Canon's firmware update (1.3) adds a BIG NEW addition to the R1 and R5 Mark II cameras!

Before the Summer Olympics in Paris, when Canon first let me play with the pre-production R1 and R5 Mark II, I was fascinated by certain features. The one that interested me the most was the "Pre-continuous shooting" where the camera could go back half a second and capture images even if I was late hitting the shutter button. I really felt that this was a game changing feature for sports and wildlife photography. BUT as cool as this feature was, there was one thing definitely missing!

I sat through an instruction class on the new cameras and they explained how to use the new features. I took the cameras out for a spin and even captured a lightning strike with the Pre-continuos shooting turned on. I loved it! I also knew that I would not want to shoot with Pre-continuos turned on all the time since it added A LOT more photos onto the memory card. The first thing I wanted to do was to define one of the buttons on the camera to toggle this feature on and off. I was shocked that it could not be done. 

Myself and a couple of the other sports photographers who were at the pre-production training all asked for this ability. Without this, we would have to go into the menus of the camera and toggle the feature on and off. In many situations, this meant that we would likely miss the key shot while we were fiddling with the menus. We figured that it would be a simple firmware update to add this. But more than a year had passed and nothing, UNTIL the latest firmware release.

About a month ago, Canon announced firmware version 1.3.1 for the R5 Mark II and 1.3.0 for the Canon R1. The release notes look like this (for the R5 MKII):

1. Adds [American Football] in [Action Priority] to optimize human subject detection for individuals wearing helmets and shoulder pads.
   *For an overview and instructions on using [Action Priority], please refer to the Instruction Manual or the AF Settings Guide.
2. Improves tracking and detection performance for [Register people priority] in challenging conditions—including profile views, blurred or partially obscured faces, small subjects in the frame, and children—even when the feature is set to [Off].
   *Performing a firmware update will delete registered data stored in the camera. If necessary, save the data in advance using [Save/load registered data on card], and reload it after the firmware update. For details, please refer to the Instruction Manual.
3. Adds the ability to set [AF for close-up demos] during movie recording in [Movie manual exp.], [Movie auto exposure], and other Creative Zone modes to allow for its use in combination with exposure and AF area settings.
4. Adds [Wi‑Fi freq. band] to [Communication Settings], allowing the user to select the 5 GHz or 2.4 G Hz band when transferring from Bluetooth to Wi-Fi.
5. Adds [No. of connections] to [FTP transfer settings], allowing the user to select the number of transfer threads for [FTP transfer].
6. Adds the ability to store up to four [Color temp] values in [White balance setting] and to assign [Switch color temperature] to [Customize buttons for shooting].
7. Adds the ability to set [False Color Settings] to [On] when [HDR/C.Log View Assist] is selected.
8. Adds the ability to assign [Pre‑continuous Shooting] to [Customize buttons for shooting].
9. Adds the ability to transfer AF-related settings between cameras of the same model by adding [Save to card] and [Load from card] to [Register/recall AF‑related settings].
10. Adds the ability to display the electronic level during movie recording.
11. Adds the option for grid display during movie recording.
12. Adds the ability to display playback screens and menu screens when outputting to two screens via [HDMI Display During Connection].
13. Adds the ability to switch the group settings of a receiver camera from the sender camera when using the EOS Multi-Remote app.
14. Adds support for DPRAW shooting.
15. Adds support for the Software Development Assistance Kit (EDSDK/CCAPI).
16. Fixes an issue that may cause Err49 to be displayed repeatedly during communication with an SFTP server.
17. Fixes an issue that may impact the camera's shooting ability if the auto power- off function is activated during interval timer shooting.
18. Fixes an issue that may cause the camera to restart when the shutter button is pressed while deleting images.
19. Fixes an issue that may cause the camera to not be recognized when connected to a smartphone via USB.
20. Improves other system stability.

I read the first part of the list, and was excited to see that they added American Football to the subject detection, and improved the focus tracking. As I read further down the list, I started seeing things that were less exciting to me UNTIL I saw #8. They finally added the ability to assign Pre-continuous shooting to a button. I could not wait to try this out!

While leading two photo tours to the rain forest of Costa Rica last month, I had a chance to put this new firmware to the test, mainly playing with feature #8 (on this list).

After some trial and error I decided to put the Pre-continuos shooting on the light button at the top of each camera. I chose that button for 3 reasons:

1. I rarely ever use the button.

2. It is conveniently located near my index finger for quickly toggling the feature on and off. 

3. Both the Canon R5 Mark II and Canon R1 have that button in the same spot. This helps for muscle memory, being able to toggle the feature on and off from the same location of both cameras.

After updating your camera to the latest firmware, you can go to the "customize buttons for shooting" menu and you will see "Pre-cont. shooting" as an option.

As I mentioned, I chose to set mine to the light button since I rarely ever use it.

This worked so well in Costa Rica that I started changing other people's cameras to this same setup.

Here are some examples of where I used Pre-continuous shooting to get photos I would normally not have been able to capture.

While on our dolphin tour in Costa Rica, I used Pre-continuous shooting to get the dolphins jumping out of the water. I would hold my shutter button halfway down and wait to see if the dolphins would jump clear of the water and then shoot if I saw a great moment. 

Also in Costa Rica, last year I used the Pre-continuous shooting on this Fiery-billed aracari. We saw this bird sitting in a tree, and waited for it to fly. As soon as I saw it take off, I pressed the shutter button to capture every frame I could get of this bird in flight.

In Alaska, we were watching this juvenile Bald eagle that was sitting on a rock. Myself and another photo tour guest switched into Pre-continuous shooting mode and waited for the take off. Without that feature, I would have likely missed this image. 

This is probably the best example of Pre-continuous shooting. On my last trip to the Galapagos, myself and my guests were photographing the Water iguanas. They periodically "sneeze" out the salt that they have licked from the nearby rocks. Trying to capture this would be darn near impossible without Pre-continuous shooting. But with the feature turned on, we could wait for the "sneeze" and then hit the shutter button, capturing this rarely seen event over and over!

The feature is incredibly powerful and now more accessible then ever. Thank you Canon -  a little late, but I am thankful you made the update!

Updating your camera is a very easy thing to do, and totally worth it, for this one feature alone!

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