Canon 400d lock up

[shropshire 0]

Hi, I'm still trying to get to the bottom of the problem that some of us are experiencing with out Canon cameras.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[BMFin 0]

I dont know what you mean by "lock up", but what can happen sometimes is if you are shooting on AV-mode and you have the lens cap on and you press the shutter release it can choose 30 second shutter time which means you will not be able to shoot the camera for the next 30 seconds. So if you have a habit of keeping the lens cap on very close to the time of exit, it could still be taking the 30 sec. photo once you exit..

[shropshire 0]

Thanks, but that is not the problem (there's another thread about this camera freezing)... Essentially (and it only seems to happen when a remote shutter release is connected) the camera just plain stops shooting and the only way to un-freeze it, is to remove the battery...... and it's a real pisser.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[The111 1]

Quote

Thanks, but that is not the problem (there's another thread about this camera freezing)... Essentially (and it only seems to happen when a remote shutter release is connected) the camera just plain stops shooting and the only way to un-freeze it, is to remove the battery...... and it's a real pisser.

I just had a conversation about this today with somebody at the DZ. When I got my 400D a few months ago I thought it was defective and actually exchanged it for another one that did the same thing. It took me a while to figure out how to prevent the problem from occurring (but still not why it occurs).

If your "auto power off" setting is set to anything other than "off" AND if you have a remote connected... when the camera auto-offs, it will lock up and not be brought back to life by shutter as it should be. It will not even be brought back to life by cycling power switch... in fact, turning it "off" you will still see the green power light on. Replacing the battery is only fix at that point, as you've found. So, there are two "solutions":

1) Don't use auto power off. Turn it off. This is my chosen solution. It's a nice feature but not necessary either since it's easy to turn camera on and off when you need to.

2) If you must use auto power off, make sure that once you turn on your camera before the door opens, you fire photos at a minimum interval of less than your auto off time limit. If it is set to auto off after 1 minute, you'll need to fire at least one dummy photo a minute until you exit, and keep doing so throughout the skydive and under canopy if you don't want the cam to lock up.

It sucks, and it's stupid, and it doesn't happen without the remote plugged in, and the 350D never did it even WITH the remote plugged in. But there's no other way around it that I know.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[shropshire 0]

Cheers mate - I'd heard this from JT too and tried it this weekend (not jumping due to the weather) and the solution works - thanks everyone.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome