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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• Subscribe to the Jeff Cable Photography Blog by clicking HERE!

• Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Costa Rica, Peru, Galapagos, Africa, Iceland and more.

• If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.

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My Photo Tour Presentation is now live on the B&H YouTube channel

If you want to know more about trips around the world which are geared towards photography, you can check out my presentation on Photo Tours which is now live on the B&H YouTube channel. You can see it by clicking on the image above or HERE.

I hope you enjoy this!

And if you want to see more about my photo tours all over the world, click HERE.

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• Subscribe to the Jeff Cable Photography Blog by clicking HERE!

• Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Costa Rica, Peru, Galapagos, Africa, Iceland and more.

• If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.
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Want to travel the world with me and learn photography (while having a blast)?

First of all, I would like to thank all of you for following along on my ninth Olympic journey. I have heard so many really nice things from you, from people who love photography, those who love sports, and others who just enjoy the stories.

Many of you have asked me if I lead photo tours and I absolutely do. I LOVE sharing the passion of photography with others, regardless of whether you are a beginner or an experienced professional. It does not matter what brand of camera you use, but if you live in the US and want to try almost any Canon gear for free, that can be arranged through my contacts at Canon. 

I have been leading photo tours all over the world for more than 10 years now, and have hand-picked some of my favorite locations for 2026 and 2027.

Many of the tours are sold out, but not all of them. I thought I would let you know which trips have open spots as of today.

In May, I will be traveling to Minnesota to lead a photo tour with the bears. I only have ONE spot left for this trip, so if you are interested, let me know ASAP.

I have led almost 20 photo tours to the rain forest of Costa Rica, and it remains a favorite of mine. I have 3 trips to this amazing location this year. Two of them are already sold out, but I have 2 spots open for the trip at the end of June. I also have new trips recently added for 2027.

I love teaching photography in my hometown of San Francisco. This year will be the third time I have done this. It is my most affordable trip, and I have 5 openings for this October.

Have you ever seen the Northern Lights or been in an ice cave? At the end of this year, I will be leading a photo tour to Iceland, so that we can all capture this majestic place. I have 5 spots open for this trip as well.

In 2027, I will be returning to Peru to lead another photo tour in this land of colorful people and breathtaking views. I have room for 4 more people on this trip, and I promise you will love the food, the sites and the photo opportunities in this epic land.

Right after the Peru trip, I will be staying down in South America to lead yet another trip to the Galapagos Islands. This trip is full with the exception of one spot (for a male), as we share rooms on the live-aboard boat. 

You can see the prices and exact dates on the photo tour webpage.

I would love to meet you in person and share the passion of photography with you. Come join along!

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• Subscribe to the Jeff Cable Photography Blog by clicking HERE!

• Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Costa Rica, Peru, Galapagos, Africa, Iceland and more.

• If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.
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Galapagos - The final days of this photo tour

Our last couple of days in the Galapagos Islands were just as exciting as our first days there. We had endless subjects to photograph, and just like all the previous days, the landscape and animals were very different as we visited new locations. One other thing...the newer technology in our mirrorless cameras helped us capture something really hard to photograph in the past. Heck, let's start with that.

In the last blog post, I mentioned that we were able to watch the Water iguanas as they fed underwater. On this morning, we were able to walk around and watch the iguanas licking the salt off the rocks. 

They were not bothered by us at all, so we could get down low and pretty close to capture images like this.

There were endless iguana in sight, so it was not hard to find one to photograph. As we were watching these iguana sunning themselves, our guide pointed out that they would periodically "sneeze" out the excess salt from their noses. Everyone then tried to get a photo of that, but it was very hard to predict. One guy walked by us and said "I have been trying to get that shot for 8 years and still don't have one." It was at that point that I remembered that we had Canon's Pre-continuous shooting ability in our cameras, and we could go back half a second.

I showed everyone how to set this up in their cameras, and then we could wait for the iguana to expel the salt and hit the shutter button. And voila, it worked like a champ. You can see the middle iguana "sneezing" in this photo. 

I then captured this sequence of another iguana. I was using the Canon RF 100-500mm lens at 350mm and had my Canon R5 Mark II camera set to ISO 640, f/7.1, 1/400th sec. This shutter speed freezes the action just enough but also shows the motion of the spray.

We all had a great time using the pre-capture feature of the cameras.

What would have been SO difficult in the past, was easily repeatable with the new cameras. 

While walking around, we came across these two adorable baby Sea lions

Mom was nearby and yawning in the evening light.

I was sitting down and relaxing (just taking it all in) when I looked next to me and saw this Lava lizard hanging out right next to me. I loved the orange color along it's neck and had to get a shot of that.

The next day we were cruising along the coastline of Santiago Island when we came across this rock formation. They call this the Praying Monk and we could definitely see why they call it that.

We saw an abundance of birds on the last couple of days, including these Galapagos Brown Pelicans

This beautiful Tern was flying right towards us.

It was really fun to capture images of the Red-billed tropicbird as they flew by us, with their long flowing tails.

This was the first time that we were able to see the Red-footed booby. Just like most of the other birds in Galapagos, we could get very close to them for photos without them being bothered. This allowed me to get this tight shot (using the Canon RF 100-500mm lens at 500mm) showing the colors in the face of the bird. 

The baby Red-footed boobies were so darned cute. Little fluff-balls of white.

This is a tight shot of a Frigate bird. I really liked this frame, showing the face of the bird off-center, with the curve of the beak leading off to the left.

We watched them as they guarded their nests...

...and watched over the young birds.

This little Frigate bird had walked away from the nest and was in danger. Our guide gently picked it up and moved it back to it's mother.

Then it was feeding time. We all got down low to get photos of this little one being fed. This baby went all the way into the adult's mouth to get food.

I saw this one Red-footed booby hanging out in a tree and I loved the way that it was perfectly framed by the dark green leaves. I encouraged all my guests to get a shot of this. I also love the expression on the face of this bird.

We even had some appearances by the Blue-footed boobies on this island.

Our big finale for the trip was the chance to photograph the male Frigate birds with their large inflatable red throats. They do this the attract the females. This was our first sighting (and my safety shot in case we did not see any more). 

We ended up seeing plenty more of these amazing birds on our walk. We had an abundance of photos of the birds on the nests or in the tress, and I challenged everyone to try and get a shot of these birds in the air.

This was my first aerial photo, and what I thought would be my only one.

Right as we were about to get into our Zodiac to head back to our boat, I saw this Frigate bird flying past us. I quickly raised the Canon R5 Mark II and fired off a bunch of frames. It was the perfect ending to a magical week in the Galapagos.

For those who want to join me in the Galapagos, I have added a 2027 trip on my website and have 6 spots available. Feel free to reach out so I can hold a spot for you! And remember, you can borrow almost any Canon camera or lens you want at no charge for the trip. Not that you have to be a Canon user to join my trips, but...

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• Subscribe to the Jeff Cable Photography Blog by clicking HERE!

• Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Costa Rica, Peru, Galapagos, Alaska and more.

• You can purchase Jeff Cable Photography images from my new fine art site at: https://fineart.jeffcable.com/

• If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.
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Galapagos Photo Tour - Underwater photos and video!

I want to start this blog post by saying that I am no expert underwater photographer and have only taken photos under water a couple of times, but the following images also go to show that with decent photo knowledge and a small point and shoot camera, fun photos can be captured.

At first, I did not plan on bringing an underwater camera with me to Galapagos, but after talking to my contacts there, and seeing all the amazing sea life online, I thought that it would be a good decision. Canon no longer makes an underwater camera so I reached out to my friends at B&H photo who were nice enough to loan me a couple of the OM TG-7 point and shoot cameras to play with. I brought one for me to use and another to loan to my guests.

From the moment we jumped into the water with our snorkel gear, I was glad to have a camera in my hand. We saw a whole bunch of sea turtles and were able to swim with them for long periods of time. Knowing that the best photos would be captured close to the surface (where there was more light), I would typically wait until the turtles were closer to the surface before hitting the shutter button.

There were other times when I would dive down and capture photos a little deeper.

We could get within inches of these turtles. For this shot, I swam ahead of this turtle and let it come towards me.

We saw lots of different fish, and our guide (who was snorkeling with us) would help identify all of them.

We also saw some really beautiful starfish.

At one point, I swam up close to these rocks and saw some Blue-footed boobies that were hanging out. I raised the camera so that half of the lens was underwater and half was above the water line, to get this shot. I had to take at least ten photos to get the right amount of water and rocks in the shot. This one is one of my favorites from the trip.

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, we spent a lot of time with the Water iguanas. Most of that time was spent above water, but it was really cool to be under the water's surface and see them swimming around. 

They moved around really gracefully through the water.

I have snorkeled many times before (mostly in Hawaii) and have seen beautiful fish and sea turtles numerous times, but I have never been fortunate enough to swim with Sea lions. 

The Sea lions in Galapagos are really used to seeing people, so they will come right up to us and play, both with us and with each other.  That was really fun!

On our third time in the water, we came across a massive school of Surgeon fish. I dove down to get close enough to fill the frame with all of these beautiful fish.

Not long after capturing the image of the Surgeon fish, our guide pointed down and showed us four White tip sharks.

I followed this one around for a while capturing photos and video.

I was really enamored with the colors of the Parrotfish, and tried as best as I could to get a decent shot of one.

I had a great time capturing these images underwater, but had even more fun capturing video. Once again, I am no videographer or expert video editor, but I am still excited to share this fun video with you all. The video starts with underwater subjects, continues with some video on the islands, and then ends with some of my favorite still images captured on the trip. 

I captured all the underwater video with the OM TG-7 point and shoot camera, images and video on land with the Canon R5 Mark II, and edited the video using Apple's iMovie software. My good friend, Alan Waltz, saw the video and offered to score some music for it. You can check out that video HERE or by clicking on the image below.

I hope you enjoyed viewing all these photos and video from Galapagos as much as I did capturing it all.

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• Subscribe to the Jeff Cable Photography Blog by clicking HERE!

• Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Costa Rica, Peru, Galapagos, Alaska and more.

• You can purchase Jeff Cable Photography images from my new fine art site at: https://fineart.jeffcable.com/

• If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.
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