Canon EOS Utility freezes with 10.5.6: When will Apple fix this?

Question

Level 1

7 points

Canon EOS Utility freezes with 10.5.6: When will Apple fix this?

Controlling my Canon XSi with MacBookPro (Live view remote control) worked fine until 10.5.6 appeared. Now the EOS Utility (version 2.5.1.1) freezes after the first few exposures. After visiting this discussion forum hoping for help, I have just learned what I was afraid of; we have to wait for another upgrade from Apple. A lot of people encountered this problem after upgrading to 10.5.6.
When will Apple respond to a problem affecting a huge number of professional and semi-professional photographers (both Canon and Nikon DSLR-users)?

MacBookPro 17", Mac OS X (10.5.6), Also a MacMini, iPod and AppleTV (and Canon EOS XSi)

Posted on Apr 2, 2009 8:41 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Dimaxum

Level 5

5,997 points

Apr 2, 2009 10:13 PM in response to Nepse

Hi,

I think that the problem lays by Canon and Nikon. They didn't up to date their products.

The Apple updater OS X 10.5.6 has nothing to do that your Canon XSi is not working any more. It's not only Canon or Nikon that lacking to up date. But to heal the pain ... there are many other Utilities and Applications that not running smoothly in Leopard or even not working any more.

Apple did a perfect job with Leopard ...

Dimaxum

Reply

Answer 2

Thimeau

Level 1

0 points

Apr 4, 2009 1:53 PM in response to Nepse

Canon has to update EOS Utility. Apple has nothing to do with your problem, and by the way everything is working just fine with Nikon's similar applications.

By the way Canon should also add a preference setting so that the user can disable EOS Utility. That way you could easily use another application...

What Apple must do is to add a preference setting to disable PTPCamera.app or at least give us a way of turning it off using the terminal...

Reply

Answer 3

Nepse Author

Level 1

7 points

Apr 5, 2009 6:11 PM in response to Thimeau

The problem arose with 10.5.6, that is reasonably clear, likewise that the two software versions are not compatible. The fact that Canon is one of the leading camera brands and a lot of photographers use Macs should be of interest to both companies. Just blaming Apple was probably a little premature. Regardless, a problem like this hurts both brands and may requite joint efforts to be solved.

When it comes to using alternative software, I am not aware of any other software which can be used to control my Canon EOS XSi/450D with my Mac. I am not talking about downloading, but being able to live view, control settings as well as shooting pictures (macro) from my Mac. I am using iPhoto for downloading and organizing and Photoshop CS3 for editing.

Reply

Answer 4

Apr 6, 2009 12:43 AM in response to Nepse

Oywil

EOS Utility works for me without any problems at all. I've recently upgraded to the same version as you and have 10.5.6 installed so I'd suggest you tried some troubleshooting - camera firmware, permissions, re-install or something - as EOS Utility doesn't seem to be faulty.

How many times did it work before freezing? I probably shot off 30 or 40 shots the other day with no problem.

Does the 450 connect with firewire (the 1Ds2 does) - I wonder if the problem stems from a USB incompatibility.

You may get some joy from photographic forums like dpreview as Canon's website is a near dead-end.

Best of luck with it!

Reply

Answer 5

pheh

Level 1

20 points

Apr 6, 2009 8:36 AM in response to Andy Green1

Andy Green1:

It is a known issue which Canon has responded to publicly. Their response is to wait for 10.5.7.

Trying going into Live View and see how long your machine lasts. You will generally run out of memory to the point of the system become extremely unresponsive in about 30 seconds to 2 minutes (machine memory dependent).

And, generally those capturing without live view last to 150-300 shots depending on how much memory their setup has.

Reply

Answer 6

Apr 6, 2009 9:09 AM in response to pheh

Well there ya go. The 1Ds2 doesn't have live view so that'll be why I've never encountered the problem.

Looks like you could make it work in Windows -

http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?t=97615

Best of luck!

Reply

Answer 7

Network 23

Level 6

12,351 points

Apr 6, 2009 9:18 AM in response to Thimeau

Thimeau wrote:
By the way Canon should also add a preference setting so that the user can disable EOS Utility. That way you could easily use another application...

Which other application will provide remote control capability for tethered shooting? That's the only thing I use EOS Utiilty for, and I'd love to get away from its on-again, off-again behavior, but I don't want to pay too much.

Reply