# Firmware: Canon EOS R3 v1.2.1 has been released



## Canon Rumors Guy (Jul 31, 2022)

> Canon has updated the recent firmware for the Canon EOS R3 with v1.2.1.
> Firmware Version 1.2.1 incorporates the following enhancements and fixes:
> 
> Adds the ability to set “Custom high speed continuous” to the Drive mode. It is possible to shoot from 2 to 50 images continuously at a speed of approximately 30 to 195 fps.
> ...



Continue reading...


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## Emyr Evans (Jul 31, 2022)

Just downloaded - no problems so far.

Two quick points:

1. My R3 had not crashed since I updated to V1.2.0, approx 10 days of shooting

2. The new 50 frames at up to 195fps is amazing, works flawlessly. Camera takes around 9 seconds before you can shoot again.

Perfect for predictable wildlife - birds on perches, dragonflies landing on leaves etc.


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## DBounce (Jul 31, 2022)

I haven’t done the update yet. But I will likely install it in a week or so.


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## mbike999 (Jul 31, 2022)

Canon was pretty low key about this update, but in-camera focus stacking is a huge deal


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## MiJax (Jul 31, 2022)

Emyr Evans said:


> Just downloaded - no problems so far.
> 
> Two quick points:
> 
> ...


Does it really stop autofocusing when using the high speed drive mode? In the updated manual, it mentioned loss of AE but not AF. So, I'm not sure if the people using it are still using shutter button focus (which will ALWAYS stop during the exposure) or if it is legitimately unable to focus in that drive mode.


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## Jsjamesok (Jul 31, 2022)

MiJax said:


> Does it really stop autofocusing when using the high speed drive mode? In the updated manual, it mentioned loss of AE but not AF. So, I'm not sure if the people using it are still using shutter button focus (which will ALWAYS stop during the exposure) or if it is legitimately unable to focus in that drive mode.


Jared Polin has a video that explains it well


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## Jack Douglas (Aug 2, 2022)

Jsjamesok said:


> Jared Polin has a video that explains it well


Wow!


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## MiJax (Aug 4, 2022)

Jsjamesok said:


> Jared Polin has a video that explains it well


Yes, I've seen that but I ask because that restriction is not in the manual in any form. As well, its hard to say if Fro properly set up the camera to continue focusing, even though I'd hope so. But you'd be surprised how many people use the Shutter button for focus and don't realize they can't focus during a burst.

*"Custom high-speed continuous shooting

You can capture up to 50 shots continuously at a maximum speed of 195 shots/sec.*


*The electronic shutter is used in shooting.*
*Details such as shutter speed, aperture value, and ISO speed are determined by conditions for the first shot.*
*Shutter speeds slower than 1/30 sec. are not available."*


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## jd7 (Aug 4, 2022)

MiJax said:


> Yes, I've seen that but I ask because that restriction is not in the manual in any form. As well, its hard to say if Fro properly set up the camera to continue focusing, even though I'd hope so. But you'd be surprised how many people use the Shutter button for focus and don't realize they can't focus during a burst.
> 
> *"Custom high-speed continuous shooting
> 
> ...


Why do you think a camera won't focus during a burst if AF is linked to the shutter button? If a camera is in servo AF, generally (it does depend on the camera and may also vary between different burst modes on the same camera) I would expect the camera to continuously AF during a burst if I held down the shutter button and the camera was set up to AF when the shutter button is pressed. On some cameras AE may be locked from the first shot in a burst (at least in some modes), but generally speaking I would expect focus not to be locked. (I use back button focus and my 6D II certainly continues to AF during a burst if I am activating AF with the back button. It's been a long time since I had my camera set up to AF when I press the shutter button.)

I know there are some exceptions to what I have said above for certain cameras/modes, eg I understand the EOS R locks focus from the first shot in a burst if it is in its 8 FPS burst made, but I believe lockding AF during a burst is more the exception rather than the rule. (And note the EOS R should continue to AF during a burst if AF is on and the camera is in its slower burst mode, which from memory is about 5 FPS.) So, as I have said above, it does vary between cameras and even modes on the same camera.

If I have misunderstood, and your post was specifically about the 195 FPS mode on the R3, my apologies for going off on a tangent!


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## takesome1 (Aug 4, 2022)

jd7 said:


> If I have misunderstood, and your post was specifically about the 195 FPS mode on the R3, my apologies for going off on a tangent!



I think he is misinformed or confused. He appeared to be talking about normal shooting. In One-Shot mode it will stop focusing. In Servo it continues to focus. I only use the shutter button, if it isn't focusing in burst I have years worth of shots that shouldn't be in focus.

The burst at 192 fps (not 195 do the math, maybe Canon subtracts for shutter time), will not focus. It may be to much processing to fast, or something else. Maybe there is a work around Canon can clue us in on.


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## koenkooi (Aug 4, 2022)

takesome1 said:


> I think he is misinformed or confused. He appeared to be talking about normal shooting. In One-Shot mode it will stop focusing. In Servo it continues to focus. I only use the shutter button, if it isn't focusing in burst I have years worth of shots that shouldn't be in focus.
> 
> The burst at 192 fps (not 195 do the math, maybe Canon subtracts for shutter time), will not focus. It may be to much processing to fast, or something else. Maybe there is a work around Canon can clue us in on.


I think Canon does AF only when the image doesn't get saved, so with 60fps video, it will read the sensor 120 times per second: once for AF/AE and once for the actual image.

I suspect that the 190-ish fps is the fastest they can read out the sensor, so no room for the "AF/AE every other frame". What Canon could possibly do, is to making AF/AE less frequent, like once per 20 frames.


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## EOS 4 Life (Aug 4, 2022)

koenkooi said:


> I think Canon does AF only when the image doesn't get saved, so with 60fps video, it will read the sensor 120 times per second: once for AF/AE and once for the actual image.
> 
> I suspect that the 190-ish fps is the fastest they can read out the sensor, so no room for the "AF/AE every other frame". What Canon could possibly do, is to making AF/AE less frequent, like once per 20 frames.


Since video goes up to 240 FPS in 1080 with full autofocus, I suspect 240 FPS is the max


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## koenkooi (Aug 4, 2022)

EOS 4 Life said:


> Since video goes up to 240 FPS in 1080 with full autofocus, I suspect 240 FPS is the max


As I understand it, 1080p skips lines when reading the sensor, so that will be faster than full-sensor images. But it’s a good point, we can only guess where the bottleneck is.


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## MiJax (Aug 4, 2022)

jd7 said:


> Why do you think a camera won't focus during a burst if AF is linked to the shutter button? If a camera is in servo AF, generally (it does depend on the camera and may also vary between different burst modes on the same camera) I would expect the camera to continuously AF during a burst if I held down the shutter button and the camera was set up to AF when the shutter button is pressed. On some cameras AE may be locked from the first shot in a burst (at least in some modes), but generally speaking I would expect focus not to be locked. (I use back button focus and my 6D II certainly continues to AF during a burst if I am activating AF with the back button. It's been a long time since I had my camera set up to AF when I press the shutter button.)
> 
> I know there are some exceptions to what I have said above for certain cameras/modes, eg I understand the EOS R locks focus from the first shot in a burst if it is in its 8 FPS burst made, but I believe lockding AF during a burst is more the exception rather than the rule. (And note the EOS R should continue to AF during a burst if AF is on and the camera is in its slower burst mode, which from memory is about 5 FPS.) So, as I have said above, it does vary between cameras and even modes on the same camera.
> 
> If I have misunderstood, and your post was specifically about the 195 FPS mode on the R3, my apologies for going off on a tangent!



I was mostly referring to focusing with only the shutter button. Where in the past, you had to use the back button to continue focusing during a burst. I just tried it on my R5 and I see that has been changed. The R5 and potentially other R bodies, will focus with a full press of the shutter (when focus is linked to half press) when they didn't always do that in the past. Like you said, this functionality was on some brands, but not others. Looks as though Canon added it. 



takesome1 said:


> I think he is misinformed or confused. He appeared to be talking about normal shooting. In One-Shot mode it will stop focusing. In Servo it continues to focus. I only use the shutter button, if it isn't focusing in burst I have years worth of shots that shouldn't be in focus.
> 
> The burst at 192 fps (not 195 do the math, maybe Canon subtracts for shutter time), will not focus. It may be to much processing to fast, or something else. Maybe there is a work around Canon can clue us in on.


No... I'm talking about using AI Servo. In the past, When AF was linked to a half press of the shutter button (in AI Servo), and you fully depress the button for a burst, you are no longer half pressing the shutter button and no longer focusing. This appears to have changed. Now with my R5 it does continue focusing. The previous comment was based on the old functionality.

As far as happening too fast to focus, its definitely too fast to focus for each shot, but the R3 doesn't lose track of a person jogging at 30 fps in .3 of a second so I'd imagine it could still focus at the same rate even though it will not occur for each shot, as normal. Either way, I'd expect Canon to say that doesn't work in their manual if it couldn't. They mention the AE restrictions why leave out AF if it really has a restriction? So I'm asking those with the camera, how it works, and not taking the word of a YouTuber, who quite frankly, doesn't always get it right (although I do have a decent amount of trust in him).


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## takesome1 (Aug 4, 2022)

MiJax said:


> No... I'm talking about using AI Servo. Full disclosure, I haven't tested this behavior on a Canon body in years but it has been this way prior. You may be someone who uses the continual focus option, otherwise you may be pumping the shutter button and reacquiring focus.


First Canon Digital was a D50. The first thing I shot with it was a swim meet. Any body I have had in the last ten years single shot mode it locks focus at the point you click. AI Servo tracks. I have been shooting with the fast moving running people, cats, horses but no pigs yet. In electronic 30fps mode it can kick out 100 equally sharp images (or at least 97% sharp). 

If you mean it was this way some time before 2008, well maybe I do not know.


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## MiJax (Aug 5, 2022)

takesome1 said:


> First Canon Digital was a D50. The first thing I shot with it was a swim meet. Any body I have had in the last ten years single shot mode it locks focus at the point you click. AI Servo tracks. I have been shooting with the fast moving running people, cats, horses but no pigs yet. In electronic 30fps mode it can kick out 100 equally sharp images (or at least 97% sharp).
> 
> If you mean it was this way some time before 2008, well maybe I do not know.


I updated the comment sometime before you posted but after you saw it, but yes, the last time I used a camera with AF on the shutter button was with the Rebel XT and 1D Mark IIN. Went to back button focus because they didn't work the way it works now and never looked back so I don't know when it was changed. I tested my R5 today and it does continue to focus with full press of the shutter while using half shutter press for AF.

The real only issue I have is the manual doesn't say it will not focus in that Custom High Speed mode. If it doesn't that's fine, but since its not mentioned in the literature I'm asking if others found the same thing in that video.


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## MiJax (Aug 5, 2022)

Thanks to the person that tried to post the new supplemental feature page, https://downloads.canon.com/EOS-R3_custom-high-speed_7-21-new.pdf

Canon hasn't updated the "Updated" manual yet, but this supplement does clearly state AF is affected.


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## Raptors (Aug 6, 2022)

MiJax said:


> Thanks to the person that tried to post the new supplemental feature page, https://downloads.canon.com/EOS-R3_custom-high-speed_7-21-new.pdf
> 
> Canon hasn't updated the "Updated" manual yet, but this supplement does clearly state AF is affected.


I did try several times to post this link. The link worked on my computer but would not open on my iPhone, then it wouldn’t open on my computer so I deleted it. I’m glad you found a way to post it


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## Profit007 (Aug 16, 2022)

Canon, please give us the ability to set the burst depth in H+ mode for the R5 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This was a feature old 1 series cameras had, but strange vanished from more recent menu options, on every Canon camera.

Being able to set/limit the burst depth is incredibly useful for a lot of studio shooting. We'd use it on almost every studio shoot.


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