Fix for each camera requiring different EOS Utility version?

[Beebs]

Hi, this may be a really dumb question - and if so I apologise in advance.  I have a few Canon cameras - EOS60D, 90D and an R7, that I want to control with the EOS Utility software.  Each camera seems to need its own version of the EOS Utility software to run - and is not recognised by the other versions - for example the 60D needs EOS Utility 2 (2.14.31)  and the 90D & R7 EOS Utility3 (3.17.2) on the Mac.  I know the cameras all have different functionalities, but it is a bit frustrating not being able to swap cameras without re-loading software and having slightly different interfaces for them.

Does anyone know if there is a fix for this - am i missing something really basic or have Canon really made their software incompatible with legacy gear?  Similarly, for some of my work I use an old laptop for image acquisition - the EOS Utility for the R7 is not available for Window 7 - new camera = new PC?

[normadel]

To answer your last question first......The world has moved past further development of software for Windows 7. Support for Windows 7 is of little-to-no concern anymore.  Canon is just one of many who have done this. 

AS to your first question.....Hardware makers.....computers, cameras, video games, etc........do have to move on as technology changes. Old hardware gets left in the dust eventually. Is Canon any worse than anyone else? I don't know. but that's the way things are nowadays.

[Beebs]

Ironically one of the reasons I had moved back to use the Win 7 PC was that there is no software for the R7 compatible with the latest (6 month old) macOS Sonoma (14.3.1).  After some playing about I found that the Ventura version still works on Somoma, so I can go back to my Mac again. 

Moving forwards it may be that we just use the SDK to write an image acquisition package on a stable Unix platform.

[normadel]

I have a couple of old programs from the Windows XP days that I don't want to lose the ability to use. Don't work on any newer Windows. I have some "obsolete" laptops and put XP on one just in case . There's no need for any security concern because this computer doesn't need to be Internet-connected.

Perhaps you can do the same. Used Macs that can't run the newest OS Xes have to be available.

[johnrmoyer]

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@Beebs wrote:

Ironically one of the reasons I had moved back to use the Win 7 PC was that there is no software for the R7 compatible with the latest (6 month old) macOS Sonoma (14.3.1).  After some playing about I found that the Ventura version still works on Somoma, so I can go back to my Mac again. 

Moving forwards it may be that we just use the SDK to write an image acquisition package on a stable Unix platform.

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It appears to me that gphoto2 works with my Canon cameras on Debian Linux.

https://packages.debian.org/bookworm/gphoto2

https://github.com/gphoto/gphoto2?tab=readme-ov-file

I have not tried it on macOS, but it seems to be available with both macPorts and homebrew

https://ports.macports.org/port/gphoto2/

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

Since EOS Utility2 is no longer being developed, its possible it will eventually cease to work with newer versions of MAC and Windows OS.  While 2 versions of the EOS Utility can co-exist on a machine, an easier option might be a card reader, eliminating the need for 2 different software versions.   

[Beebs]

Hmmm - the reason to use the EOS utility software is that it allows the files to be named sensibly, rather than IMG_0xyz.  A card reader is a pretty poor way of acquiring the data, for example, it doesn't allow preview, focus etc.  What I seem to be picking up here is that my 'old' EOS-60, which is modified and characterized for forensic-type work will be considered obsolete because of the continual 'improvements' to the operating systems. And my new R7 won't connect to the current OS Sonoma as there is not a version of EOS Utility for that - yet.... Perhaps its time to diversify my camera stock and look elsewhere.

[jrhoffman75]

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@Beebs wrote:

Hmmm - the reason to use the EOS utility software is that it allows the files to be named sensibly, rather than IMG_0xyz.  A card reader is a pretty poor way of acquiring the data, for example, it doesn't allow preview, focus etc.  What I seem to be picking up here is that my 'old' EOS-60, which is modified and characterized for forensic-type work will be considered obsolete because of the continual 'improvements' to the operating systems. And my new R7 won't connect to the current OS Sonoma as there is not a version of EOS Utility for that - yet.... Perhaps its time to diversify my camera stock and look elsewhere.

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1. It is incumbent on the end user to evaluate the potential impact of upgrading a computer operating system relative to the peripherals and software that is currently being used. 

2. The current version of EOSU3 works with macOS 14.4. It just doesn't show up yet on the Canon download page for that OS.