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

Emily Patterson · October 6, 2026

> How It Works Firmware is the software already running inside the camera body — it governs autofocus behavior, metering, menu logic, card handling, and the image

## How It Works

Firmware is the software already running inside the camera body — it governs autofocus behavior, metering, menu logic, card handling, and the image pipeline. A firmware update does not install a separate app alongside it; it replaces the stored build with a new one. Canon has announced firmware updates for its high-end EOS R1 and EOS R5 Mark II mirrorless cameras, with the additions aimed at sports photographers, according to amateurphotographer.com. Version 1.3 is the build that carries that work, so what you are evaluating is a swap of the code the camera boots from, not a feature layered on top of it.

The delivery path is a closed loop. The maker publishes a firmware file plus a release note; you place that file on a memory card the camera itself formatted, so the directory structure is what the body expects; you open the setup menu, select the firmware item, and confirm; the body writes the new build, restarts, and begins running it. Until that restart completes, the old firmware is still what executes.

The wording on the download page tells you what kind of change you are getting. PentaxForums describes version 1.40 of the Pentax K-1, launched November 16, 2016, as a feature-enhancing update for a professional-series body. Ricoh called its GR Digital III Release 5 "function-enhancing," and it added contrast bracketing, which records three images at different contrast settings, per DPReview. Other updates are maintenance releases that correct behavior without adding capability. Same word — "firmware" — two different payloads.

Two more terms decide how you read a version. The version string is the identifier the camera displays for the build it is currently running; treat it as a label rather than a decimal, so you compare whole strings instead of assuming a larger number absorbs every earlier change. The release note, or changelog, is the maker's own list of what changed — the only place the added capability is described in the manufacturer's words. Compatibility covers everything that touches that build: cards, lenses, flashes, and the companion apps you pair with the body.

Verification is mechanical. Read the version string already installed, read the release note for what 1.3 changes, then read the version string again after the restart. If it matches the file you downloaded, the swap went through; if it does not, the camera is still running the previous build.

| Term | What it refers to | How you verify it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Firmware version string | The identifier of the build the body is running | Read it in the firmware menu before and after |
| Release note / changelog | The maker's description of what changed | Read it on the page you download from |
| Feature-enhancing vs. maintenance | New capability added, or existing behavior corrected | Judge from the wording of the release note |
| Compatibility | Cards, lenses, flashes, and apps that interact with the build | Test each after the restart |

![How It Works — Canon's firmware update (1.3) adds a](https://static.mm-ais.com/article-images-pixabay/canon-s-firmware-update-1-3-adds-a-big-n-a1c51100.jpg)

## Key Factors to Consider

Three criteria decide almost every firmware question, and all three can be verified before you touch a card. First, identity: does the file match your exact body and the version already installed in it? Second, coverage: does the published change list touch work you actually do? Third, terms: what does the update alter about your saved setup, and what would it take to restore it? Answer those three in writing, and the commit becomes mechanical instead of hopeful.

Identity comes first because the stakes are asymmetric. Canon announced firmware updates for its high-end EOS R1 and EOS R5 Mark II mirrorless cameras, with additions aimed at sports photographers (amateurphotographer.com) — two separate bodies, two separate downloads. Open the firmware menu on the camera, transcribe the version string exactly as displayed, then open Canon's own support page for that model and match it digit for digit. A summary article, a forum thread, or a video thumbnail is a pointer to the source, never a substitute for it. If the digits differ, stop there.

Coverage is a counting exercise, not a feeling. Read the change list for the 1.3 release line by line and tally how many entries describe something that appeared in your last month of shooting. Then apply one rule: if you cannot name the feature you gain and the specific situation where it would have changed your result, the update is a bookmark, not a decision. Canon's framing of these additions around sports work is a useful filter for action and wildlife shooters and a neutral one for everyone else.

Terms are the part most readers skip. Before committing, export or photograph your current custom settings so you hold a before-and-after record, and confirm whether any paired accessories or shooting modes are implicated. Compare like-for-like: your camera before, your camera after, same scene, same settings. Comparing your post-update body against someone else's pre-update body tells you little about your own result.

| Record this | Why it decides the question |
| --- | --- |
| Exact body model (R1 or R5 Mark II) | Downloads are model-specific; a mismatch is a hard stop |
| Version string currently shown in the camera | Establishes your starting point for a like-for-like comparison |
| Version published on Canon's support page | Confirms the live, complete option rather than a cached summary |
| Count of change-list items you would actually use | Turns coverage into a figure you can act on |
| Your saved settings, exported | Supplies a restore point and a terms check |

Those are the only figures that matter at this stage: the version digits, the count of relevant change-list entries, and the count of settings you re-verify afterward. Everything else — marketing language, how large the update sounds, how many people posted about it — belongs to someone else's decision.

![Key Factors to Consider — Canon's firmware update (1.3) adds a](https://static.mm-ais.com/article-images-pixabay/canon-s-firmware-update-1-3-adds-a-big-n-bd6e6e43.jpg)

## Common Mistakes

The two mistakes that actually cost shooters are reading mistakes, not technical ones. One is trusting a secondhand summary of what a release changes. The other is tallying features that were never comparable. Both are preventable before you commit, and both bite harder on a release that carries a genuinely large addition, because a bigger headline usually means more body-specific detail underneath it.

Consider a working sports shooter who sees Canon Rumors' headline that Canon fixed the EOS R6 V's biggest missing feature. He owns an R1, assumes the same change rode along in firmware 1.3, installs without opening Canon's own notice, and shoots a night game expecting behavior that never arrives. The fix is real; it just belongs to a different camera. The concrete check: pull up the notice for your exact model, read the changed-item list entry by entry, and confirm which entries name your body — a summary written about one camera is not a claim about another.

The second pitfall is the false total. CineD's summary of Sony's BURANO V3.00 update bundles new recording modes — 5.8K 6:5 anamorphic and Super 35 3.8K at 120 fps — together with new peaking tools. That is two categories of change, not four comparable wins. Imaging Resource describes Panasonic's Lumix S9 update as adding more MP4 Lite recording options, which is an expansion of a mode that already existed rather than a new format. Stack those bullets against another brand's list and you are comparing unlike things. Rule: count same-type items only — new mode against new mode, extended option against extended option.

| What you see | Why it misleads | The check |
| --- | --- | --- |
| "Canon fixed the R6 V's missing feature" | The fix is body-specific | Open the notice for your model; confirm the bullet names it |
| "Adds more recording options" | Expansion, not a new format | Compare the bullet with that mode's prior state |
| A bullet count next to a rival's | Categories differ | Tally same-type items only |

Treat headline adjectives as unverified until the primary notice confirms them. Amateur Photographer describes Canon's R1 and R5 Mark II update as aimed at sports photographers — that states intent and audience, not which menu item changes on your body. Likewise, weigh what each bullet alters in practice: contrast bracketing on Ricoh's GR Digital III, for instance, was a discrete, named addition a user could point to, which is exactly the standard a vague "improved performance" line does not meet.

So run both checks at the moment of download, not after: identify which bullets apply to your model by name, then compare only same-category items against what you have now. If a claim survives both passes, commit with confidence; if it does not, you have saved yourself a shoot spent waiting for a change that was never in your file.

![Common Mistakes — Canon's firmware update (1.3) adds a](https://static.mm-ais.com/article-images-pixabay/canon-s-firmware-update-1-3-adds-a-big-n-e7586024.jpg)

## Insider Tactics

Tactics for a release like Canon's 1.3 firmware for the EOS R1 and EOS R5 Mark II start with the notes that people skim. Canon's announcement, per amateurphotographer.com, covers both high-end bodies with additions aimed at sports photographers — which means one version number sitting on two different cameras. Before you commit, pull the per-body change list rather than the press summary and read it as two separate documents. Manufacturers do ship a feature to part of a line only: photographylife.com's Nikon Z firmware wishlist cites a feature available solely for the Z6 II and Z7 II, not the earlier Z6 and Z7. Any headline implying both Canon bodies gain identical behavior is a claim you check line by line, per body, against the work you actually shoot.

The second non-obvious move is building your own baseline before you install anything. Save your settings to a card, photograph the menu screens you depend on for autofocus and drive behavior, then shoot a short controlled sequence: a subject moving toward you at your normal burst settings, one pass at each AF case you rely on. Keep that card aside. After the update, repeat the identical test on the same subject in the same light. That converts "the tracking feels stickier" into a like-for-like look at two sequences, which is the only way to know whether the new build helps your job or just changed it.

Timing is where most shooters give away their advantage. Schedule the install so the first session on new firmware is a rehearsal, not a paid or unrepeatable event, and block time on the calendar to restore your saved settings and redo your baseline. If a critical shoot lands inside that window, hold the update — you lose nothing by running the old build through one more assignment, and you keep the ability to compare.

Patience here has precedent. Feature-enhancing firmware for professional bodies tends to arrive in waves rather than as a single gesture: PentaxForums documents Pentax K-1 firmware version 1.40 arriving on November 16, 2016, well into the camera's life; Ricoh's GR Digital III release 5 added contrast bracketing at the end of its run; Sony's BURANO V3.00 brought new anamorphic modes and peaking tools. None of that argues for waiting indefinitely. It argues for waiting one shoot long enough that other owners of your exact body have already published results you can weigh.

Then stage the work in a fixed order: confirm your archive copy of the current settings exists, install in a single sitting with the body off the clock, run the baseline test, and only then decide whether the new behavior stays. Verify the complete option in your hands before you commit the camera to it — the version number is the same number on both bodies, but the camera you own is the only one that matters.

![Insider Tactics — Canon's firmware update (1.3) adds a](https://static.mm-ais.com/article-images-pixabay/canon-s-firmware-update-1-3-adds-a-big-n-aa213966.jpg)

## Comparison

Put the two bodies side by side with the only fact the announcement gives you: Canon named both the EOS R1 and the EOS R5 Mark II in the same firmware announcement, and the additions are aimed at sports photographers (amateurphotographer.com). That means the comparison is not “which body gets an update” — both do — but “which body’s published change list matches your work.”

Because the announcement gives no price, no percent, and no speed figure for the new addition, do not invent one. Use the one verified count: one announcement, two bodies. The table below compares them on identical terms — the same source type, the same columns, and the same question: does the live change list confirm the new addition for this exact body?

| Body | What the announcement says | What to verify on the live page | When it wins |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| EOS R1 | Named in the same firmware announcement; additions aimed at sports photographers | The exact change list for the R1, the version string, and whether the new addition is included | When your work is the sports/action use case the announcement targets and the live list confirms the feature you need |
| EOS R5 Mark II | Named in the same firmware announcement; additions aimed at sports photographers | The exact change list for the R5 Mark II, the version string, and whether the new addition is included | When you need the same targeted addition on the body you already own and the live list confirms it |

When each option wins is simple once you stop comparing a rumor to a fact. The R1 wins for the shooter whose live change list shows the new addition on the R1. The R5 Mark II wins for the shooter whose live change list shows the same addition on the R5 Mark II. If only one page lists the addition, that page wins for that body; the other body is a different option, not a worse one.

Compare like-for-like totals and terms: official change list against official change list, same version string against same version string, same feature name against same feature name. Do not compare a summarized R1 update against the full R5 Mark II page. If the totals do not match — one page lists the addition, the other does not — you have not found a winner; you have found two different options.

The winner, stated once: in a like-for-like comparison, the body whose live, complete change list contains the exact new addition you need wins, and you commit to that update. If neither live list contains it, neither wins, and you keep your current firmware.

## What to do next

| Step | Action | Why it matters |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Define your specific needs and budget | Narrows options to what actually fits |
| 2 | Compare top 3 options side by side | Reveals the best value for your situation |
| 3 | Check current pricing and availability | Prices change frequently — verify before committing |
| 4 | Book directly with the provider | Often gets better terms than third parties |
| 5 | Set a reminder to review in 6 months | Policies and pricing shift — stay current |

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