Canon EOS 5D firmware update v. 1.1.1
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
EOS 5D Firmware Update Version 1.1.1
- Now supports high-capacity CF cards.
- Allows the latest lens names to be recorded in the Exif information of images taken.
- Adds lenses that are compatible with the Digital Photo Professional 3.2 lens aberration correction function.
Sometimes these firmware updates contain small bug fixes as well. However, if you use the 5D and do not need the features listed above it may be best to at least wait a month or so before doing this to make sure that there are no complaints about bugs or problems (may be a good idea to wait even if you do need the features).
Well, we can finally format 16 GB CF cards in the EOS 5D. There is very little I complain about with the EOS 5D…. but isn’t this CF Card firmware update a bit late? :-)
David: I doubt Canon released it for the increased card size, it’s about new lenses released since the 5D was last updated.
The fact that it’s slow also might mean that they’re about to release a new version of it.
Either way, I didn’t do the update yet. Downloaded it but am waiting to hear from folks who did it to make sure it’s working well. Did you do it? Any issues?
PS: 16 gig cards? My word man, are you a wedding photogapher? I’ve never filled a 4 gig card and I shoot nothing but RAW.
I’m waiting too, as you advised. While the increased ability to store more photos on a CF card will be very useful to some people, I’ve never filled up a 2 GB card.
Gary, many folks on flickr in the 5D group have done it successfully but I’m going to wait for a week or so. It has nothing I need and my 5D works like a charm so why fix what ain’t broke?
I installed the firmware update. Seems fine so far, about to go out shooting at Steep Rock so we’ll see. I’m sure it will be fine…
Just updated and seems fine – I need to get some 4GB cards ready for some Motorsport events I am shooting soon – 10 fps on the 1DMkIII soon fills a card up!
You didn’t need the update for the 4 gig cards, it’s for 16 gig cards. Best get some now Jon!
I installed the 5D firmware update.
I am not sure if I am the only one but it appears that I now have the “Busy” popping up on my LED screen once or twice a wedding. It doesn’t lock up but I never got it before (or never noticed it) and my shooting style didn’t change any.
I am also noticing that my battery life seems to now be lower, thus requiring me to switch them out during an all day assignment. Never had to do that before and no real increase in previewing images or whatnot.
Michael: I would reinstall the firmware update, it can’t hurt and see if that helps. I’ve not done a huge amount of shooting since I did it but haven’t noticed anything nor have I heard of anyone else who’s had problems so maybe it’s something else.
Can you tell me more about the conditions that seem to make the busy pop up on the screen? Does it have to do with writing to the card? Flash?
Let me know, maybe I can help. And, do the upgrade again, it can’t hurt.
Good luck, the 5D is the greatest, I hope you’re back up and running soon.
I haven’t done the 5D firmware update yet and don’t see an advantage to doing so.
Gary, The only advantage for you is if you decide to buy a 16 gig CF card. Your current 5D won’t read them, the new firmware fixes that.
Oh, also, any new lenses out since the 5D originally came out will perform better with the firmware update, like the new 16-35 we want so badly and Dale refuses to send each of us.
I’m getting a “Firmware Update Program” message on my LCD (just out of the blue)… “Update file cannot be found. Please check the memory card and reload the battery and try again”. Is this what I need?
Marcy: No, the camera isn’t smart enough to tell you you need an update (that I know of). Is it possible that you inadvertently got into that part of the menu when cleaning the sensor or formatting your CF card?
The firmware update is fine to do and you might consider doing it, but I’m pretty sure what’s happened with your camera is not because your firmware is out of date.
THE FIRMWARE 1.1.1 WORK PEFECT
Glad it’s working for you Soeren.
@marcy – I had exactly the same issue. When I used my standard 2GB Sandisk CF cards to try and do the firmware update, it failed. However the update proceeded successfully when using an older 128 MB Viking CF card. See illustration there:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nycandre/3203165218/
Andre: Interesting, thanks for posting. I wonder what the cut off size is for the older firmware? Do you know?
Dang! 16 GB CF cards? Gotta get me one of those. Went to a Bharatnatyam Concert yesterday and shot about 1100 images and filled my 4 gb cards like 5 times and lost so many images copying from CF to Laptop :’(
Dilip: the size of the card is only one of three important variables: what file type you’re shooting (RAW, jpg, etc.), and how much resolution your sensor has as it affects file size.
Shoot in RAW on a 5D2 and 4 gigs might feel small but on a 400D it’s huge.
Richard: well, on the cutoff line, I have no ‘for sure’ idea (and no real wanting to experiment with my cam, hate to have to send it to repair). Since it failed with a 2GB card, that seems to exclude the Fat16/Fat32 possibility.
Since Canon would have issued some update if it were a widespread problem, my guess is that it has to be that the firmware was incorrectly programmed, not being able to deal with a few “different” CF cards. Bad move, they (Canon) then probably end up having to do the update themselves under warranty.
Andre: Might it also be that it fails on cards that are formatted outside the camera?
My bad – it *is* indeed a Fat16 issue – the upgrade does *not* work with cards formatted in Fat32, including the 2GB cards, which are just at the limit. (from Canon ‘s techs). It will work with any card of size strictly less than 2GB.
@Richard: Ever since mamen told me what RAW was i’ve been shooting RAW + JPEG and thats what i did for this concert. The thing is, i was so into the concert and wanted to get every part of it, i never took my eye of the viewfinder and ended up with 1078 images. The Chief Guest who was sitting next to me thought i was so moved by the dance i was crying but i was actually letting tears down my eye cuz i was stressed :P
Nevertheless i loved it. The problem as i see is when i shoot for such events which is usually continuous shutter -> spray and pray which has worked for me so many times, i need a larger card. I guess i’ll stop my whining and just go buy the 5D Mk2 so that it can take 16GB cards or i could use the Wi-Fi device to dump images to an external HDD.
My main problem is when i change CF cards in such interesting situations a lot of things happen and i miss opportunities which i regret a lot. I guess you just cant get everything in life and maybe im asking for too much :)
When you buy a 5D2 the files you make will be enormous. One of the reasons I’m not getting it yet is my current setup is better suited to the file sizes of the 5D. Plus, I rarely shoot that many shots and keep them all, I generally winnow down to 200 out of 1000 or even less. Even those 200 take up a lot of room if you do a lot of events.
@Richard: I completely agree with you. When you have a 12 MB RAW file and export it to 27 MB PSD and save a 4 – 6 MB JPEG (which is my workflow) its about 45 MB per image. I usually Archive Images to DVD and delete them off the HDD and also have a secondary CD backup of the JPEG’s alone.
Considering the fact that HDD’s are becoming dirt cheap and 2 TB drives are so easily available and SATA 2 brings in RAID as well for the home user i think our situation is not all that bad.
I have a RAID 5 setup with 3 1 TB HDD’s at home and it looks good. The only concern i have is, what is the shelf life of a DVD/CD. I take them out every 3 months and clean them.
Hello,
I’ve just bought a used 5d as well as a brand new 8GB CF card. I need to upgrade the firmware at the 1.1.1 version, but have no CF cards less than 2GB. Do you know if there’s a way to install the update connecting the camera to the computer?
Many thanks,
Michele
Michele: I’ve never done that so I don’t know. I have a ton of old 1 gig cards here and I’m happy to loan you one if you like, or, you should simply buy a 1 gig card and keep it around.
Hello I try to up date my canon 5d to the 1.1.1 but i did some thing bad.
After the blue line that said it is updating the screen got black. I assume it was done so i turn the camera off. and now dosen’t work. it gets on but do not let me go any menu nether shoot.
What can i do hellp
Erwin: Was your battery fully charged when you did the update? The reason Canon makes a point of making sure the battery is fully charged is because an incomplete writing of the update can cause problems (like you’re having).
It sounds like your camera either lost power or went to sleep during the update.
I’m not sure how to resurrect a camera with incomplete firmware, it might have to go back to Canon for this but there may be a way to do it from home, I just don’t know it. If you call Canon and find a way to do it at home, please come back here and post and let us know.
And, in the future, make sure your battery is fully charged (and can hold a charge for many minutes) before doing firmware updates.
Good luck, stay in touch.
Richard: I finally did this firmware update for my 5D, which was easy to do.
Great Gary, glad it worked out well. I hope Erwin can recover from his problems.
I have done the update and all’s well. I’m going traveling and wanting a bigger card than 16. Does this new firmware support anything over 16.
Cheers
Lee
I don’t know Lee, my biggest card is a 16 gig Sandisk Extreme III and I’ve not tried bigger cards. Are you sure you want to put all your eggs in one basket with a single card? Most people who are serious about their pictures use multiple smaller cards so that if anything happens to one, at least they have the others. My recommendation is to buy multiple 4 or 8 gig cards. It will be cheaper and safer.
I did the upgrade this morning without any problem. Not so much for a bigger CF-card, but more because I have just bought the 50 mm/1,2 and the new 16-35. I will never use 16 gig card, but uses multiple 4 and 8 gig cards as you do Richard, just for safety reasons.
Arne: Oh my, I am very jealous of your lens collection. Those two lenses are at the top of my B&H wish list.
Glad you’re using multiple smaller cards, better to be safe than sorry. Like backing up computers, I guess the only way for people to learn this lesson is to put an entire event on one card and then lose it for one reason or another: lost card, corrupt file system on card, erased by mistake, etc.
Multiple smaller cards can help a bit.
This is one feature of Canon 1 class cameras I love: you can use two cards, either serially or in parallel so that if one card goes bad you have the other. Maybe some day…
Enjoy the new lenses Arne.
unable to install frimware 111 for eosd5ii; did all as per downloading certre, when I used ms windos to download, receided msg that propelem with updat, when I tried to update via Mac, i am told that flashcard software need update; can someone out there help me
Mariana: Make sure you are doing the update exactly this way:
1. Format your compact flash card in your Canon 5D MK !! camera. Format the card, do not erase all pictures.
2. Download the firmware update from Canon’s site onto your computer. Move the file into a place on your computer so you can find it easily. Canon 5D Mark II download page.
Important, the next screen has all of Canon’s instructions on it. Print that screen and follow the instructions (which are more detailed than I’m giving you here.
3. Insert the now formatted CF card into your card reader.
4. Copy the firmware update file into the first screen the appears when you open your CF card’s icon on your computer, the root directory of the card (not in any folder).
5. Rotate the mode dial on your camera to any setting other than Automatic.
6. Make sure your camera’s battery is fully charged.
7. Insert the CF card with firmware update into camera, turn camera on.
8. Press “Menu” and rotate the main dial to “Firmware Update”
9. Press the “set” or “ok” button.
10. When you see the firmware update press “ok” and it will start. If you do not see the firmware update at this point you did not get it onto the card correctly.
The Canon procedure page has more detail but that should cover it.
The single biggest reason people have trouble with this is not copying the update file onto the card correctly. The second reason is battery failure. Make sure you have a fully charged battery and you get the update onto the card correctly and you’ll be fine.
Let me know how it goes.
I have problem updating my firmware it says “the file isnt supported on this device”
Christian: It may be that the file got damaged on download. Try downloading it again and make sure you copy it into the root directory of the card. Let me know if that helps.
Salut à tous,
Je viens de toper un EF 70-300mm IS USM que j’utilise avec un 5D (1ere génération) et un Speedlite 580 EX. Probleme: le flash part pas et mon miroir reste bloqué en position haute aprés chaque shoot.
Je n’arrive pas à trouver d’autre Firmware que le 1.1.1 pour 5D que j’ai déja. Quelqu’un sait-il s’il existe des Firmware plus récent et ou le télécharger. Merci d’avance pour toute piste…et shootez bien.
Dany: my bad translator gave me this:
“I come from toper a EF 70-300mm IS USM which I use with a 5D (1st generation) and Speedlite 580 E.G. Problem: the flash does not leave and my mirror remains blocked in high position after each shot.”
Try turning the IS off on the lens.
Try taking the flash off and see if that helps.
Try taking the lens off and see if the mirror comes down.
Do any of these things help the mirror come down?
Also, I too use a 1st generation 5D and you should know that a few years ago there was a recall for the mirror. It seems the glue wasn’t holding on some of them and they were getting loose. This is a free service from Canon so if you’ve not done it you should and maybe they’ll find and fix another problem while putting the new mirror in.
Let me know if any of this helps.
Hi, i incorrectly upgraded my canon 500d with firmware 1. 0. 9 which is for 550d , where as i was suppose to be updating it to 1. 1. 1, now i try to update it correctly but its not happening . It says the firmware you have in the card needs to be updated. Can u pls help me out?
zahufar: Is the problem that the camera isn’t working correctly with the wrong firmware installed? Can you use the camera at all with the 550D firmware installed or did trying to install it mess up the camera?
It would seem to me that you need to toss the wrong firmware off the card, put the right firmware on the card and try again. Maybe try doing a complete reset of the camera (read post above) before trying. Other than that, I’m not sure what to tell you except that the camera might have to go back to Canon to be reset and updated.
Let me know if you figure out a way to fix it.