Accidentally updated EOS R7 Firmware with Lens Attached

[vindegosh]

Hi! I just got a Canon R7 secondhand and I was trying to update the firmware using EOS Utility. The update seems to have completed successfully, but I forgot that they advise to remove all accessories, including lenses, before updating. Is this something I should be worried about?

[kvbarkley]

Not as long as it completed successfully. 

[SignifDigits]

I think not, as I have always updated my cameras with a lens attached.  I've never had an issue, despite Canon's instructions in the .pdf file of "Before the firmware update, please removed the lens, external Speedlite and all other accessories from the camera."  Thanks for pointing this out, and I will consider whether to actually follow the instructions or continue my rebellious and wild ways.  

[wq9nsc]

Like SignifDigits, I have been updating my Canon camera firmware for a couple of decades now (since I bought my first 1DM2 in 2005) and I have never removed lenses from the camera.

Canon is trying to reduce all risks of something unexpected happening that would "brick" the camera during an update but I have done this with all three generations of 1DX bodies and several 5DS and 5DS R bodies without an issue.

The biggest caution is to make sure you have a healthy and fully charged battery in place because a voltage sag during the update would not be good.  And like Microsoft updates, the progress bar/percentage complete bears no linear relationship to the amount of time left to complete the update so don't panic when it seems stuck for a few minutes at some point on the progress bar.  That behavior is also consistent in processing DPP RAW to JPG where the first 10 to 15 percent of a file seems slow and then it zips through the remainder.

Rodger

[ebiggs1]

"...I have been updating my Canon camera firmware for a couple of decades now (since I bought my first 1DM2 in 2005) and I have never removed lenses from the camera."

I never gave it a thought as I didn't know you were supposed to remove the lens. And I've never had one fail.  If it worked don't fret it. 

[FloridaDrafter]

I'll pile on as well!

I've never removed a lens to update, and I've been doing it for 20+ years. Like EB, I didn't know that it was recommended not to 😁

Newton

[JFG]

HI vindegosh,

Canon does not state anywhere in its official guidance that you must remove the lens before performing a camera firmware update, and nothing in the available documentation or community‑verified Canon guidance suggests that updating with a lens attached is unsafe.

The strongest evidence from Canon‑aligned sources shows:

• Firmware updates are designed to be installed by the user and the only critical requirement Canon emphasizes is having a fully charged battery or AC power during the update.

• Lens firmware updates are performed with the lens mounted, since the camera body is what programs the lens. This implies Canon expects the lens to be attached during lens‑specific updates.

• Canon community experts (Canon‑hosted forum) confirm that order doesn’t matter and do not warn against having a lens attached during a camera firmware update.

So what does Canon actually recommend?

Canon’s real recommendation is simply:

• Full battery or AC adapter

• Correct firmware file on the card

• Do not power off during the update

There is no Canon instruction telling users to remove the lens for camera firmware updates.

FYI, I update the firmware on my Canon cameras with or without the lens on.  It all depends, if the camera ha a lens on, I'll just upgrade the firmware and if the camera body does not have a lens attached, I'll update the firmware without a second thought.  The only exemption is when you need to update the firmware on a lens.  In this case, the specific lens that needs the firmware update has to be on the camera during the firmware update.

[SignifDigits]

@JFG.  You assertion is incorrect.  The snip below is from the R6 Mark II "update-procedure.pdf" file from their eosr62-v170-win firmware package "camera-firmwareupdate-en.pdf" that I downloaded, opened and read yesterday prior to responding to the OP, and which I quoted in my response.  This is clearly "official guidance" and "available documentation" .  That said, the Community consensus is that we have been ignoring Canon's official guidance with no ill effect.  I have not gone back to previous firmware packages to find out how far back this has been in the official Canon instructions, but it certainly is there now in the version copyrighted in 2025.

I endeavor to take the time to, when possible, to explore and refer Community questions to Canon's official documentation, and that is what I did in my response.  If we all choose to ignore guidance in that documentation and have no ill effects from doing so, then goodie for us, but however massive Community consensus is I am personally not comfortable passing along Community consensus to a poster as overruling official Canon guidance on a Canon-sponsored site.  I also would encourage all of us (and this applies most especially to myself as I do not have the long experience of many of my colleagues, as debatman316 correctly pointed out to me several times when I did not reference his excellent database of information) to take the time to download and check documentation  in their responses.  This would be especially true  for me before I would be correct colleagues rising stating erroneous information as facts.

[shadowsports]

Removing attached accessories before firmware update.

The reason why this is called out is to avoid failure.   Primarily due to power or voltage fluctuations that might interfere with the flashing process.  It seems this behavior can occur with both Canon brand and third-party accessories.  We've heard stories where having a Canon battery grip attached has caused a firmware update failure.  In addition, this has become more prevalent as more and more manufacturers are making products that may not be 100% compatible.  All Canon is trying to do is mitigate the possibility for failure.  I would typically recommend removing everything as standard protocol unless I'm upgrading the firmware on a lens specifically.  I admit however that I have had a Canon lens attached during a body firmware upgrade in the past.  Probably safest to have everything removed unless you're upgrading a lens or other supported accessory.  This has been my practice.  

[SignifDigits]

More and more devices are containing more and more sophisticated electronics - including lenses - so it makes sense to me for Canon to issue a caution to take it off during a camera firmware upgrade to reduce risk.  Upon reflection I will certainly heed that caution in the future, as I would gladly take that trivial step to even have the remotest possibility of reducing the risk of a firmware upgrade going bad.   

Many thanks to the OP for carefully reading the instructions and for bringing this up to the forum's attention.  They caused me to learn something new.