We’re excited to announce the release of Reikan FoCal 2.4 Maintenance Release 1 (MR1) for Windows and Mac. This release brings much improved macOS Sierra (OS X 10.12) support for Canon cameras and includes enhancements to the new Target Setup first introduced in FoCal 2.4. It also includes a whole host of reliability improvements and bug fixes across all supported platforms and cameras.
FoCal 2.4 MR1 Key Changes
New Features:
- Much improved macOS Sierra support for Canon and Nikon – Both Canon and Nikon supported on macOS Sierra (OS X 10.12)
- Target Setup Enhancements – More guidance for users, especially when using non-centre focus points
- Big focus on reliability and bug fixes – lots of little bugs on both Windows and Mac platforms have been squashed in this release!
Enhancements and Fixes:
- MOD: Focus points shown in Target Setup with non-centre focus point enabled
- MOD: Zoom position in Target Setup shown when started from Aperture Sharpness
- MOD: Removed and re-worded some warning/error messages to be clearer
- MOD: Improved readability of some text on Windows
- MOD: Better indication of Dual Pixel Raw information on some charts
- MOD: Improvements to reliability of target search algorithm
- MOD: Improved sizing of Aperture Sharpness and AF Consistency windows on Mac
- MOD: Improved compatibility of raw analysis results with JPEG results with comparison database
- MOD: Image Capture Mode (JPEG/Raw/Dual Pixel Raw) now indicated in Shot Info panel
- MOD: Improve macOS Sierra support with Nikon Df
- FIX: Incorrect distance logic if target could not be found in Target Setup
- FIX: Change behaviour if Target Setup started when not in correct exposure Mode
- FIX: Fixed handling of 1/2 stop Exposure Value setting on Canon cameras
- FIX: Improvement to reliability of Target Setup tool
- FIX: Fixed issues with ignored analysis points in various tests/charts
- FIX: Corrected some minor rendering issues with charts
- FIX: Fixed unresponsive charts after report saving
- FIX: AF Consistency target distance shown in metres even if feet/in enabled
- FIX: Fixed occasional warning/error messages if focal length changed during test
- FIX: Slight focus point position error for Nikon D500
- FIX: Fixed occasional termination when running Aperture Sharpness test
- FIX: Fixed occasional issue with Phase Detect autofocus in Live View
- FIX: Occasional unreliability with communications on Mac during Live View
- FIX: Tests can now run with no card on Canon when release without card disabled
- FIX: Prevent double-focus operation in Focus Consistancy with some Nikon cameras
- FIX: Metadata processing reliability issues on some systems
- FIX: Fixes to some yes/no dialogs to ensure the operation is correct
- FIX: Prevent rare crash in Automatic Calibration on non-retina Mac displays
- FIX: Fix for no crops shown during Dust Analysis test on Mac
Why Release 2.4 MR1 and not Release 2.5?
Improvements to macOS Sierra support for Canon was the main objective in this release along with improvements for the new Target Setup introduced in FoCal 2.4. The new Target Setup has received a lot of very positive feedback, with certain cameras there were problems if the camera was not set up correctly, we wanted to fix those issues in this new 2.4 release.
We’ve also dedicated a lot of time to fixing lots of small but annoying bugs, so this should be the best FoCal yet!
FoCal 2.4 Maintenance Release 1 means if you had access to use FoCal 2.4 released on the 7th December 2016 you will also have access to use FoCal 2.4 MR1.
macOS Sierra Support Status
We’re happy to report both Canon and Nikon cameras are supported within FoCal when using macOS Sierra with this 2.4 MR1 release!
All supported Canon cameras will now work with Sierra. During our Sierra testing we’ve found some interesting behaviour with both Canon’s own EOS Utility and FoCal with the very newest Canon cameras.
It’s an area we will continue to revisit, as mentioned on the FoCal 2.4 blog post ultimately we need Canon to update their interface libraries. Most Canon cameras will now work without issue with this 2.4 MR1 release on Sierra, the workaround given above for certain Canon cameras will not be required in a future FoCal release.
Software Support Status
Mac
The following table shows the support for FoCal for Mac:
| Operating System | Camera Manufacturer | Status |
|---|---|---|
| OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) | Canon & Nikon | Fully functional |
| OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) | Canon & Nikon | Fully functional |
| OS X 10.11 (El Capitan) | Canon & Nikon | Fully functional |
| macOS Sierra (OS X 10.12) | Canon & Nikon | Fully functional (please see here for instructions for using Canon 80D, 5D Mark IV and 1D X Mark II) |
Windows
The following table shows the support for FoCal for Windows:
| Operating System | Camera Manufacturer | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Windows 7 | Canon & Nikon | Fully functional |
| Windows 8/8.1 | Canon & Nikon | Fully functional |
| Windows 10 | Canon & Nikon | Fully functional |
How do I get FoCal 2.4 MR1?
Download FoCal 2.4 MR1 by logging in to the LMS at lms.fo-cal.co.uk. Once logged in, you will see a download link to the software.
FoCal 2.4 is available for Windows (Windows 7 and newer) and Mac (OS X 10.9 – 10.12) operating systems, for users who are still within their Included Updates Period on the 7th December 2016 (2.4 release date). If your Included Updates Period had expired on the 7th December 2016, you can purchase another 12 months by logging in to the LMS at lms.fo-cal.co.uk.
If you don’t own FoCal, you can purchase the software as a download or boxed product, as well as Focal Hard Targets from the FoCal store.
The installation package contains the software, target images and a reference manual (also available on the Documents Download page).
33 comments on “Reikan FoCal 2.4 MR1 – Canon macOS Sierra Support and Target Setup Enhancements”
Windows version download (zip) is triggering my anti virus saying it is infected with the Artemis!EA8AA7E3A08E virus.
Hi Vaughan,
Can you let me know which av software you use? We saw some false positives on the previous 2.4 release, we reported them and within a couple of days the av vendors updated their definitions.
Thanks,
Dave
Hi,
It is McAfee.
I was try to download on a MacBook.
Regards,
Vaughan
Hi Vaughan,
Thanks for the additional information, we’ve never seen a reported issue on Mac or with McAfee. I’ve just run the Mac dmg file for 2.4 MR1 through the online scanner at live.metadefender.com (which does check McAfee) and it’s not showing any issues. Could you see if there’s an option within McAfee to report a false positive as that will get them to check it properly. It might be worth raising this issue via support ticket as blog comments are not easy to provide support(!)
Best Regards,
Dave
I have same problem – cannot install upgrade
Using Norton Internet Security
Cannot install upgrade because antivirus says
FoCal.msi is not safe and has been removed.
End of story.
Hi Andres,
Thank you for letting us know. This is very likely the same scenario Mike mentioned below (see also response below).
Best Regards,
Dave
My Norton 360 Anti-Virus (Windows 10) detected the WS.Reputation.1 in the FoCal.msi file.
February 15, 2012 3:15:47 PM
Type: Other
WS.Reputation.1 is a detection for files that have a low reputation score based on analyzing data from Symantec’s community of users and therefore are likely to be security risks. Detections of this type are based on Symantec’s reputation-based security technology. Because this detection is based on a reputation score, it does not represent a specific class of threat like adware or spyware, but instead applies to all threat categories.
The reputation-based system uses “the wisdom of crowds” (Symantec’s tens of millions of end users) connected to cloud-based intelligence to compute a reputation score for an application, and in the process identify malicious software in an entirely new way beyond traditional signatures and behavior-based detection techniques.
Hi Mike,
Thank for your letting us know and thank you for including the information that Norton displays.
Couple of things to note, Norton hasn’t actually checked the FoCal software itself, rather Norton didn’t like the server the software was downloaded from. We use a shared server (websitehome) for high traffic files as it saves bandwidth costs. We might revisit that because this is the second time Norton has flagged it ‘WS.Reputation.1’ (happened also on 2.4).
I’ve reported the false positive via https://submit.symantec.com/false_positive/ as we did with 2.4, last time it took them a few days to update their definitions.
Work-round is to disable Norton while you download / install and it should all be ok (it sounds scary but FoCal is very safe and Norton will update!) 🙂
Best Regards,
Dave
Thanks, I did disable Norton to load the new FoCal, works great.
Mike
Good stuff, hopefully Norton will update quickly(!) and longer term we’ll move our high bandwidth files 🙂
Norton (symantec) replied / In relation to submission 19727.
Upon further analysis and investigation we have verified your submission and, as such, the detection(s) for the following file(s) will be removed from
our products:
File name: FoCal.msi
MD5: 592e88f0d623b6960c239b13410edf69
SHA256: 4917e1440bc2ac0a71074c279aa6ff90ea96b119c135f31e8cf92911d2f41cd2
Note: Whitelisting may take up to 24 hours to take effect via Live Update
Hi,
Apparently this update is only for Mac OS. Any update (bug fixing) on Windows OS..? This software is not usable with Win7 currently and waiting on resolution.
Thanks
Sai
Hi Sai,
This release is for both Windows and Mac, can you raise a ticket if you’re seeing an issue (this release and previous releases should have no problems running on Win7).
Best,
Dave
trying to buy an update via the online shopping cart and see a message about highlighted fields, tried lots of combinations but its still not working. Any ideas?
Hi Mark,
Sorry for the problem, we’ve seen this a couple of times recently, it’s due to the change in the form design and browser interaction.
Essentially it’s an old cookie that’s being applied wrongly. If you can use an alternate browser that should resolve it (a different browser won’t have access to the old cookie).
Alternate is to use a private browsing option will prevent the old cookie being used. So first start the private browsing session then login to the LMS ( http://lms.fo-cal.co.uk ) before clicking “Purchase new Included Updates Period”
Different browsers have different ways to select private browsing as below:
Firefox menu pick “New Private Window”
Chrome select “New incognito Window”
Safari menu “Private Browsing…”
Internet Explorer you can select “Safety > InPrivate Browsing”
Private browsing makes sure no old cookies will be used when you try to check out. As above, make sure to start the private browsing session before to login to the LMS.
Hope that helps.
Best Regards,
Dave
that worked used a different browser, thanks!
Got a problem with reported malware too. The file reported by Avast Antivirus is lzma#.dll. I have sent it in as false positive an will wait for a reply
Hi Rainer,
Thanks for that, the annoying thing is that file hasn’t changed between releases(!) I also run Avast and have reported it as a false positive too.
What I also did was open the “Virus Chest” (right click on the icon in the taskbar) and select the file and click “Restore and add to exclusions”.
Best Regards,
Dave
Avast replied 🙂
Our virus specialists have been working on this problem and it has now been resolved. The provided file isn’t detected by Avast anymore.
We are sorry for the inconvenience. If you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to contact me again.
I’ve just tried to download the updated 2.4 MR1 and received the message that the downloaded file is corrupted. Any thoughts on how to resolve or an alternative place to download this upgrade?
Hi Scott,
Within the account system there are two links to choose between, both should work without issue. If you have an anti-virus software running it might be that which is blocking the download (though Avast and Norton have both accepted it was a false positive and added FoCal to their whitelists). You can try temporarily turning off anti-virus while you download the file to see if that helps.
Best Regards,
Dave
I was ecstatic to hear Sierra is finally supported but I still had problems, it would either fail to initialize for Canon or would say no camera detected. What I did was update to Sierra 10.12.3 which fixed the problem (I was running 10.12) I do have to use the work-around (having photo open) even though my cameras were not among those named (70D & 6D) so if anyone out there has a similar problem you may need to do the same. Thanks Dave for the quick response to my inquiry!
Hi Joe,
Thanks for the heads up, in our testing it was only the listed cameras which required the Photos App to be running, we will continue to monitor the situation 🙂
Thanks!
Dave
I’m getting this from Microsoft Security Essentials on Windows 7:
We’ve found some files we’d like to analyse: C:\Program Files (x86)\Reikan Technology\FoCal 2\AFMAC.exe
Hi,
Yep, it is a false positive, newer releases shouldn’t have this issue as we have changed the way we authenticate the releases.
Best Regards,
Dave
Object reference not set to an instance of an object. I get this error message when I run Target setup, what does it mean?
Hi Rodney,
This error was happening for some users / certain situations, the updated release (MR2) should address this problem.
Best Regards,
Dave
Hi Dave,
I have a Problem Whenever I Open my Software 2.3.0 or 2.4.5 I See two Types of ERRORS
1 The current license cannot be validated. Please ensure your license details are correct and you have a working internet connection.
2 The following error occured while trying to communicate with the License Management System:
Communication Error: An exception occurred during a WebClient request.
And I Login online but I Can’t login the software
Hi,
Would it be possible to raise a support request via the support contact form, the issue you’re seeing is definitely not expected, support ticket is much better way to provide support (blog comments are not monitored in the same way).
Best Regards,
Dave
Hi,
Where can I Print a Target From?
I have already purchased the software.
Max
Hi Max,
Thank you for your purchase. You can print the target with a standard inkjet printer, more information in the FAQ How do I print the FoCal Target?. Please do raise a support request if we can help further.
Best Regards,
Dave
I am running Mojave 10:14 dowloaded the app , installed it and it won’t get past the screen of initializing? please help
Julia,
You’ve posted a comment on a blog post from 2017 (it’s 2022) – the support team is best contacted via the support form linked at the top of the website! 🙂
Direct link is via contact Reikan support they will be able to help 🙂
Best,.
Dave