I had the exact same happen to me with my new EOS R despite using a brand new SD card. I immediately took the camera to the local Canon agent for them to do a shutter count. The count correlated to the number of exposures that I had taken. Canon said that very often a new camera will start the number count on the SD card at a random number but were unable to explain why.

Does anyone know if there is something similar for use with a Mac?

Press the mode button which will give you the shooting mode as per this photo. To change from still to video press the info button on the screen and the video options will appear. Visa versa to go from video to still. Hope this helps.

You can buy very neat little adapters that can takes sd cards and USB. I use mine all the time. They even come in colors to match! I'll attach a photo. I bought mine from my local iStore but they are not specific Apple products. I've been using it for two years with no problems.

Yes at night. The secret is a small aperture as this will give you a clear starburst effect. Experiment with different ISO and shutter speeds. You must use a tripod.

I do this often. Put your camera on a tripod, camera in manual mode, aperture at f/22 and as low ISO as possible for correct exposure.

I use WeTransfer. There is a free version. It works very well for large files. Just google and follow the prompts, very easy to use.

As I live in a Durban perhaps I can be of some help. It sounds as though you will be going to the Hluhluwe/Umfolosi area. It is extremely hot and humid in our summer months, temperatures often reaching into the high 30 degrees Celsius and humidity can also reach near 100%. The rainy season is also in the summer months but currently we are experiencing severe droughts so that may be irrelevant. On the other hand Cape Town receives rain in our winter months. So from a weather point of view April would be an ideal time to visit, but in the game parks if we have had good summer rains the grass and bush may be quite dense. If you will be traveling in a proper game viewing vehicle with a guide then that will not be such an issue. Hope this helps you with your choice.

Thank you for that 64 bit information. I did check the specs and my desktop and laptop are apparently compatible. I will definitely wait a while before updating.

Has anyone updated to Catalina yet, and if so have you noticed any photographic glitches. I don't usually like updating until the first few glitches have been ironed out, but I am still having problems with my Canon CR3 files sometimes appearing "black" and was hoping the new operating system might have addressed this problem. I look forward to comments and opinions.

I had this problem when I bought my canon R which also has CR3 files. You will need to check that you have your computer fully updated with the latest software. I have a Mac and needed to update to Mojave version 10.14.6. The original Mohave was not able to read CR3 files. I'm not sure about Windows. You will however be able to view the files in Canons DPP software, I use DPP4.10.40. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the advice everyone. Hope the software update will solve the problem.

Thanks for your input. I only download from the sd card and the problem only occurs once I've edited on or two photos in Photoshop and saved to the same file. I'm using the same system and process as I did with my older model Canon and never had any issues so I'm hoping now that I've downloaded some updated software that the problem will go away!

Thanks I'll check with Canon for a software update.

I also only shoot in RAW. I'll check to see if there is any Canon software update that I might need. 'Tis.