EOS R5 USB C / USB A connectivity problem

[davidfrc]

Hi,

I’m experiencing a strange USB connectivity issue with two Canon EOS R5 cameras.

What works:

• The camera is detected correctly when connected directly to a MAC using a USB-C cable that supports USB 3.0 / SuperSpeed.
• Data transfer and camera communication work normally in this configuration.

What does NOT work:

• The camera is not detected at all when using the original Canon IFC-400U cable (USB-C to USB-C, USB 2.0).
• The camera is not detected through an i-tec USB 3.0 hub (in USB C connector with 3.0 and also 2.0 USB cable).
• The camera is not detected when connected to USB-A 2.0 ports.
• The issue is identical on Windows, Linux, and embedded systems.

I communicated with Canon Support, but it was ended quite quickly becuase I was told that the EOS R5 requires a full USB 3.x / SuperSpeed connection and that older USB 2.0 ports may not provide sufficient power or the required communication protocol. But not sure, the battery was fully charged (or external power via DC cupler) and the USB should have a back compatibilty. 

Has anyone successfully connected an EOS R5 through:

• a USB-A 2.0 port,
• a USB 2.0 cable (such as the IFC-400U),
• or a USB hub?

I would appreciate hearing about your experience, especially if you have tested USB 2.0 connectivity with the EOS R5.

[Jkarl]

What are you connecting the camera directly to the computer for, file transfer or controlling the camera? If it is just for file transfer you are better off using a card reader. You can get a reader that will take the CF express B and SD card using the USB C interface for about $45.00.

Personal testing just to see what happens I have found that USB 2 will not work period. Hubs are not recommended and a high end USC c to c will work.

[SignifDigits]

I have never successfully connected my more recent Canon EOS cameras via anything that involves USB-A or even lower quality USB-C cables.  I have 13-port Lionwei triple monitor 100watt USB 3.x hub that connects to my Windows laptop via USB-C that I've used successfully for transfer and charging for about two years now.  It also support dual monitors successfully.  That said, I currently have no Mac and have never had an R5.  My experience with a current generation iPad was that it was more particular than Windows.  I didn't personally enjoy the limitations of the Apple ecosystem and exited, but I have no idea if your problems are Mac related or perhaps just related to your hub.   All that I can state equivocally is that my R6 Mark II and R50V communicate with my Windows laptop and charge from my hub.

I suppose that it is possible that a full 100w/10Gbps hub might possibly work for you on your Mac as it does for me on Windows.   Hopefully someone here has a hub working successfully for them on a Mac to answer more definitively.

[davidfrc]

Thank you Karl,

In our case, we are not using the camera for file transfer. We use USB communication to control and monitor the camera from an embedded system.

We have multiple EOS R5 cameras, and most of them work correctly even when connected through USB-A 2.0 ports. That’s why I was interested in hearing about other users’ experiences.

At the moment, we are testing two specific EOS R5 bodies that do not communicate over USB 2.0 at all. They are not detected through USB-A 2.0, USB-C 2.0 (Canon IFC-400U), or through a USB hub. In fact, they do not even appear on the USB bus (I see, that USB HUB is not supported).

For testing, we also connected them directly to a Mac using Canon EOS Utility. The result is the same: they are detected only when connected through a direct USB 3.x / SuperSpeed connection.

The interesting part is that the same cables, hosts, hubs, software, and test procedures work perfectly with our other EOS R5 cameras. 

Only these two bodies exhibit this behaviour. After reading the comments here, I’m starting to wonder whether we’ve simply been lucky that all of our other EOS R5 cameras have been working over USB 2.0 without any issues.

[Jkarl]

What is the firmware version on the cameras?

[davidfrc]

The cameras were running firmware 2.2.0. As part of troubleshooting, I updated one of the non-working bodies to the latest 2.2.1 firmware, but the behaviour remained exactly the same.

That makes me think it is less likely to be a firmware issue and perhaps more likely to be a hardware-related problem. On the other hand, the USB interface is not completely dead, since the camera still works when connected directly through a USB 3.x / SuperSpeed connection.

So at this point I’m not sure whether this could be a partial hardware failure of the USB subsystem, the USB-C interface, or something else entirely. Or perhaps, as you mentioned earlier, USB 2.0 is not working well and while it may work in some cases, it could be much more sensitive to signal integrity, or minor hardware variations than a direct USB C 3.x connection.

[johnrmoyer]

I use the cable that came with my EOS R5 and connect it to the fastest USB C port on my 2019 iMac.

I have a "Belkin 4-Port USB-C Hub" that works with high speed connections, but I do not remember trying it with the camera. I have used Apple ImageCapture app and Canon EOS utility. 

The cable that came with the camera seems to work well for me.

Apple computers seem to me to have a wide variety of USB port types.

[Waddizzle]

“ 

Personal testing just to see what happens I have found that USB 2 will not work period. Hubs are not recommended and a high end USC c to c will work.

[Waddizzle]

Personal testing just to see what happens I have found that USB 2 will not work period. Hubs are not recommended and a high end USC c to c will work.