager and  copy and paste the images into a folder that I have named after the client I am shooting for.

More and more, when I click on the Camera in my file manager it comes up with " Folder is empty"  or something like that.  There are always  files on the camera.  The first time it happened I freaked as I had just finished a shoot and the Client was rightfully expecting the images.  I dread the day when I have to tell a client we need to do a reshoot.

I always find a workaround, sometimes using a different computer to download them onto a drive.

Has anyone had this problem?  Im happy to go and buy a card reader but I have put through hundreds  of thousands of images  successfully without a card reader.

As a failsafe, I could download the images via wi fi but suspect that could be slow.

Has some kind soul got any ideas?

If you aren't formatting the card in camera, start doing that.  Also, try using a different card or a card reader.

Why not use the EOS Utility software? It allows you to rename files on import, create folders, etc, and you can set it to start up when the camera is connected.

is WiFi on the camera enabled? If so, disable it and see if the connection works.

https://community.usa.canon.com/t5/Camera-Software/Canon-Eos-R-not-appearing-as-drive-in-Windows-11-via-USB/m-p/375579

I had this happen with an SD card and a 6D. I thought I lost all images of a shoot but then I put the card because into the 6D and all images were there. I looked at the SD card, saw that one of the contacts was a bit dirty, cleaned it, and everything was fine after that.

My Sandisk CFe reader is also horrible and sometimes it doesn't recognize the card properly. I went through two of them (2nd via RMA) and they both have this issue either on USB-A or USB-C ports.

simonharris wrote:

Hi All,

I have this intermittent problem with my R. When I finish a shoot, i use my cable to plug into USB on the machine. Most of the time I just navigate to the camera through Windows file manager and copy and paste the images into a folder that I have named after the client I am shooting for.

More and more, when I click on the Camera in my file manager it comes up with " Folder is empty" or something like that. There are always files on the camera. The first time it happened I freaked as I had just finished a shoot and the Client was rightfully expecting the images. I dread the day when I have to tell a client we need to do a reshoot.

I always find a workaround, sometimes using a different computer to download them onto a drive.

Has anyone had this problem? Im happy to go and buy a card reader but I have put through hundreds of thousands of images successfully without a card reader.

As a failsafe, I could download the images via wi fi but suspect that could be slow.

Has some kind soul got any ideas?

Get a card reader. If you're doing professional work, always have two (or more) ways to do anything that's essential.

The USB-C port in the R series bodies is often described as fragile, and it is attached directly to the motherboard, raising the possibility of a more major failure.  If I were you I’d change immediately to using an SD card reader.  I haven’t used cable connections for years - just pop the card out and into the reader.  Most laptops already have a reader and adding one to a desktop is trivial.

drsnoopy wrote:

The USB-C port in the R series bodies is often described as fragile, and it is attached directly to the motherboard, raising the possibility of a more major failure. If I were you I’d change immediately to using an SD card reader. I haven’t used cable connections for years - just pop the card out and into the reader. Most laptops already have a reader and adding one to a desktop is trivial.

Yes, Issues with the USB-C port are as old as the R (see, for example:  https://www.canonrumors.com/forum/threads/problems-with-eos-r-connecting-via-usb-3-0.37804/

And it is not just the R, but all R series cameras, as far as I am aware, have fragile USB-C ports.

On my cameras, I treat the USB-C port as an "emergency backup" for charging or downloading.

As for what might be causing the OP's problem:

1. It could be Windows/Software; try different apps such as EOS without touching the cable to isolate the problem.
2. It could be a bad cable. USB cables are notorious for their huge variations. I eventually bought some "known good USB-C cables" that look very different from the dozen or so I had (some are data only with a wide variety of data and power specs without a mark on them to tell one from another).  Try a different (preferably known quality) cable. 
3. It could be a damaged connector on the camera. In this case, doing #2 might cause more damage.
4. It could be something with the SD card, but unlikely in this case

The downside of flashcard reader downloading is that the is slightly more risk of damage to the card.

By all means but a card reader. They're almost "free"-- $10 or $14.

Kent

Karl_Guttag wrote:

drsnoopy wrote:

The USB-C port in the R series bodies is often described as fragile, and it is attached directly to the motherboard, raising the possibility of a more major failure. If I were you I’d change immediately to using an SD card reader. I haven’t used cable connections for years - just pop the card out and into the reader. Most laptops already have a reader and adding one to a desktop is trivial.

Yes, Issues with the USB-C port are as old as the R (see, for example: https://www.canonrumors.com/forum/threads/problems-with-eos-r-connecting-via-usb-3-0.37804/

And it is not just the R, but all R series cameras, as far as I am aware, have fragile USB-C ports.

On my cameras, I treat the USB-C port as an "emergency backup" for charging or downloading.

Thanks for that. I hadn't heard about the USB-C problems, but I just ordered Breeze Downloader Pro and will start using my SD card reader instead. As a former longtime Adobe user, I'm trying desperately to stay away from Creative Cloud. I've been using the Canon EOS Utility to import images directly from the camera, and this software lets me retain my workflow while also using the card reader.

https://www.breezesys.com/solutions/breeze-downloader/

Steven Aunan wrote:

Thanks for that. I hadn't heard about the USB-C problems, but I just ordered Breeze Downloader Pro and will start using my SD card reader instead. As a former longtime Adobe user, I'm trying desperately to stay away from Creative Cloud. I've been using the Canon EOS Utility to import images directly from the camera, and this software lets me retain my workflow while also using the card reader.

https://www.breezesys.com/solutions/breeze-downloader/

I've been using Downloader Pro for years, more than a decade, and I love it. It may take you some time to get the full use out of its file rename feature, but do spend some time studying and thinking about how to set up your filename convention.

I also use its on-the-fly folder creation and backup-while-downloading features.

My own filename convention is:

<job name>_YYMMDD_HH-MM_<unique digit>_<camera body name>

The way that looks as Downloader Pro tokens is:

{J}_{d}_{H}-{M}_{L}_{T8}
I have it set to automatically recognize and map to my camera bodies. Their names are the model and last four digits of the serial number, so one body might be R1534 and another might R0642.
I have it automatically create a <jobname> folder with subfolders for RAW, TIF, JPEG, PSD, WEB, and Video, and it also automatically creates and downloads a backup copy to another drive.

simonharris wrote:

Thank you all for your insights! It is very much appreciated and as usual, you guys come to the rescue.

I was going to trouble shoot this by using a process of elimination. The first thing I have done is turn the wi fi off on the camera.

I booted camera up and the computer recognised the camera straight away and the files downloaded seamlessly.

My question is:

Is a WIFI issue known to cause a conflict that upsets the transfer of files by cable?

Has my experiment , in all probability solved the problem? I guess I will find out in due course.

Again, thanks to you all.

Glad you were able to solve the problem. I would suggest a good card reader though. I would rather wear out a reader connection than the one on the camera. You mentioned being paranoid about loosing images? The R5 has 2 card slots and I set my camera to record RAW to both. If I get a corrupt file or a bad card, I have a backup. I have a CFExpress card reader that also has a SD slot. The CFExpress card rarely gets removed from the camera, I use the SD card for my downloads. But I have a plan should it ever fail.