A search here turned up nothing, so I'm posting this just as an FYI and "public service announcment".

I found a small problem that will probably happen to other 5d owners in the near future. We all know that our cameras use internal batteries, but I've never had one die on a digital body (I usually don't keep them long enough). The battery maintains "some" of our settings , but......

When I tried to use my 5d yesterday, I found all the settings were changed. I thought perhaps someone might have changed things on me when they grabbed the camera, but when I tried to change the settings back nothing would stick. The camera quality mode went to jpeg vs. RAW, the histogram changed to brightness vs. RGB, the focus points changed (I leave it on center only) and the custom functions were all wiped out.

Long story short, as I suspected, it was just the internal, or backup, battery ( CR2016, CR-2016, or 2016) that needed to be replaced. If you lose your settings on a 5d, or other body over 1-2 years old, start by replacing the battery. It's not serious and will cost $2.00 to fix.

I hope this might help someone when they see strange camera behavior.

how do you replace it, do you have to take it apart?

I have a 5d too, and have read through the manual on line and there is no mention of how to change the internal battery. How DO you do it??

jstephens62 wrote:
I have a 5d too, and have read through the manual on line and there is no mention of how to change the internal battery. How DO you do it??

It is located on the side where the Remote, PC, & Digital Out Terminals are located. Right below the terminals is a little compartment...you'll need a small phillips heads screwdriver. Remove & replace...there you go!

BTW, it is in the manual...you must have missed it. It's located under 'Replacing Date & Time Battery' on page 41 (unless they've changed it)

HTH,
Omar

omarlyn wrote:
jstephens62 wrote:
I have a 5d too, and have read through the manual on line and there is no mention of how to change the internal battery. How DO you do it??

It is located on the side where the Remote, PC, & Digital Out Terminals are located. Right below the terminals is a little compartment...you'll need a small phillips heads screwdriver. Remove & replace...there you go!

BTW, it is in the manual...you must have missed it. It's located under 'Replacing Date & Time Battery' on page 41 (unless they've changed it)

HTH,
Omar




yes, it helps. Silly me; I had to use the PDF (not sure where my real manual is) and I foolishly looked in the index... I came up empty.

Here is the required info...


Caveats -

1) Use a very SMALL screw driver, even smaller than you'll find in most jeweler's sets.

2) Be careful with the screws.

3) Only undo ONE screw (I didn't have the benefit of a picture, so I undid more).


battery replacement

manual index

jstephens62 wrote:
I have a 5d too, and have read through the manual on line and there is no mention of how to change the internal battery. How DO you do it??

It's on page 41 of the 5D manual (I checked the PDF from Canon's website). "Replacing the Date/Time Battery".

All DSLR's have them, so it is nothing unusual. Generally, they last at least 5 years, so you might have gotton a bad battery, or a problem with excess power usage by the camera.

Fortunately, the button cells are common and cheap.