My 5D has gone mad. Help?

I recently bought a second hand (good condition) 5D Mk1, and it's been working perfectly for the past two weeks I've had it. I have probably done about 1000 exposures since I got it, and I've never had any errors. Up until today. Suddenly, after a session of about 200 exposures, the shutter hung somehow (but released again after a second or so), and it wouldn't store an image. And after this, everything went mad.

Each time I close the battery hatch, insert or remove a CF card, close the CF card hatch or flip the power switch, the shutter goes off. And occasionally, at what seems to be random, the shutter also goes off when pressing buttons, turning the dials etc.

When attempting to make an exposure, the shutter goes off (at a certain speed regardless of shutter setting), the battery indicator and autofocus indicator (on the top LCD display) blinks, and nothing else happens.

I've removed the lens, CF card, battery grip and batteries, and let it "rest" for about 30 minutes or so. Didn't help. I recharged the batteries - didn't help.

Does anybody have a clue what might be causing this?

I'm running firmware 1.1.1 (updated it the day I got it), an original BG-E4 battery grip, and I was using an original Canon BP511-A and a Phottix (after market) battery. The camera was fitted with a 50mm f/1.8 at the time it "crashed".

All ideas and suggestions are greatly appreciated!

-Sindre L

sorry, duplicate post because computer took too long to update.

Have you tried operating it without the grip and with only the Canon brand battery?

Maybe replace the Date/Time battery (type CR2016). This battery has a service life of about 5 years, so that could be the case. I think this will reset all settings on the camera as well.

Thanks for the tips guys, keep them coming!

CameraCarl said:

Have you tried operating it without the grip and with only the Canon brand battery?

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Yes, I did. No change.

Ludvig said:

Maybe replace the Date/Time battery (type CR2016). This battery has a service life of about 5 years, so that could be the case. I think this will reset all settings on the camera as well.

Click to expand...

The CR2016 battery seems to be working. I replaced it with a battery I had in another camera, and it was all the same. Should I still replace it with a new one?

Do you think re-installing the firmware could help?

Don't know if it has something to do if the battery is new or not (don't think so), but I would have tried with a new one just to get that out of the way. An idea would be to remove the CR2016 battery for a couple of minutes, install it again it and see if there are any change.

Ludvig said:

Don't know if it has something to do if the battery is new or not (don't think so), but I would have tried with a new one just to get that out of the way. An idea would be to remove the CR2016 battery for a couple of minutes, install it again it and see if there are any change.

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I tried having both the CR2016 and the main battery out for about 30 minutes, but it didn't help. I will try fitting a new one though, to get it out of the way.

I'm probably going to try reinstalling the firmware as well, although I am a bit concerned about the shutter going off at times. I hope it won't interrupt the installation process!

I assume you have tried a different lens. Try the sensor clean cycle and see what happens--a long shot. You might also call Canon service. They might have seen something like this before.
--
Jim
http://www.pbase.com/jcassatt

So I guess I'll be the first to say, try and return that camera you got a "crapper" as I like to call it. There is something seriously wrong with that body the seller should refund or give you another used 5D
--
AustinLuker.com
7D-5DMKII-1DMKIV

... they guy took 1K photos before it went wacky - the seller owes him nada! It coulda gotten zapped from high humidity, high heat, cosmic rays ...
KP
--
Use the new site features to hide my homely face and banjo!!



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Jim Cassatt said:

I assume you have tried a different lens. Try the sensor clean cycle and see what happens--a long shot. You might also call Canon service. They might have seen something like this before.

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I have tried with a different lens, and the problem persists even without a lens. I'll try replacing the CR battery, do a sensor clean cycle (although it's a long shot, I'll try anything) and reinstall the firmware. If nothing helps, I'm afraid Canon service is the only option.

Austin_Luker said:

So I guess I'll be the first to say, try and return that camera you got a "crapper" as I like to call it. There is something seriously wrong with that body the seller should refund or give you another used 5D

Click to expand...

Ken Phillips said:

... they guy took 1K photos before it went wacky - the seller owes him nada! It coulda gotten zapped from high humidity, high heat, cosmic rays ...
KP

Click to expand...

What he said. It worked brilliantly and took a bunch of great shots up until it crashed. Unless it turns out it's been serviced for the same issue before, I can't see how the seller could've known. I guess it's just bad timing on my part. (Unfortunately.)

If anyone still has any suggestions, they are all welcome!

I recently had a problem with my 5D where it wouldn't change speed or aperture when I turned the top dial. I thought it was a goner, but last ditch tried using the dial on the battery grip instead - and it worked. After that the dials on the main body started working too. Must have been sort of some conflict between the 2 dials.

I'm not saying this is the cause of your problem, but worth eliminating - or trying without the grip attached.

My 5D was dirty when it did strange things 2 years ago, they cleaned it 2 hours inside, after that it worked perfect, humidity can cause strange things into camera, Jouni

Envronmental factors (heat, humidity) can cause strange behavior. I was trying to shoot w/my 5d MII in 30 degree F temps & the darn thing began behaving like a pinball machine - all sorts of lights flashing, beeps, shutter actuations, etc. The cold had weakened the battery, as it turned out. Once back into the house & it was fine.

You might want to make sure that all of the battery contacts are clean as well as any other visible ones (like in/on the lens mount, memory card,etc.) Have you checked to make sure nothing has gotten into the remote release jack? It's real a long shot, but a tiny piece of conductive material tumbling in the compartment could cause odd behavior.

Good luck!

... that it's gone completely crazy. All the electronics must be replaced. It also said that the symptoms were similar to failures caused by humidity/moist, but he couldn't find any traces of such damage.

So it seems rather hopeless at the moment, and I'll probably have to find another used body. But since it's all crazy anyways, I might open it and mess around a bit with electronic cleaners, just for the sake of having tried.

Thanks for all your tips though, I'll let you know if I miraculously come up with a solution. And if you have any other suggestions, I'll still be happy to have them.

Sindre.

My 5D was crazy 2008. When I took a picture, camera tried to take one or 2 more pictures, then it freezed, I had to take battery off. If I pushed other button on the top of the camera, it took a picture and freezed. I left it to repair, man there cleaned it 2 hours, then it was ok, like it should.

I was in Thailand when it happened, had been there 5 -6 weeks. Just telloing you, there can be hope for your camera too.

I was also in Thailand this summer 2010, now 10 weeks with my 5DM2, that had been in Thailand 2009, eight weeks. I got Error 1, means contact between lens and camera is broken. They fixed it in Bangkok in 4 hours, can be same type if trouble- Otherwise I have seen some other having same trouble in Dpreview Forum, can be bad technology in the lens 24 - 105mm

Cheers, Jouni