I have been shooting various Canon 1D versions since they originally came out so I am pretty well versed in menu options, handling etc. I just received a new R1 this week and went to do a shoot (Blue Angels Beach Air Show) the last two days and the camera perfomed beautifully for the first 2/3 of each day. But in the early afternoon before the big finale both days I went to change the battery as it was getting low and each time when I put the new battery in the camera all my settings had reset to all kinds of unwanted stuff and the camera would not let me change them back. For instance eye tracking turned on the first day and because I hadn't set it up yet it wasn't working at all and the camera was basically unusable. There were other issues but that was the worst and I missed a bunch of really important shots before switching to a backup camera. Overnight I tried to figure out what went wrong and finally had to resort to resetting factory settings and wiping out all of my settings. After that I reprogrammed the camera and it performed beautifully the second day until I once again changed the battery and again all the settings started going haywire and the camera wouldn't let me change back. It was different problems this time - for instance this time the AF was turned off and it wouldn't do anything but manual focus. Once again the only thing that fixed the issue was restoring all factory settings. And it should be noted it wouldn't let me reset imediately only hours later. I did some research and evidently this is a known problem with the internal battery on the R1. In both cases I was only able to make changes to the functions hours after the initial malfunction presumably after the internal battery recharged itself. I want to send the camera back for a replacement but don't want to end up with the same problem. I love the camera otherwise but was heartbroken that I bought the camera specifically in time for this shoot and if failed so badly. How widespread is this problem with the camera? I also want to say I bought the camera from a reputable well known store and when it arrived it was an open box and obviously the camera had been used to some extent (manuals read, everything obviously opened and reboxed). There were fingerprints on the screen for instance. I was concerned and a bit miffed because hey you pay that much for a camera you don't want a return or store model. The store was great and agreed to do an exchange imediately and told me to just shoot with it this weekend regardless and they sent me a return ticket. I had decided that if the camera performed well I would just keep it but now I am for sure returning it. I have a feeling that this was a return item for this problem. But just curious how widespread this issue is with this camera and is it something you know about right out of the box or something that pops up just whenever. FWIW the first time I switched batteries on the camera was during the shoot when it malfuntioned. I will say when it was functioning it worked like a dream and was definitely a huge step up.
I've used a number of R1s from Canon's CPS pool and never had that happen. I would exchange it as you have already arranged with the store and start over with the new one.
The only thing that comes to mind with the resetting of settings is that sometimes these cameras will revert to their last 'saved' settings if you pull the battery during a lock-up incident or otherwise don't turn it off with the on/off switch. But usually when the camera turns on again, it's a previous state of settings that it retained the last time it was properly turned off.
My recommendation is to set up the camera the way you like it and immediately save the settings to a memory card for reloading at a future time, if necessary. Also, to be safe, when changing batteries, turn off the camera first. Usually I've not had problems with the camera reverting settings if I pull a battery while it's still on, but you never know.. Also, if you're making settings changes in the field and not able to save settings to the card, just turn off the camera and turn it on again to 'save' the configuration to the camera's memory (in case it locks up or glitches and you're forced to pull the battery to restart it).
If the R1's internal 'memory' battery is going bad, I wonder if it's an 'old' new stock camera that has sat on the shelf for a while. While cameras used to use regular non-rechargeable coin cell batteries for retaining settings in memory, I believe a lot now use an internal rechargeable battery that depends on a charged primary battery (the one that normally powers the camera) being installed for a period of time to allow the internal battery to stay topped up.
You should be able to determine the manufacturing date (month and year) of the camera based on its serial number. I wonder if it's an old one?
The link below also applies to Canon camera serial numbers to determine manufacture date.
I just recently experienced a failed internal clock battery on my Sony camera, and as expected only the time is lost when you remove the main battery, and all the other settings are retained. In other words the camera keeps the settings in writable flash memory. It already has writable flash because you can upgrade the firmware. If you think about it, a camera manufacturer isn’t going to add special low-current volatile memory for settings in addition to the flash memory that’s already there.
Another reason why it wouldn’t be built that way is that many users will wrongly store the camera without the main battery in it and setting the time is much easier than entering all the settings.
So I think it’s faulty flash memory. Either way, the camera is faulty because the rechargeable clock battery is not user-replaceable. You should return it for a refund.
As for getting an unmolested pristine one, that’s what I ask for. But here in Australia return for change-of-mind is not commonly offered for this kind of product, and I avoid the one retailer that does. Someone else’s indecision could become my problem.
Something is kept in nonvolatile memory but what I have experienced with the R5II is that when a random lock-up happens, and I pull the battery (without turning it off first) to force an unpowered shutdown, very often, when the camera restarts, it will be with the settings that were in place when it was first turned on since its last proper shut down. I have noticed this during events where I'm going through different areas in a venue with very different exposure settings and having to reset those settings after a forced reboot. So while settings are in nonvolatile memory, they are not constantly saved to that memory during use, but it rather appears to only happen when the camera is properly turned off with the on/off switch or perhaps also when the memory card door is opened (which forces the camera to turn off).
Anyway, something with the OP's R1 is definitely not right.
I should say I am sure I turned the camera off each time before changing the battery - that has always been my habit. And it wasn't reverting back to settings I had previously set on the camera but rather just seemingly random settings such as the eye control which I had never even played with on the camera yet. and it was just strange that it wouldn't let me change the new settings for hours - perhaps during recharging of the internal battery Very bizzare and my fault for getting the camera so last minute before my event. I thought it would be a great weekend to put it through it's paces and it was other than the major malfunctions with each battery change. And of course I was using OEM batteries. Both days were very hot in the high 90's with extemely high humidity and I don''t know if that could have caused issues too. I used to shoot my older 1D's constantly in very high heat/humidity conditions and never had an issue but this camera does create a lot more heat itself so maybe that contributed.
Very bizzare and my fault for getting the camera so last minute before my event. I thought it would be a great weekend to put it through it's paces and it was other than the major malfunctions with each battery change. And of course I was using OEM batteries. Both days were very hot in the high 90's with extemely high humidity and I don''t know if that could have caused issues too. I used to shoot my older 1D's constantly in very high heat/humidity conditions and never had an issue but this camera does create a lot more heat itself so maybe that contributed.