Backing Up EOS Menu Settings

[SGFFX]

Does Canon offer the capability to download an EOS camera's functional settings? I have an EOS 6d and it has 15 menus with more than a few options per menu.  There are shooting menus, setup menus, playback menus, custom functions menus, etc. Other then writing down as I go my selections how can I save/backup these settings? It seems to me these cameras are as much (if not more) computers than imaging machines. Therefore, there should be a function to backup and restore the settings in a CSV file or XML file. Does such a capability exist? Where? 

To extend this more would be to have an editor app that runs on a tablet and a PC to view and change the settings. If this capability existed it would be possible to keep various combinations of settings. These could be loaded as needed. They could be loaded from a USB connection, wifi, and SD/CF card.

Does such a backup/editor exist?

Steve

[TCampbell]

That's a great question ... but unfortunately I've never heard of a utility to backup settings.  Perhaps something exists and I'm just not aware of it.

You can commit settings to the "Custom" settings modes on the dial.  The 6D has a "C1" and "C2".  This allows you to configure the camera to a way that you often use, and save those settings to a mode.  When you return to that mode (on the mode dial) the camera will instantly revert to all the settings you saved to it.

For example... if you were a sports photographer and while taking action photos you tended to use a high ISO, shutter speed priority, AI Servo AF mode, and continuous burst drive mode, etc. ... but when taking non-action shots you used a lower ISO speed, aperture priority, One Shot AF mode, and single-shot drive mode... then you could dial in all the settings for action and save them to C1 and all the settings for non-action and save them to C2 and just flip between them.

If someone fiddles with your camera and you are not sure what they did or how to clear it, there is a menu option to clear all settings and revert to factor defaults... but that's factory defaults and not the last-used setttings.

Many shooters find that there are certain settings they tend to change all the time.  To speed things along, the camera offers a "My Menu" option.  This is a custom menu that you get to build... you add to it all the things you tend to change frequently so that they're all in one place and you don't have to go through all the menu pages (there are a lot of menu pages) to find your most frequently adjusted choices.

[cicopo]

I think all of this is saved in the detailed EXIF but the 1 series bodies I own do allow you to not only save it to a memory card but to also transfer it to another one.

[hsbn]

1D series menu is complex and offers tons of features/options; however, the 6D custom option is really minimal. I don't think it has anything more than the Rebel line. Even if you want to, you cannot find a lot of options to mess around with.

[SGFFX]

Tim,

Thanks for the thoughtful response. I use the My Menu which is useful but is limitied in what can be set. I know of the C1 and C2 custom settings. My understanding is that will save the shooting settings. Do you know if it also saves the playback settings?

Yes, there are a few things I change frequently. Those are easy to remember. There are some settings that I have experimented with and found a setting I like and never change again. There are more of those than the frequently changed settings. This feature is more of a convenience and comforting request than a necessity. When I know that I have backed up everything then I don't need to spend the time to walk through the menus if disaster strikes and I have to go back to the factory settings.

The request came about because I have been thinking about the technology in these cameras. The technology has much in common with computing than to image capture. Many of the settings are related to post processing not to how the image is captured on the sensor. It just seemed like a possibly fruitful approach to grasping the technology in the machine. For example, GPS and wifi have nothing to do with image capture. This led to the thought that good computing practice is to backup the dynamic data.

I am always interested in the feedback I get on these forums. Some experts are clueless beyond some limited aperture of the topic. Others like yourself seem to be willing to dialog and explore.

Steve