topic Re: R5 interval timer does not work in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

R5 interval timer does not work

jblazar — Fri, 14 Aug 2020 05:30:44 GMT

I cannot get my interval timer (for stills, like for the meteor shower last night) to work on the R5. It works fine on the 5DIV. I've seen others conplaining of this problem, but others say it works fine for them. Canon told me that they have had others complain about this. Anybody else have this problem? Anyone aware of a solution in the works? I can use an external interval timer, but I want to be able to use the one in the camera.

Re: R5 interval timer does not work

Waddizzle — Fri, 14 Aug 2020 10:12:04 GMT

Okay. If you're trying to set the camera up for a series of night sky shots, what is your shutter speed, and what is the length of you interval?

Re: R5 interval timer does not work

jblazar — Fri, 14 Aug 2020 20:16:52 GMT

I tried several different settings. They all worked on my 5D IV, but none worked on the R5. For instance, 10 second timer, 5 second shutter speed. That should give the camera plenty of time to record the image before taking the next shot. I really don't believe that it is a settings problem. I even reset the camera to its defaults. When I talked to Canon, I tried their suggestions, which didn't solve the problem. This is a camera problem. I'm not the only one experiencing it. Several on Fred Miranda and Canon Rumors are also complaining about it.

Re: R5 interval timer does not work

Waddizzle — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 12:54:47 GMT

@jblazar wrote:
I tried several different settings. They all worked on my 5D IV, but none worked on the R5. For instance, 10 second timer, 5 second shutter speed. That should give the camera plenty of time to record the image before taking the next shot. I really don't believe that it is a settings problem. I even reset the camera to its defaults. When I talked to Canon, I tried their suggestions, which didn't solve the problem. This is a camera problem. I'm not the only one experiencing it. Several on Fred Miranda and Canon Rumors are also complaining about it.

If you have Long Exposure NR turned on, then that may not be a long enough interval. With a 5 second shutter speed, the NR would need another 5 seconds to do its' job. Is the shutter actually firing every 10 seconds?

Re: R5 interval timer does not work

jblazar — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 19:35:50 GMT

Long exposure noise reduction is off. The timer counts down the shots but doesn't actuate the shutter.

Re: R5 interval timer does not work

jimre — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 04:07:25 GMT

The problem is you likely have Back-Button Focus enabled. Seems to be a bug with the R5 intervalometer. Turn off Back-button Focus and it seems to work. Serious bug IMHO, since this works fine on all other Canon bodies.

See my other post https://community.usa.canon.com/t5/EOS/R5-Intervalometer-DOESN-T-TRIGGER-with-back-button-focus/m-p/316715#M46170

Re: R5 interval timer does not work

Waddizzle — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 04:56:53 GMT

@jimre wrote:
The problem is you likely have Back-Button Focus enabled. Seems to be a bug with the R5 intervalometer. Turn off Back-button Focus and it seems to work. Serious bug IMHO, since this works fine on all other Canon bodies.

See my other post https://community.usa.canon.com/t5/EOS/R5-Intervalometer-DOESN-T-TRIGGER-with-back-button-focus/m-p/316715#M46170

I do not consider that to be a bug. But, that is another discussion. For example, there is no BBF in Live View, only the shutter button, so the interval timer only presses a virtual shutter button. Any BBF setup is ignored That is off-topic, though.

In fact, BBF may not even be the problem. It is only a potential problem when you are in One Shot AF mode, and the lens is set to AF. Most people set their lenses to MF for astrophotography. The last thing you want is for the camera to try to refocus between shots.

Re: R5 interval timer does not work

jimre — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 05:25:23 GMT

No this issue has *nothing* to do with putting your lens in MF. It fails exactly the same way, whether your lens is in AF or MF mode.

As I said, the workaround is to disable back-button focus. Otherwise the intervalometer just does "Metering" every N seconds, it never triggers the shutter. Whether you think it's a bug or not is irrelevant. The behavior is DIFFERENT from every other Canon body, and is simply broken on the R5.

Re: R5 interval timer does not work

jblazar — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 18:56:17 GMT

Yes, enabling AF on the shutter button allows the interval timer to work now. But this needs to be fixed. The good thing is that it seems like an easy firmware fix. Obviously they know the code, since the 5D IV works fine.

Re: R5 interval timer does not work

aschlabach — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 20:09:21 GMT

Does anyone know if this has been fixed yet in a firmware update? I just got my R5 and discovered this issue -- super annoying. Thank you!

Re: R5 interval timer does not work

Waddizzle — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 20:15:05 GMT

@aschlabach wrote:
Does anyone know if this has been fixed yet in a firmware update? I just got my R5 and discovered this issue -- super annoying. Thank you!

Why would someone need BBF if they are using the interval timer?

Re: R5 interval timer does not work

aschlabach — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 20:18:23 GMT

@Waddizzle, you don't need it, but if that's what you have the camera set up as the rest of the time, it's a pain to change the settings to get the interval timer to function. You can use one of the custom setups for it which is what I just did as a workaround, but then it's using up one of those custom slots.

Re: R5 interval timer does not work

jimre — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 20:23:02 GMT

@Waddizzle wrote:

Why would someone need BBF if they are using the interval timer?

Oh, geez - not this guy again!

Look, I have BBF enabled 100% of the time, period. Just like every other serious photographer I know. It's a standard part of my camera setup. Always has been for every Canon body I've owned in the last 10 years.

BUT when it's enabled on the R5 - UNLIKE EVERY OTHER CANON BODY - the Intervalometer does not take pictures.

AND The intervalometer has ONE JOB: take a picture every XX seconds. When it doesn't take pictures, it's BROKEN, period.

Let me ask you a silly question in return - WHY would you EVER want the Intervalometer to run AND NOT TAKE ANY PICTURES?

Re: R5 interval timer does not work

jimre — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 20:29:16 GMT

Oh, and YES - it does appear to finally be fixed in Firmware ver 1.2.0, released on 11/19/2020.

I just installed it, and tried a quick test. IT WORKED. For the first time ever on the R5. I need to do some more testing to be certain in all cases, but it looks like they finally got around to fixing this bug.

Re: R5 interval timer does not work

aschlabach — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 20:34:25 GMT

Awesome thank you @jimre! Can you report back after using the camera for a bit? I saw somewhere that someone started having focusing issues after updating firmware, so I've been scared to do that because right now my focus is AMAZEBALLS.

Re: R5 interval timer does not work

jblazar — Sat, 12 Dec 2020 05:40:33 GMT

Yes, the 1.2.0 update fixed the interval timer problem, even though they said nothing about it in the description.

Re: R5 interval timer does not work

jimre — Sat, 12 Dec 2020 17:52:25 GMT

@aschlabach wrote:
Awesome thank you @jimre! Can you report back after using the camera for a bit? I saw somewhere that someone started having focusing issues after updating firmware, so I've been scared to do that because right now my focus is AMAZEBALLS.

Everything seems to work fine for me with 1.2.0. I can FINALLY use the built-in Intervalometer without having to re-configure my standard camera setup that I've used for 10+ years (which includes "back-button-only-focus").

I haven't noticed any change in focusing. Eye AF is still amazing as ever. I haven't seen any discussion of firmware-related focus issues - do you have a link?

Re: R5 interval timer does not work

aschlabach — Sun, 13 Dec 2020 17:37:59 GMT

@jimre Thanks so much! I think I saw it mentioned in passing on a Facebook thread... I don't have a link, sorry!