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.

[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. 

[petero]

sadly it hasn't. I just installed Sonoma, still gives the same error message. I have tried everything. Disabling wifi and bluetooth, you name it!

[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.

[petero]

Didn't work for me. I followed your steps but it still doesn't work.

[mattyj2001]

I just upgraded to MacOS Sonoma on an M1 MacBook Pro. It broke EOS Utility severely. The camera connects to my network but the utility never connects to download photos.

I ended up buying a little app called Cascable Transfer from the App Store. It's been two years since it's last been updated but it somehow works when Canon's own software breaks constantly. It has a free trial so you can test it out. It has one job (like EOS Utility) except that it works.

Be sure you have killed all instances of EOS Utility before you run it, especially the little icon/menu up near the date on the right side of the menu bar. Even though EOS Utility is not working, it seems to block other attempts to connect to the camera.

[jrhoffman75]

I haven’t tried using Wi-Fi, but EOSU 13.6.1 works fine with Sonoma via cable. 

[petero]

t\The problem appears to be that it doesn't work for some people but not others, and nobody has figured out the common link between those where it doesn't work! Not sure if there is a software conflict, or a particular model Mac (mine is 27 inch 2020 8-Core Intel Core i7 AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT 8 GB running Sonoma). So EOSU 13.6.1 with Sonoma doesn't work for me via cable, whatever I do. It did, literally the first time I reinstalled it after putting Sonoma on my mac and the second time I turned it on... no. Wireless works fine but that's so slow. I have resorted to using a memory card reader but the seems so wrong. This is a top end Canon camera!