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.

[rohit_]

EOS Utility is an essential part of my tethering process along with LR 😞

I can control all the settings and seamlessly capture shots for stacking images by changing focus points right from the iMac. I really hope this issue gets resolved soon.

[petero]

It has (sadly) been an issue on and off for the last year plus. I have accepted defeat and recognised I can't run anything remotely and can't download except via card reader or other third party method. I would not be expecting a. resolution of this any time in the near (or far) future, as it seems the complexities of Apple and Canon talking to each other are too big...

[LeelaStreams]

I think I figured out the problem with my MacPro.
Want to share as I've spent a good amount of time looking up solutions and found nothing and just got it to work. 
Now, this might be different for others as Canon apps act very mysteriously on Mac OS and you need different Canon apps for what you want to do. Can also depend on the camera and your Mac.

I use Canon 6D Mark II and MacPro i5.  

I need my Canon to act as a webcam on my Mac. For that, on my Windows 11 I have Eos Utility + Eos Webcam Utility and it works only together not without Eos Utility on. BUT you have to have EOS Utility running and EOS Utility 3 CLOSED for Webcam Utility to access the camera live view (on windows!). 

On my Mac i have - Sonoma (14.3.1)
Naturally installed both apps I know to my mac:
1. EOSUtility-MAC1.3.16 - that will install multiple apps.
The main ones are EOS Utility and EOS Utility 3. The first one opens in the background and will run the second one when the camera is connected.
2. Eos Webcam Utility (M3.17.2) 
After connecting the camera, I got the error message: "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."
Have tried everything....disconnecting all other devices, turning off wifi, shutting down all apps I could find...and nothing. My cable is fine, have camera in video mode, Usb drivers good. Did the terminal legacy web camera terminal code for sonoma as it blocks some webcams (when you go to camera permissions in settings it will have the message "When using your camera with an unsupported plugin, the camera privacy indicator will not be displayed in the menu bar" if you DONT have that on Sonoma it could be your issue. 

Then... I have been looking at Activity Monitor (a standard app on Mac OS) to see what apps could be using it and i saw that EOSWebcamService was running. I force quit it but once i reconnected the camera it was back on and i got the same error from the utility. The obs sees the Webcam Utility but there is also no signal just the Webcam Utility Logo as a source. Not one or the other works...

So I realized... they conflict. The Canon apps don't let each other access the camera on Mac OS Sonoma at least...I uninstalled EOSWebcamUtility, restarted, reconnected and WOALA EOSUtility and EOSUtility 3 saw my camera. Can transfer images, live view, etc works. Wifi on and a bunch of apps using the camera are on all my other USB devices reconnected - still works.  

But my problem is that I need the Webcam Utility XD. SO I uninstalled EOSUtilities (all of them) and installed ONLY EOSWebcam Utility (M3.17.2). Restarted and VOALA my obs EOSWebcam WORKS! FaceTime, Skype - all works.
Conclusion: Try installing only EOSUtility or any other Canon app you need at once. Make sure you don't have any other Canon apps installed and see if it works. Always restart after installation and uninstallation. Open Activity Monitor, connect the camera, and look for anything EOS or canon related that is not the app you want and kill it or uninstall it. Hope it helps someone. If I had seen this it would have saved me 2 days of headache. 

Canon, please add more apps for Mac that are compatible with each other into one package installation....like ugh. seriously? I've seen people having trouble running Webcam Utility Pro on Mac ( the paid US-only version, which is annoying as I can't pay for it even if I wanted to from where I am). so if you have trouble with it I'm pretty sure you are also trying to run it with EOSUtility installed. Once again try only ONE Canon app installed at a time unless it came as one installation package. 

[drjo]

I had the same issue. The error appears to have been caused by having TWO EOS Utility apps (EOS Utility & EOS Utility 3) on my mac. I deleted them both and reinstalled a newest version. Now works well! 

[petero]

FINALLY Fixed

There is a new version of the EOS Utility (an update). Download and instal it and everything works as it did a year ago!

Yay Canon (finally) and thank you....

[hnc]

I have experienced this problem and have found a solution that works for me. I am running MacOs Sonoma on a MacBook Pro M3 Max. After much trial and error, encountering only sporadic success with connecting my EOS 80D to my MacBook using a USB cable, I found information in the Canon consumer knowledge base that was key in solving the problem. The specific instruction was that the camera must be connected directly to a port on the MacBook rather than be connected through a hub. It is also necessary to close all applications that can communicate with the camera including DPP4, PhotoShop, Preview, etc. Once this is done, EOS Utility Ver. 3.x appears to work reliably and allows me to use the tethering features. After the initial connection between the camera and MacBook is established, it’s fine to reopen and use the other apps. 

[divella]

The only thing that works for me running Mac OS 14.4.1 and M1 chip is the start it in safe mode after disabling the image capture.

[chuchoserrano]

I found my solution 😄 after SEVERAL attempts.

Step 1: Turn off your computer and connect the camera via USB.

Step 2: Turn on the camera. 

Step 3: Turn on the computer.

Step 4: Open EOS Utility. You should be able to see the remote shooting panel 🙂

CONSIDERATIONS: The camera makes a subtle click noise when connects successfully with the software, it will make another click when disconnecting. DO NOT DISCONNECT/CONNECT THE CABLE WHILE THE COMPUTER OR THE EOS UTILITY IS ON, otherwise it stops working no matter what.

This worked for me perfectly from now on. Best of luck! 😉

[miric]

I've just downloaded Canon EOS Utility 3.18. Canon EOS R6 Mark II, Mac mini M1, Sonoma 14.4.1. Nothing worked. I got the error message "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." That crappy macOS' daemon "ptpcamerad" prevents communication of EOS Utility with my camera. The only hack that still works for me is that terminal command:

while; do; kill -9 $(ps aux | grep "[p]tpcamera" | awk '{print $2}'); done

I really hoped that Canon and Apple would finally reach an agreement and resolve that issue.

[chuchoserrano]

I was able to manage the remote shooting only with EOS Utility Version EU Installset M3.17.2.1 The newer update3.18 never worked in my case, so I re installed the 3.17 version. It still available in the Canon Website in the Netherlands.  I always restarted the computer and followed the 4 steps. It only works after installing and restarting the computer :S Give it a try, hope this helps. Warm regards.

Step 1: After installing. Turn off your computer and connect the camera via USB.

Step 2: Turn on the camera. 

Step 3: Turn on the computer.

Step 4: Open EOS Utility. You should be able to see the remote shooting panel 🙂