Tag: technology

Canon EOS R1 Firmware Update V1.3.0 May 2026

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Canon has updated the firmware for the Canon EOS R1 today. The big news is that this update lets you bind pre-capture to a custom button! Thank you, Canon! The equally big news is that Canon has expanded on its Action Priority capability. This is huge news for the future of this incredible feature. This firmware update includes the following:

Firmware Ver1.3.0 incorporates the following fixes and enhancements:

1. Adds [American Football] in [Action Priority] to optimise human subject detection for individuals wearing helmets and shoulder pads.
 *For an overview and instructions on using [Action Priority], please refer to the Instruction Manual or the AF Settings Guide.

2. Improves tracking and detection performance for [Register people priority] in challenging conditions—including profile views, blurred or partially obscured faces, small subjects in the frame, and children—even when the feature is set to [Off].
 *Performing a firmware update will delete registered data stored in the camera. If necessary, save the data in advance using [Save/load registered data on card], and reload it after the firmware update. For details, please refer to the Instruction Manual.

3. Adds [Wi‑Fi freq. band] to [Communication Settings], allowing the user to select the 5 GHz or 2.4 G Hz band when transferring from Bluetooth to Wi-Fi.

4. Adds [No. of connections] to [FTP transfer settings], allowing the user to select the number of transfer threads for [FTP transfer].

5. Adds the ability to store up to four [Color temp] values in [White balance setting] and to assign [Switch color temperature] to [Customize buttons for shooting].

6. Adds the ability to set [False Color Settings] to [On] when [HDR/C.Log View Assist] is selected.

7. Adds the ability to assign [Pre‑continuous Shooting] to [Customize buttons for shooting].

8. Adds the ability to transfer AF-related settings between cameras of the same model by adding [Save to card] and [Load from card] to [Register/recall AF‑related settings].

9. Adds the ability to display the electronic level during movie recording.

10. Adds the option for grid display during movie recording.

11. Adds the ability to display playback screens and menu screens when outputting to two screens via [HDMI Display During Connection].

12. Adds the ability to switch the group settings of a receiver camera from the sender camera when using the EOS Multi-Remote app.

13. Adds the [Night Display Mode] menu option

14. Fixes an issue that may cause Err70 to be displayed in live view when the user captured a multiple-exposure shot in a dark environment.

15. Fixes an issue that may cause Err49 to be displayed repeatedly during communication with an SFTP server.

16. Fixes an issue that may impact the camera’s shooting ability if the auto power-off function is activated during interval timer shooting.

17. Fixes an issue that may cause the camera to restart when the shutter button is pressed while deleting images.

18. Fixes an issue that may cause the camera to not be recognised when connected to a smartphone via USB.

19. Improves other system stability.

If the camera’s firmware is already Ver1.3.0, it is not necessary to update the firmware.

The User Manual on the website has been updated accordingly.

Q&A Section:
Preparations for the firmware update:
In the folder you downloaded are the firmware (EOSR1130.FIR / file size: 270942208 bytes) and instructions on the firmware update procedures (a PDF file in five languages: Japanese, English, French, Spanish, and Simplified Chinese). Before starting the firmware update operations, please be sure to carefully review the instructions to confirm your understanding of the firmware update procedures.

Firmware download link:
https://www.canon.com.au/cameras/eos-r1/support?option=drivers

Dynamic Range is Just Not That Important March 2026

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It is not very often I share a third-party video, but this one from David Bergman (for Adorama TV) on why Dynamic Range is not nearly as important as most people think just hits the nail on the head. Ask yourself, when was the last time you saw a really great photograph with 12 or more stops of dynamic range? The answer is you probably haven’t, and the reason is that most great photographs actually have quite a limited dynamic range because they are taken in soft light. Just as an aside, I have long said that we should not measure cameras by their dynamic range but instead by their ISO performance (signal-to-noise ratio).

Contrary to some beliefs, dynamic range and signal-to-noise ratio are not the same, although both measure camera performance in decibels and are closely related. Dynamic range is the ratio between the maximum signal a sensor can handle and its lowest detectable signal (noise floor), while signal-to-noise measures signal quality at any given specific intensity.

In layman’s terms, dynamic range measures the span between the brightest highlights and darkest shadows a camera can capture in a single exposure without losing detail (clipping). In effect, it defines the camera’s ability to handle high-contrast scenes. The signal-to-noise ratio measures the ratio of signal strength to noise at a specific brightness level. SNR is highest at full-scale output and decreases in lower light.

There are some important key differences between the two. Dynamic Range describes the range of intensity, while Signal to noise describes the quality of the signal at one point. A camera with a high dynamic range may still have poor signal-to-noise if the noise floor is high or high SNR with low dynamic range.

Final Update on the Helicopter Polar Bear Incident in Svalbard 26th April 2025

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Earlier today I finally received an update from the Governors office in Svalbard on their investigation into the harassment of the Polar Bear from helicopter by the Norwegian Polar Institute [NPI] in April last month (Full Story with Update and Podcast). A screenshot of my follow up email and their full response as received today is included below:

As is abundantly clear from the brevity of the email received from the Governors office they have found that the NPI did not violate their permit in the harassment and darting of this Polar Bear. This leaves some very big unanswered questions: The first of which, is, was an investigation even undertaken? and if so, where is the documentary evidence of this investigation?

What about the time-stamped photographs that were submitted to the Governors office that demonstrably demonstrate that the harassment of this Polar Bear went on far longer than NPI’s claimed ‘2-3 minutes’? Additionally, and to date, (and to my knowledge), none of the 12 passenger witnesses, the captain or the first mate of M.S Freya (who all witnessed this event first hand) have been contacted and/or interviewed by the Governors office. How can a thorough investigation be conducted without interviewing the first hand witnesses?

 ‘If’ this behaviour and methodology employed by the NPI did not violate the terms of their permit, then the requirements of the permit are seriously broken. NPI needs to be held accountable for their actions. They cannot continue to act with impunity.

It is worth noting that the Sysselmestern environmental office is directly under and controlled by the environmental ministry in Norway. The environmental industry effectively owns the NPI. This shabby cover up by the Governors office is nothing more than corruption at the highest level. Norway and the NPI should hang their heads in absolute shame at allowing this to continue.

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    Optimally Calibaring Apple Liquid Retina XDR Displays for Photography

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    Those who know me know I always advocate for the highest quality photographic display you can afford. It should be the first purchase you make after a digital camera. A wide-gamut, high-quality, calibrated photographic monitor is the difference between optimally processing your RAW files and standing blindfolded, throwing darts at a board. But what do you do while in the field on a laptop? Or, how do you otherwise make do if you have an Apple Liquid Retina XDR display and have neither the budget nor space for an external display? I should footnote this: If you can afford an Apple Liquid Retina XDR display, you have no excuse not to own a significantly better photographic display such as those from BenQ (Read our Recent review on the new BenQ 4K display).

    Jeremy Daalder over at Image Science recently published the best piece I have read to date on optimally calibrating an Apple Liquid Retina XDR Display. If you own an Apple laptop with a Liquid Retina XDR display or one of Apple’s hugely over-priced external displays then you owe it to yourself to take five minutes out of your day, and read his article. This is the first piece I have read on the internet that accurately documents the process for a successful calibration of these displays.

    INTRODUCTION

    Apple’s newest XDR Liquid Retina displays, such as is seen inside the new 14” and 16” MacBook Pro (and the XDR Pro Display) are a completely different ball game when it comes to calibration. The new XDR Liquid Retina displays (hereafter referred to as XDR displays) are different than their predecessors in that they employ a full array local dimming miniLED backlight. The issues at play here are essentially two-fold. Because of Apple’s decision to implement:

    1. A miniLED backlight (which older calibrators just weren’t designed to calibrate), and
    2. the forced usage of Reference Modes (both their clunky implementation of them and specifically the inability to NOT use them)…

    …both the required calibration technologies and the process for calibrating them is completely different to ALL older Apple displays (including all older external displays, any iMacs, any Intel-based Laptops, any Macbook Air’s, and even the newer Apple Silicon based 13” and 15” MacBook Pros).

    READ ON HERE

    Canon EOS R3, EOS R5MK2 and More Firmware Updates September 2025

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    During my last few days in Greenland (I am currently in Iceland wrapping up the extension trip), Canon updated firmware for the EOS R3, EOS R5MK2 and many other cameras in the line-up. Most of the updates are bug fixes, although some cameras got support for the new LP-E6P. You can download firmware updates through the Camera Connect app or directly from a Canon website. Personally, I find the Canon Camera Connect app to be the easiest and fastest. I updated my R3 in the field in less than ten minutes with my iPhone while waiting for the clouds to gather after the morning shoot here in Iceland.

    Firmware Updates: