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Help: Canon 7D not working after first 20 shots

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cgarrity said:
I just receved the camera late yesterday and shot a few photos last night. The camera seemed to be working fine. When I tested it this morning, the shutter is firing but all of the images are black. I have tested different settings and it doesn't appear to fix anything. I tried restoring the camera to factory settings to no avail. I mounted a different lens (50MM 1.4) and that didn't do anything either. I also tried a different CF card.

Any other ideas?? I bought this specifically for this Thanksgiving as it will be my dad's last and now the damn camera won't work. Argh!!
Click to expand...
One other thing to try before giving up on this body - on the rare chance it is a body to lens communications problem try cleaning the contacts on the lens and body and see if that makes any difference. Also try another lens if possible. If these don't fix the problem then it's got to be an issue with the body. Using the fully-automatic mode (green square) on a properly operating body should only return a black image if it was shot in close to absolute darkness. And then the shutter speed would have been 1/60s and it would have popped up the flash.
 
I agree the 7d is doing something wacky in full auto mode. can you try full auto during day light? the shutter speed in the black photo seemed weird and f32? what the? can you go back to the shop and ask the tech support?
 
Ok, here's what you should do: sell your 7D and buy one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Kodak-Single-Camera-Flash-Packaging/dp/B00004SU73/ref=sr_1_14?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1322206168&sr=1-14

You shouldn't have any problems after you've done this.
cgarrity said:
slowhands said:
What is your background & experience level, and with what gear?

Have you read the fine Canon 7d manual, and are there any concepts needing clarification?

A lot of photography is about light...and problem solving to achieve the lighting YOU desire.

What is the subject situation? (assuming indoor under household lights)

What Shooting mode is dialed in? What Exposure Compensation? What ISO/fStop/Shutter?

with 7d, in T and A moves, the camera assumes ambient is your main light and your flash is there for fill. In P, the flash is considered the main light. In A, you try to outthink the camera.

Put it in Auto ISO, "P" mode, with exposure compensation in the center (0), take off the lens cap and start shooting.
Click to expand...
Great and obvious question - I have had a dSLR for 8 years.
Click to expand...
 
Simply take the camera back and get a new one. Sod all the hassle!
 
if you use a higher ISO it will work?? what were you shooting at what time and where? can you send few samples of the complete black photos?

it looks like your settings are wrong..especially if you are somwhow shooting in low light propably?? but you need to send photos..
 
camers looks like working fine..from reading all the post it looks like you are using very strange settings..1/8000???? f 32...

8 years DSLR..lol ok
 
Stollen1234 said:
camers looks like working fine..from reading all the post it looks like you are using very strange settings..1/8000???? f 32...

8 years DSLR..lol ok
Click to expand...
I'm not saying it is not user error but how is it possible to achieve f32 and 1/5000 in P and green box modes. I just tried several times on my 7D and I can't re-create that.
 
Based on what you've told and shown us, it seems to me that there are four basic possibilities:
  1. Your metering sensor/system has crapped out
  2. There is a firmware glitch preventing proper exposure calculations
  3. The camera can't communicate properly with the lens
  4. You have inadvertently done something really wacky with camera settings
So try this procedure (follow it exactly; deviations from the procedure could introduce new variables that might invalidate some conclusions):
  1. Reset camera to factory defaults by doing a soft reset followed by a hard reset: Push the menu button and go to the third "wrench" menu tab. Select "Clear all camera settings" and do so. Then turn the camera off and remove both the main battery and the small coin-sized battery. Wait several minutes before reinstalling the batteries.
  2. Get to some place with decent lighting (well lit, but not too bright --nothing that would stress a decent camera). Use any lens you like. Turn the camera on and turn the mode dial to "Manual". Set ISO to auto. Set metering to center-weighted average. Stop down slightly from wide open (one stop, say). Focus on a static scene and check the exposure meter in the viewfinder.
  3. Does it indicate a proper exposure? If not, can you change shutter speed and/or aperture so that the meter indicates a proper exposure? If not, return the camera for a new one.
  4. If the camera does show a proper exposure, take the shot. Review the photo.
  5. Do the photo settings (aperture, shutter, ISO) match the camera settings? If the aperture value does not match, then there is communication problem with your lens or something wrong with the lens. Stop the lens down a fair bit. Look at the front of the lens and push the DOF preview button. Check that the aperture blades move. Remove the lens and clean both camera and lens contacts. Try another shot using the same procedure. Problem solved? If yes, go to next step. If not try a different lens. Still having problems with a different lens? Then return camera. If the aperture is correct but the other two don't match camera settings, then return the camera.
  6. OK. At this point photo settings should match camera settings. Does the photo look reasonably exposed? If not (and I mean drastically wrong, not just a little bit off), then return the camera. If it's OK, then both lens communication and metering are fine. Go to next step. If not, the exposure meter/system is trash. Return the camera.
  7. Turn the mode dial to the green box (full auto). Take a photo of exactly the same scene as before. Check the photo. Does your original problem still persist? If it does, then you have a serious firmware problem. You could try reinstalling the firmware, but simpler just to get a new camera.
  8. If that shot was OK, then there was either some glitch that was corrected by resetting the camera. Or your previous problem was user error.
 
Stollen1234 said:
if you use a higher ISO it will work?? what were you shooting at what time and where? can you send few samples of the complete black photos?

it looks like your settings are wrong..especially if you are somwhow shooting in low light propably?? but you need to send photos..
Click to expand...
The OP submitted photos. Did you read the whole post?
 
Is that what you use? :)
Rupert Bottomsworth said:
Ok, here's what you should do: sell your 7D and buy one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Kodak-Single-Camera-Flash-Packaging/dp/B00004SU73/ref=sr_1_14?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1322206168&sr=1-14

You shouldn't have any problems after you've done this.
cgarrity said:
slowhands said:
What is your background & experience level, and with what gear?

Have you read the fine Canon 7d manual, and are there any concepts needing clarification?

A lot of photography is about light...and problem solving to achieve the lighting YOU desire.

What is the subject situation? (assuming indoor under household lights)

What Shooting mode is dialed in? What Exposure Compensation? What ISO/fStop/Shutter?

with 7d, in T and A moves, the camera assumes ambient is your main light and your flash is there for fill. In P, the flash is considered the main light. In A, you try to outthink the camera.

Put it in Auto ISO, "P" mode, with exposure compensation in the center (0), take off the lens cap and start shooting.
Click to expand...
Great and obvious question - I have had a dSLR for 8 years.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Brand New said:
RandyB2 said:
Brand New said:
RandyB2 said:
It sounds to me like you got a bad camera.
Click to expand...
It doesn't sound like a bad camera at all...unless green box mode is picking those gaudy shutter speed and aperture values.
Click to expand...
You make and "F" in reading. He said he put it in green mode and several other modes that should have fixed the problem. So yes, it's probably a bad camera.

--
Randy
Click to expand...
And you "make and F" in writing. He said: "For the black photos, I just flipped to different shooting modes. They would have been the defaults on the camera from the factory. I believe most of them were shot with the camera in fully automatic mode."
Click to expand...
Pretty funny. He said "fully automatic mode - the green box". And yet the data showed the camera was at 1/5312, f/36 at ISO 100. Green box means the camera is choosing the settings not the OP. Clearly his camera is bad. So not only do you make an F in reading you make an F in logic.

I don't know why is so difficult for some of you to accept that once in a while somebody gets a bad camera and it's not the poster at fault. It could have been a manufacturing defect or it could have been dropped off the delivery truck somewhere. On at least three occasions the company where I worked got a package in that was flattened and had tread marks on it. And those are just the one's they ran over. For every one that has tread marks there are probably 20 that got dropped off the pile onto the pavement and then got picked up and delivered. Cameras don't like this.
--
Randy
 
Stollen1234 said:
camers looks like working fine..from reading all the post it looks like you are using very strange settings..1/8000???? f 32...

8 years DSLR..lol ok
Click to expand...
How is the camera fine when it's producing those settings in green box fully automatic? Answer: It's a bad camera.

It doesn't matter if it's 8 years or 8 hours, fully automatic is made for people that just want an automatic useable picture. You are basically in point and shoot mode. Skill has nothing to do with it. If you are so smart why is that so hard for you to understand that?
--
Randy
 
Oh great here we go again. It's a wonder any of us with a Canon ever get a good shot. How about I buy you a Kodak one use and you leave us alone?
mforbes said:
This could have been solved in one answer, "Defective Camera." But no, typical of the Canon Kool Aid drinkers, it could not be the fault of Canon, it must have to be "user error." And that answer stating maybe the factory settings in Auto mode were skewed has to be the most ridiculous comment one could make. Instead of trying to salvage his Thanksgiving looking for enlightenment here, the OP should have been high tailing it to Best Buy or somewhere and getting a Nikon or Sony, or anything that would actually function. Canon had their shot with me a year or so ago, I bought a 7D that was defective, never again. I mean look at the Canon S100 samples on this site, two duds, maybe the third one Canon sends them will be the charm. Face it, quality control at Canon is non existent, at least in their camera segment, maybe they switched additional efforts to their more profitable business, all in ones and ink cartridges.
Click to expand...
--

A DSLR is a black hole that you throw money in to, and enjoy every minute of it!!!!
 
Even if I did use one of these, I bet I could take a better photo with it than the OP and his 7D. :P
Zee Char said:
Rupert Bottomsworth said:
Ok, here's what you should do: sell your 7D and buy one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Kodak-Single-Camera-Flash-Packaging/dp/B00004SU73/ref=sr_1_14?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1322206168&sr=1-14

You shouldn't have any problems after you've done this.
cgarrity said:
slowhands said:
What is your background & experience level, and with what gear?

Have you read the fine Canon 7d manual, and are there any concepts needing clarification?

A lot of photography is about light...and problem solving to achieve the lighting YOU desire.

What is the subject situation? (assuming indoor under household lights)

What Shooting mode is dialed in? What Exposure Compensation? What ISO/fStop/Shutter?

with 7d, in T and A moves, the camera assumes ambient is your main light and your flash is there for fill. In P, the flash is considered the main light. In A, you try to outthink the camera.

Put it in Auto ISO, "P" mode, with exposure compensation in the center (0), take off the lens cap and start shooting.
Click to expand...
Great and obvious question - I have had a dSLR for 8 years.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
You have to exchange it. Hopefully you had another camera to capture your Dad. I never rely on a new camera for any critical shooting. You never know what could happen plus you need time to familiarize yourself with the camera no matter how experienced you might be.
--
Olga
 
It was refreshing to finally see someone offer to help by actually offering some specifics. It's pretty clear from the things the OP wrote that either the camera is bad, or he has been mistaken in some of the things he observed.

I started to post in this thread earlier but was not about to get into the fray once it degraded to the point that folks arguing about whether the OP was competent or not. A few simple steps as the attached post suggested, would have put the issue to rest without anyone being insulted and without things getting ugly.
Severian The Lame said:
Based on what you've told and shown us, it seems to me that there are four basic possibilities:
  1. Your metering sensor/system has crapped out
  2. There is a firmware glitch preventing proper exposure calculations
  3. The camera can't communicate properly with the lens
  4. You have inadvertently done something really wacky with camera settings
So try this procedure (follow it exactly; deviations from the procedure could introduce new variables that might invalidate some conclusions):
  1. Reset camera to factory defaults by doing a soft reset followed by a hard reset: Push the menu button and go to the third "wrench" menu tab. Select "Clear all camera settings" and do so. Then turn the camera off and remove both the main battery and the small coin-sized battery. Wait several minutes before reinstalling the batteries.
  2. Get to some place with decent lighting (well lit, but not too bright --nothing that would stress a decent camera). Use any lens you like. Turn the camera on and turn the mode dial to "Manual". Set ISO to auto. Set metering to center-weighted average. Stop down slightly from wide open (one stop, say). Focus on a static scene and check the exposure meter in the viewfinder.
  3. Does it indicate a proper exposure? If not, can you change shutter speed and/or aperture so that the meter indicates a proper exposure? If not, return the camera for a new one.
  4. If the camera does show a proper exposure, take the shot. Review the photo.
  5. Do the photo settings (aperture, shutter, ISO) match the camera settings? If the aperture value does not match, then there is communication problem with your lens or something wrong with the lens. Stop the lens down a fair bit. Look at the front of the lens and push the DOF preview button. Check that the aperture blades move. Remove the lens and clean both camera and lens contacts. Try another shot using the same procedure. Problem solved? If yes, go to next step. If not try a different lens. Still having problems with a different lens? Then return camera. If the aperture is correct but the other two don't match camera settings, then return the camera.
  6. OK. At this point photo settings should match camera settings. Does the photo look reasonably exposed? If not (and I mean drastically wrong, not just a little bit off), then return the camera. If it's OK, then both lens communication and metering are fine. Go to next step. If not, the exposure meter/system is trash. Return the camera.
  7. Turn the mode dial to the green box (full auto). Take a photo of exactly the same scene as before. Check the photo. Does your original problem still persist? If it does, then you have a serious firmware problem. You could try reinstalling the firmware, but simpler just to get a new camera.
  8. If that shot was OK, then there was either some glitch that was corrected by resetting the camera. Or your previous problem was user error.
Click to expand...
--
Photoblog at: http://timrucciphotography.blogspot.com/
Gallery at: http://www.timrucci.com

 
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