FoCal 1.9.10 released with 7D Mark II support

We’re delighted to announce the release of Reikan FoCal 1.9.10 for Windows and Mac.  This version adds support for the Canon EOS 7D Mark II.

FoCal 1.9.10 with 7D Mark II Support
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Fixes and Improvements

The following is a list of the changes since the release of FoCal 1.9.9:

New features:

  • NEW: Support for the Canon EOS 7D Mark II
  • FIX: Fix to stop a crash which occurred if auto focus point selected was active during MultiPoint Focus Test
  • MOD: Changed default Image Processing Mode to JPEG

Please take note of the Known Issues section below as there are a few subtle but important points to note when running tests with the 7D Mark II.

Software Support Status

Mac

The following table shows the support for FoCal for Mac:

Operating System Camera Manufacturer Status
OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Canon & Nikon Fully functional but no longer officially supported – we cannot guarantee operation and will no longer fix OS X 10.6 specific issues.
OS X 10.7 (Lion) Canon & Nikon Fully functional
OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) Canon & Nikon Fully functional
OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) Canon & Nikon Fully functional
OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) Canon & Nikon Fully functional

We are no longer officially supporting OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard).  We will not stop FoCal working on this old operating system, but we can no longer fix any OS X 10.6 specific issues and will not be performing release testing on OS X 10.6.

FoCal 1.9.10 now uses the latest Canon support files which are officially supported on OS X 10.10 (Yosemite).

Windows

The following table shows the support for FoCal for Windows:

Operating System Camera Manufacturer Status
Windows Vista Canon & Nikon Fully functional
Windows 7 Canon & Nikon Fully functional
Windows 8 Canon & Nikon Fully functional
Windows 8.1 Canon & Nikon Fully functional

We no longer officially support Windows XP as this operating system is no longer supported by Microsoft.  However, we haven’t stopped the software working on Windows XP, so you should find that it still works OK if you are using this operating system, but we cannot fix any issues that might arise only on Windows XP.

Additional Information

The following is additional information specific to this release:

Known Issues

  • Enabling Anti Flicker shooting on the 7D Mark II causes the camera to disable certain features.  This can cause issues with FoCal and you should make sure the camera does NOT have Anti Flicker shooting enabled.
  • When focus points flash in the 7D Mark II viewfinder, they are operating at a reduced sensitivity mode – for example with an f/5.6 lens the outer focus points are sensitive to horizontal lines only.  This may cause issues with the MultiPoint focus test or with testing of off-centre focus points where there may be no option but to terminate a test if focus cannot be achieved.  (This issue will be resolved in FoCal 2)
  • FoCal doesn’t always handle the case where Auto AF point is enabled (e.g. the zone or wide area AF modes).  Please make sure that you only have a single point selected.
  • Under some very rare conditions, the 7D Mark II can be left in a state where the focus point selection is not operational on the camera.  If this happens, just switch the camera off and on again and all functionality is restored.
  • During testing, we noticed that if you have bracketing enabled on the camera this can cause issues with tests.  The effect will be pretty obvious – the test images will cycle in sets of 3 between normally exposed, under exposed and over exposed.  If you notice this behaviour, please make sure that bracketing is disabled (a fix for this is already in FoCal 2 beta builds).

Other Information

  • The Testing Guide is somewhat out of date and we are planning a rewrite shortly.  The general concepts are still very valid, but the operational information towards the end of the guide relates to older versions of FoCal.
  • The File Camera functionality in FoCal is no longer being maintained.  We don’t believe there are many users of this feature and we will be re-implementing the ability to run tests on files in a much more user friendly way shortly.

How do I get it?

If you already have a license for FoCal, you can download the software at no extra cost from the License Management System – you’ll see the link to the download once you log in.

If you don’t own FoCal, you can purchase FoCal Standard, FoCal Plus or FoCal Pro from the store.

MAC: The software is available as a disk image (DMG) file for OS X, containing the software itself, the target images and documentation in separate directories.

WINDOWS: The software is available as a ZIP file, which contains the software, the target images and the documentation in separate directories.

Installing on OS X (IMPORTANT!):

FoCal for Mac uses the Mono framework and this must be installed before using FoCal.  Please see this post for complete information on how to ensure your Mac is set up correctly to run FoCal.  If you do not follow these instructions, FoCal will NOT operate correctly!

QuickStart Guides

There are short guides available which help you through the installation, connection and first use of the software available for Windows and for Mac on the Document Downloads page.

27 comments on “FoCal 1.9.10 released with 7D Mark II support

  • James Moore says:

    When trying to add my Canon 7D MkII I get an error message of “Invalid System ID”. The program will not add the new camera.

    Reply
    • Hi James. We’ve just identified an issue in our database with some early licenses and fixed it, so you shouldn’t see the Invalid System ID message any more when you do a license update.

      Reply
  • James Moore says:

    When I try to add my 7D MkII as a new camera, I get an error message:
    “The following exception occurred while trying to update your license information:
    Invalid System ID”

    When trying to use my 7D which is licensed, I get the error message:
    Opening camera returned error 192.

    Did my installation go bad or do you have big problems?

    Reply
    • The 192 error may be because something else is using the camera – do you have EOS Utility installed? The newest versions of EOS Utility start up when the operating system starts and run in the background, grabbing the camera as soon as it’s connected and this will cause problems for FoCal. You should make sure the EOS Utility is NOT running when you run FoCal. I’m looking in to the Invalid System ID warning you’re seeing now.

      Reply
      • Josh Lockhart says:

        I have the same error with my 7DII. I do not see any system processes running that would access the camera.

        Reply
        • Hi Josh,

          Best thing to do is raise a support ticket ( https://blog.reikanfocal.com/contact-support/ ) as the blog comments section is hard to keep track of and not well suited to offering support.

          As Rich says 192 error is more usually related to EOS utility, the more recent EOS utility version starts with windows and ‘grabs’ the camera making it impossible for FoCal to connect.

          Best Regards,
          Dave

          Reply
          • Josh Lockhart says:

            Thanks for the reply, Dave. And of course, now it starts working. I guess you scared it into submission. Great software. No complaints.

  • Mark Leavesley says:

    Just tried the new Focal with my 7D2 and somewhat surprised to be told that it can’t set the MFA itself, I have to do it. Is this going to be resolved?

    Reply
  • Hello,

    I own focal pro. I used it with a 1D mkIII and a 5D mkIII. I recently sold my 1D body to replace it by the new 7D mkII. Will I have issue to add this new body and be authorized to perform AFMA on it ?

    Reply
    • Hi Stef. All you need to do is connect your camera to the computer, run FoCal and click Connect – FoCal will then offer to license your new camera. Click OK and a few seconds later the license will be updated and you can calibrate your new 7Dmk2.

      Reply
  • Just purchased Pro for my 7DII & 50D.
    A little curious about the need to remove the battery grip on these cameras.

    Will it still function correctly if I leave it on?
    Software seems to communicate with it with it there,
    but wondering what the relevance of removing the grip actually is.

    Thanks

    Phil.

    Reply
    • Hi Phil,

      The calibration process works best with the least amount of vibration when taking the test images. The camera grip we found tended to cause vibration blur (somewhat depending on the shutter speed) and so recommend to remove it.

      As you found out, there is no physical reason you can’t keep the grip on but if you start to see inconsistent results try it with the grip removed.

      P.S. the comments section of the blog is not monitored in the same way as the support / ticket system, questions are best raised through the ticket system and will be answered more quickly! 🙂

      Best Regards,
      Dave

      Reply
  • Alex Morozov says:

    Hello again,

    Problem in previous post is occasion when using USB3.0 connection for test. With USB 2.0 7DmkII FoCal software all test work stable.

    BR,
    Alex

    Reply
  • I’ve just updated from 1.9.7 to 1.9.10 and now it says shutter count unavailable on both my 7D’s — 1.9.7 was able to read the shutter count — is this a known bug that will be fixed or do I need to downgrade back to 1.9.7 to be able to read the shutter count?

    Reply
    • Hi Simon,

      We’ve had a similar reported issues from another user with the 7DII, it is being investigated, for now there is a work-round to install the previous version 1.9.9 seems to work fine for shutter count.

      N.B. blog comments are not ideal for raising issues, please use the support ticket system as it will be answered more quickly! 🙂

      Best Regards,
      Dave

      Reply
  • No comment from Reikan on the blog for nearly 3 months – are they still developing and supporting Focal? What is happening with Version 2?

    Reply
    • Hi Pete,

      Yes a lot is going on with news of FoCal V2 expected soon! 🙂

      Support is very much available, it is very difficult to provide support through the comments section on the blog, please raise a support ticket with any issues.

      Best Regards
      Dave

      Reply
    • Hi Vladimir,

      The Nikon D5100 does not support AF fine tune (it is a camera limitation) and so it is not possible to calibrate this camera’s AF fine tune values.

      Please Note, the comments section on the blog is not monitored in the same way as the support / ticket system, questions are best raised through the ticket system and will be answered more quickly.

      Best Regards,
      Dave

      Reply
  • Kwan Choo says:

    I want to add the 7D2 to the Licence I have for Focal Pro – since version 1.4x. However, after confirmation that the Licence has been accepted and asked to restart Focal Pro, when connecting the new camera, I get a message that the camera is not licenced. Clicking “YES” to include this brings me to a message that no email has been entered! Please advise.

    Thanks, KC
    Version 1.9.10 for Mac

    Reply
    • Hi Kwan. If you open the License Management window in FoCal (on Windows click About then License), and enter your credentials for the License Management system (email and password), then the addition of new cameras is handled automatically within FoCal. Once this information entered, connect your 7Dmk2, click “Connect” and you’ll get a message asking if you want to add the camera to the license. If you don’t know your password for the LMS, you can go to lms.fo-cal.co.uk and reset your password.

      Reply
      • Kwan Choo says:

        Hi Rich, many thanks! Not sure if the post below from Alex Morozov was meant as a reply to mine or not, but I have solved my problem by changing from an older MacBook Pro running Parallels and Win XP with USB 2 connection to a PC with Win 7 and USB 3 running Focal 2. I’ll test it now, but I am sure it will all work.

        You might want to take note that I kept going around in circles with my other setup. Even Canon legacy was a problem and Error 192 kept coming up. Maybe it was an XP matter for both 1.9.10 and 2. Like others, I eagerly await your Mac version 2.

        Regards, KC

        Reply
  • In the Known Issues you state “When focus points flash in the 7D Mark II viewfinder, they are operating at a reduced sensitivity mode – for example with an f/5.6 lens the outer focus points are sensitive to horizontal lines only.”

    Can you clarify what you mean by this please? Do you mean when they flash red to indicate focus is achieved? If you do, does that mean that by having this focus confirmation flashing enabled I am making my autofocus work in a reduced sensitivity mode when I take a photo?

    Reply
    • Hi Keith,

      Focus points flash normally to confirm focus, that’s expected and normal.

      The case you mention is very specific to using lenses with maximum aperture greater than f5.6 (unless you are using say a x2 teleconverter on a slow lens this is unlikely to be the case for you).

      To understand more about the AF sensor on the 7dII check the manual as that explains what is meant and describes the different outcomes (page 100 onwards).

      In summery, unless your lens has a maximum aperture greater than f5.6 when ‘wide open’ you don’t need to even think about this and can ignore it totally.

      Best Regards,
      Dave

      Reply

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