eos utility

Have recently purchased a canon EOS t3i , love the camera , but having no end of problems with using the EOS utility soft ware , not allowing me to down load images from the camera . The only window not shaded is ' monitor folder' .

I am running Windows 7 .
Any help appreciated .
Cheers ,
Barneyboy .

When you plug your camera in to the cord connected to the computer the utility will launch itself. Sometimes if you launch the utility first it will not read the camera.

I would also go to canon's website, find your camera and go to downloads and get the current version of DPP. It sounds like you may have a disk intended for a different camera, for instance my 1D IV wouldn't work with the 5D II version until I updated it with the 1D IV software.

If the monitor folder is the only one selectable, it's also the only one selectable if you start EOS Utility without a camera attached, you may want to check a few things. Once you plug in the USB cable and turn on the camera does Windows recognize that the camera is even there? Every time I've plugged in a new camera Windows has installed drivers before telling me that the device is ready for use. Do you recall if that happened? Another way to check would be to go into Device Manager or Devices and Printers to verify that it is listed after plugging in and turning on the camera. If it isn't try another USB cable if you have one to make sure it isn't the cable. Does the USB port work with other devices?

If EOS Utility doesn't start up when you plug in your camera and you want it to, under the preferences tab there is a check box to have it do so. I can't remember if that is a default setting or not.

I have to admit, I never used this software, always used the card reader. Is it useful?

@barneboy: According to your description I recognize the behavior from when the camera isn’t connected (or when it’s connected but not turned on). First thing to check is that you have the camera switched on.

@Busted Knuckles: I had only EOS Utility/DPP for a year or so until I installed Lightroom. Today LR has replaced the RAW file editing, but I still use EOS Utility/DPP for downloading to the computer, for a first quick sorting out failed photos, and for tethered shooting. I simply like Canon’s software better for these tasks, otherwise LR is superior in most aspects.

@BustedKnuckles I use the EOS utility a fair amount for tethered macro shots of tested specimens at work. It is the only way I know of for turning on the in-camera lens corrections. It is also handy for keeping my camera clocks close to synchronized as I have turned on the feature that automatically resets the clock times every time I plug in. This is handy to me when travelling, as my laptop resyncs to match the timezone of where I am at, but the camera doesn't do that automatically. I do use the USB connection for downloading to my laptop as it doesn't have a CF reader and a card reader may be faster, but is one more thing to carry around or in my case leave behind somewhere. I also find it more convenient to shoot tethered when checking the AF adjustments in a 100% view screen. The focus adjustments correspond very well to the AFMA adjustments.