Canon 40D help - exposure settings frozen

HoppyUK

HoppyUK

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Richard
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Damn thing's broke :thumbsdown:

On manual, shutter speed is locked at 1/125sec. Ditto on Tv. On Av, f/number is fixed at f/5.6. ISO stuck on 800, except 400 on manual. Seems okay in P and Scene modes. There is no error message. This all happended after I did a few long exposures on bulb :thinking:

I've tried everything I know - battery out, card out, battery recharged, lens contacts cleaned (it's the same with other lenses), settings reset, and a firmware upgrade (it needed that anyway). The camera is mechanically fine and takes pictures okay in P (at ISO800).

Before I send it off for Canon to fix, does anyone have any bright ideas? Anyone else had a similar problem?

Many thanks (y)
 
Hope there's a simple answer, better than sending it in.

I had fears for my new 30D until someone explained the two tier on off switch.

Hope yours is as as easy.
 
When you took the battery out, did you also take the 'button' cell out that can be access from within the battery compartment.

If not, remove it for 5 mins then put it back in, and the camera completely resets itself.

:shrug:
 
Chillimonster said:
When you took the battery out, did you also take the 'button' cell out that can be access from within the battery compartment.

If not, remove it for 5 mins then put it back in, and the camera completely resets itself.

:shrug:
Click to expand...

Thank you Chillimonster! No I didn't :eek: Will do that now (y)
 
HoppyUK said:
Thank you Chillimonster! No I didn't :eek: Will do that now (y)
Click to expand...

Bugger. No change :thumbsdown: Thanks anyway. It has reset everything though, date etc to zero, but still can't change exposure settings.
 
Have you checked the on off tier system. I once put it on the first without realising and panicked when nothing worked. Mke sure it is clicked as high as it will go on the on switch. :shrug:
 
squizza said:
Have you checked the on off tier system. I once put it on the first without realising and panicked when nothing worked. Mke sure it is clicked as high as it will go on the on switch. :shrug:
Click to expand...

You mean the rear dial disable on/off switch? Makes no difference :shrug:
 
I'd give it a bit longer than 5 minutes without any batteries in, just to give it time for any charge to leak away. But it's not looking good Hoppy. It seems you've tried anything I'd think of.

It's looking like a trip back to Canon I guess :(
 
Bill Roberts said:
I'd give it a bit longer than 5 minutes without any batteries in, just to give it time for any charge to leak away. But it's not looking good Hoppy. It seems you've tried anything I'd think of.

It's looking like a trip back to Canon I guess :(
Click to expand...

Thanks Bill. I'll leave it over night then do another firmware upgrade. I think the f/number changed from f/14 to f/5.6 when I did that before so maybe it's worth another try.

I would have put money on taking out the 3v battery would do it though :(

I was hoping somebody would say that if I hold down all the buttons and sing some secret mantra it would magically reset. I guess the Canon man will just shove a laptop into the USB port and charge me £50, but hey ho...
 
HoppyUK said:
I was hoping somebody would say that if I hold down all the buttons and sing some secret mantra it would magically reset.
Click to expand...

Welcome to my world :D

50 quid is not sooo bad, it's the 3 or 4 weeks it's gone that's a killer, coz you'll really need it then :puke:
 
Can you change the settings using the EOS utility in tethered mode?
 
Welsh Dan said:
Can you change the settings using the EOS utility in tethered mode?
Click to expand...

Not tried that Dan. Something has fallen out of the software that needs restoring/resetting.
 
Been using with a grip? Could try cleaning the connections on the bottom, might be something there causing dodgy signals?? Hope you get it sorted (y)
 
do all your other buttons work hoppyUK?
 
James Pardon said:
Been using with a grip? Could try cleaning the connections on the bottom, might be something there causing dodgy signals?? Hope you get it sorted (y)
Click to expand...

Not got a grip James. However, I might try one - see below.

fletch5 said:
do all your other buttons work hoppyUK?
Click to expand...

Funny you should say that... Main dial doesn't seem to work, although I now notice that on Tv the shutter speed is stuck on 1/100sec, and ISO locked on 100 :thinking: Something very intermittent has happened.

I'm now thinking that maybe the problem is a broken main dial. I can't get it to do anything, while all the other buttons etc seem to work okay.

Maybe this is related to the long shutter speeds and bulb settings that I've been using - the main dial gets a right battering when you're switching through from normal shutter speeds right through to bulb, and back again, and there and back again, and again :eek:

Gonna see if I can borrow a grip, which has its own secondary main dial, and see if normal service is miraculously restored.

Thanks chaps (y)
 
James Pardon said:
Might be worth trying to update the firmware
Click to expand...

I never understand why people say this. If it was working ok before for quite some time, then breaks, how's a firmware upgrade going to fix anything? I've never seen, "fix problem where camera works for two years, then doesn't" in any firmware documentation :D

I think it's time to send it off for a fix. I can recommend Colchester Cameras, fixed my son's 400d very quickly. http://www.camera-repair.co.uk/
 
Performing a software update, could render the CMOS where the settings are stored as invalid. It can happen that sometimes a setting will be set, which cannot normally be entered, and the software has no valid means of un-setting it.
Updating the firmware can help sometimes in these cases.
BTW. I have seen a firmware update/revision as:
Fix intermittent bug where after long periods of use settings could be corrupted, leaving them invalid.


Edit:
That said, after reading Hoppy's original post, I couldn't think of it being a software issue, my initial thought was that one of the dials had stopped working. I thought though (from reading the 50d manual, as I only have a 400d), that it was possible to hold down a different button, and move the feature from the main dial to the secondary dial, as if it were a 400d (which doesn't have the big dial).
 
No joy :(

Working on the assumption that it was a broken main dial that was at fault (the one next to the shutter release) I thought that fitting a battery grip with its duplicate main dial would prove the point. Well, I got hold of one of those that didn't work either.

The other controls on the grip were working so it was connected properly, but still my shutter speed, lens aperture and ISO were locked as before.

It's going back to Canon. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and input. Cheers :)
 
Anyone know what kind of pickup there is on the main dial? Could be that the magnetic/electronic pickup on the main dial is stuck.
Even if it did get unstuck, you would probably have a lot more confidence after a service anyway.
Hope it isn't too long away from you.
 
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