Canon 7D firmware update

[john_sutton9]

<p>Just looked on the Canon site and saw that the new version of 7D firmware has been posted. Has anyone had a chance to install it and if so are there any "features" ?<br>

(it's not a bug, it's a feature, it's not a fix, it's an enhancement)</p>

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>There is a very recent thread on it: http://www.photo.net/canon-eos-digital-camera-forum/00ah7J?unified_p=1 , which has links to the Canon website which explains how many new features this firmware has. I'm no Canon user, but hat off Canon for bringing such a massive upgrade to a relatively aged model.</p>

[john_sutton9]

<p>The "Features" I was asking about are issues that people have experienced after the upgrade that would require backing it out, i.e., like the Iphone v5 software upgrade that caused all sorts of problems. I don't want to put in an update and find out that it is a dud. I'm confident that the firmware has been verified by Canon, but...</p>

[PuppyDigs]

<p>I upgraded early Monday afternoon and shot a lot images afterwards without problems. Well, the date "feature" messed me up but otherwise everything seems the same as FW1.25 but with a huge buffer. The RAW file structure is still compatible with all my RAW apps (without any software upgrades). I don't have the GPS gadget and prefer doing RAW conversions on a Cinema DISPlay rather than a the camera LCD.</p>

[steve_dunn2]

<cite>The "Features" I was asking about are issues that people have experienced after the upgrade that would require backing it out, i.e., like the Iphone v5 software upgrade that caused all sorts of problems.</cite>

 

<p>Then don't be among the first to install it, unless there's something in it that you truly <em>need</em>. I've been an IT guy for the last 20+ years and my general recommendation is to avoid point-zero releases if at all possible, at least until enough others have taken that leap and found them to be stable. Far too much software gets released that really ought to have been tested more than it was, and I have better things to do with my time and energy than dealing with bugs in version *.0 that the vendor will probably fix in version *.01 in the next little while.</p>

 

<p>Personally, there's nothing in there that I <em>need</em>, though there are a few things that might be nice to have. So I'm not installing it for now. I'll keep my eye out here and elsewhere to see if others' experiences are like Puppy's or if there are reports of problems. If it proves to be solid, I'll upgrade. If 2.01 comes out in the next little while and fixes a bunch of problems that showed up in 2.0, then I'll upgrade directly to 2.01 and skip the problems.</p>

 

<p>As an aside in relation to your iOS 5 comment: I have a friend who reliably bricks at least one of her assorted iThings on the day a new OS is released. (This is not an anti-Apple comment; other vendors also have a spotty history with brand new OS versions. It's just that she's an iPerson, so every time she bricks something, it's an iThing because that's all she uses.)</p>

[mbkissel]

<p>No issues with the update so far. I like being able to apply a ceiling on the Auto ISO setting. </p>

[john_sutton9]

<p>I've worked in IT for about 20 years too, been burned enough in the past that I wait for the early birds to figure out what isn't working so I don't have to go through it. About the only thing i'm really interested in is the buffer boost. I do a lot of wildlife shoots (come on winter migration to the south) and have started doing sports on a regular basis, so this would be a very welcome upgrade.</p>

[PuppyDigs]

<p>Computers have to deal with millions of possible hardware and software combinations and thus bugs cropping up after a new release are unavoidable. However, a camera is a fairly closed system with a very limited number of hardware and software compatibilities to test. SO, yeah, things can go wrong but that possibility is a lot more remote than a new Windows or Mac OS release. Anywho, FW2.0 is still kickin' photographic butt 3 days out and counting. My only complaint is remembering to set what city I'm in...</p>

[travismcgee]

<p>Yup, the time zone thing is really cool. I just wish selecting the city was at the top of the page and the first thing selected, but oh well.</p>

[steve_dunn2]

<p>Puppy, I agree that writing firmware for hardware you control is much less complex than, say, writing an update version of Windows that has to run on a gazillion different computers. But hey, as noted above, Apple has messed up some of their OS versions for hardware they control. And while I don't recall the details, I remember that Canon released a firmware update for the 20D that turned out not to work very well in the real world, and they had to release another version to fix whatever problem that was. (I didn't suffer from that one due to my habit of waiting for a while to see if a new firmware update is stable - which I apply to pretty much all firmware updates, too, not just point-zero ones.)</p>

 

<p>I'm happy to hear that the initial reports from a few users are positive. Maybe I'll get my bigger buffer and auto ISO limits and in-camera aberration control for JPEGs and whatnot sooner rather than later!</p>

[travismcgee]

<p>We have a similar logic in aviation. The old saying is "Never fly the "A" model of anything." Cheers.</p>

[Greg Pichnej]

<p>I was interested in the enhanced rapid shooting upgrade and installed ver 2.0.0. Now I'm searching the web to fix the problem of the rear lLCD monitor going black when I try to display / change "AF-DRIVE" and "ISO" setting buttons on the top. The information is displayed on the smaller top LCD screen and in the view finder viewer so all production is not at a stand still while Canon corrects this flaw.</p>

[pat_xxx]

<p>I don't have a CF Card Reader, just download my images from the camera. I have tried the instructions and I can't get the firmware to copy to the card. I keep getting a message that I don't permission to create this item.<br>

I really want to get the update loaded and go shooting today. Any help would be appreciated.<br>

Pat</p>