The front dial on my M5 is hard to rotate, is there a way to fix this?

I have the same problem.  The control dial is so stiff that it can't be moved with my index finger.  I now have to take my right hand off the grip and pinch the dial with 2 fingers, to move it.  It came on after I hiked on a windy Oregon beach, so I suspect that some grit got blown under there.  I tried to clear it with blowing with compressed air, but no luck.  I actually ended up breaking the dial (came off the camera), when I finally tried spinning it while pressing it down, to try to grind up the grit.  $140 later, the knob is back on, but still too stiff to rotate with my finger.  Makes me not want to get another M series camera.

Wintereater wrote:

Icypeak wrote:

I have the same problem. The control dial is so stiff that it can't be moved with my index finger. I now have to take my right hand off the grip and pinch the dial with 2 fingers, to move it. It came on after I hiked on a windy Oregon beach, so I suspect that some grit got blown under there. I tried to clear it with blowing with compressed air, but no luck. I actually ended up breaking the dial (came off the camera), when I finally tried spinning it while pressing it down, to try to grind up the grit. $140 later, the knob is back on, but still too stiff to rotate with my finger. Makes me not want to get another M series camera.

Geeze it actually fell off? I don't feel any grit under mine, it just feels like it's rubbing on plastic or something.

Mine didn't feel 'gritty' either, just like it was rubbing. It came right off, just held on with a little glue. Really looked cheaply made. I was hoping to upgrade to an M6 mkII, but now probably can't sell the M5, and having 2nd thoughts about getting another with the same button/dial combo.

I'll chip in too as my friend also has the M5. And the same problem! The button; the knurled one, grinds when rotating and has done for a number of months. Great camera but still bothersome and concerning regarding build quality.

Try working some waxed dental floss around underneath the dial.  This can sometimes clean out any gunk and/or loosen up the interface.

nnowak wrote:

Try working some waxed dental floss around underneath the dial. This can sometimes clean out any gunk and/or loosen up the interface.

On mine, the problem seemed to be within the 2 rotating cylinders that are inside the top plate of the camera, beneath the rotating knurled ring (the ring  is glued to one of them).  Even after having it cleaned and replaced, the problem remained.  Seeing how that ring is only held on by a little glue, I'd also be worried about someone pulling it off, if putting floss beneath it.

Wintereater wrote:

Icypeak wrote:

Wintereater wrote:

Icypeak wrote:

I have the same problem. The control dial is so stiff that it can't be moved with my index finger. I now have to take my right hand off the grip and pinch the dial with 2 fingers, to move it. It came on after I hiked on a windy Oregon beach, so I suspect that some grit got blown under there. I tried to clear it with blowing with compressed air, but no luck. I actually ended up breaking the dial (came off the camera), when I finally tried spinning it while pressing it down, to try to grind up the grit. $140 later, the knob is back on, but still too stiff to rotate with my finger. Makes me not want to get another M series camera.

Geeze it actually fell off? I don't feel any grit under mine, it just feels like it's rubbing on plastic or something.

Mine didn't feel 'gritty' either, just like it was rubbing. It came right off, just held on with a little glue. Really looked cheaply made. I was hoping to upgrade to an M6 mkII, but now probably can't sell the M5, and having 2nd thoughts about getting another with the same button/dial combo.

Do you remember what underneath the dial looked like? depending on how it's put together then lubrication might help without the risk of any of it seeping into the camera.

There were 2, vertically oriented, white plastic tubes, one inside of the other, with little space between them.  The control ring was glued to the top of the outer one, I think.  The inner one was probably for the shutter button.

Jay Anson wrote:

I'll chip in too as my friend also has the M5. And the same problem! The button; the knurled one, grinds when rotating and has done for a number of months. Great camera but still bothersome and concerning regarding build quality.

I've seen one additional report of the same thing with an M5, so that makes at least 4 reports of this.  A bit reassuring that it hasn't been reported with any of the other models that use this dial setup.

I also had the same problem.  In reading all of these postings I had to try something.  I had to use my left hand thumb and finger to try to loosen the dial.  After 10 minutes the dial started to move. After 20 more minutes the dial is almost in finger turning.  This morning I worked it a more and it is looser.   More work coming.

Dear All

My M5 developed same incredibly annoying fault!

The main dial (to be clear - the one around the shutter button) - got stuck and it was always in the most unexpected moment - obviously.

I remove the dial and found some debris under it - replaced it - no dice.

Then I started to search and could not find anything at the time.

In a meantime I tried to clean it, put some grease, machine oil, all sorts of stuff - and it was only worse.

Everything is caused by a tiny little plastic washer between the dial and camera body.

I am sure Canon knows about it and in my M50 which I got later - there is no problems whatsoever. The dial is slightly different and made of plastic.

Here is some help and that finally works for me:

1. Don't try to remove the dial - there is no point doing that and you may end up having problems with attaching it back properly - like I had.

2. Dental floss - use that to clean the gap between the dial and the camera body. Remember there is a thin white washer so the job should be done twice on both sides of it. Helpful tool might be a toothpick to lift the dial slightly.

3. Use one drop (or less) of silicone oil and try to inject it on the washer. This needs to be pure silicone oil (NOT WD40) and that can be bought in every bike shop - or online.

I used one toothpick to make a tiny gap and another for applying the oil.

Results: It works just fine - the dial rotates nice ans smooth now.

Last thing: If your dial pops out and you have problems attaching it back - try using a tiny drop of shoe glue. It makes it staying where it should and gives you a chance to eventually remove it if there is need for that.

Enjoy

Mac.

Hey, just wanted to chime in and say thanks for the instructions.

I picked up an M100 from Goodwill’s auction site for cheap. You’re always taking a chance buying stuff from that site, especially when it comes to electronics, because Goodwill doesn’t test anything, so we have no way of knowing if anything is even functional.

So it showed up in the mail, and fortunately it's 100% functional, outside of that front dial, which was completely locked up, frozen, seized, even if I tried to put a little bit of muscle into it. It wasn’t going anywhere.

And the M100 is designed a little bit different than the M50 or the two Ms that I already own, an M6 and M10, and there’s no way to get any floss under that button. There’s no room.

I asked Canon about it, and the cost for them to fix that thing was significantly more than just buying another (used) M100 body on ebay, so that wasn’t an option.

But good thing- among many other things, I’m a bike mechanic, and had a little bottle of oil on my workbench. I knew this was a last-ditch effort which could end up doing significant damage to the camera.

But, I went for it, and it worked! Not totally. That dial is still a little rough, but it does move, and it looks like it didn’t damage anything about the internals of the camera, so it looks like I’m back in business, and I saved the camera, thanks to your help. Super awesome.