Trouble Connecting EOS R8 to EOS Utility on a Mac

[tjdowling]

I am having issues connecting my R8 to my Mac via the EOS Utility. I have the latest software and have gone through the user manual. The message I keep getting is:

"Communication with the camera via USB cannot be established.
Start EOS Utility after closing all the apps that communicate with the camera, and then turn on the camera again."

I am unaware of any apps that I have that would be trying to communicate with my camera in the background. Anyone know what's going on? Thanks in advance.

[cperugini]

Sounds like either Apple or Canon would need to provide the solution via an update of some kind and I'm not banking on the speed of Canon updates...

[sanachrisbumbi]

So why do i have to wait for apple to fix it instead of canon just updating their broken program? Don't understand that... yes, maybe it's apples fault, that it's no longer working but what stops canon from fixing it? 

[Anonymous]

I have often wondered why Apple keeps breaking other programs with every OS update? 

[tjdowling]

I'm running macOS 13.6 now. Everything is working just fine with EOS Utility.

[Anonymous]

Good to hear it works with macOS 13.6. Thanks for updating us on your results.

[jrhoffman75]

Unfortunately, still not working for me. Apple Image Capture sees the camera. EOSU3 still generates the can't connect error message.

[thomas83]

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@jrhoffman75 wrote:

Unfortunately, still not working for me. Apple Image Capture sees the camera. EOSU3 still generates the can't connect error message.

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Same for me... (running macOS 13.6)

[jrhoffman75]

Maybe we will get a fix today when Sonoma is released. 

[jamesu]

I had the same problem.

I upgraded to Mac OS 14.0 (Sonoma) which did not solve the problem.

I was able to solve the problem as follows:

1. Make sure that the Wifi connection is disabled on the camera.

2. Shut down all applications which communicate with the camera such as Digital Photo Professional 4 and EOS utility (original) so that only EOS utility 3 is running.

3. Turn off the Wifi on the Mac.

4. Plug in the camera, open EOS utility 3 then turn on the camera.

Hope that helps for everyone else.

The need to disable wifi is frustrating.

[husrona]

The solution is to go to Settings -> Privacy and Security -> Camera and then disable all the apps that are given access to camera.

After this EOS Utility will start without an issue.

Best,
Hus Rona

EOS 5D Mark III