Canon 100-500 Firmware Rev: full-time manual AF, Mystery ‘Improvement’

Canon’s well-liked RF 100-500 zoom got another firmware upgrade to 1.09. The boost allows for full-time manual focus override when coupled with a camera with the new 1.3 version of the R5 and R6 firmwares.

Also mentioned in the release notes is a feature poorly translated enough so as to still remain a mystery. “Improves a phenomenon in which the background is not blurred when performing slow panning with the IS (Image Stabilization) mode set to Mode 2 or Mode 3.” That collection of English words likely means that there was a problem with Modes 2 and 3 opting to make target stabilizing the background rather than the subject. But we could be wrong.

Mode 2 is for panning and mode 3 is for instantaneously stabilizing, rather than continuously doing so.

Camnostic staff own two of this model, so we’ve updated one to directly test them against each other.

It should be noted that Canon’s new system of using the same settings menu item to upgrade firmware for not just the camera body, but also attached devices, such as lenses and grips, bodes well for an increased pace of improvement. It will mean fewer shipments back and forth to Newport News, Virginia, and make it seem worthwhile to put the effort into lens firmware upgrades when the expectation is that larger numbers of people will actually benefit from them.