I shot a drum corps competition last night and it looks like my 1D finally went out on me at 204k clicks on the shutter.
It was shooting along perfectly 'till we got about 3/4 of the way through the shoot. The battery life on it isn't too great so I keep having to swap batteries after about 3 corps or so so I always keep a spare battery in my pocket.
Anyways, I hear the low battery shutter sound and swap batteries. The new battery works fine, but as soon as I snap a shot, I hear the low battery shutter and it says this battery is dead too. Confused, I start checking everything and notice that the camera is pretty much toast.
It's not a broken shutter leaf like we've traditionally seen. I'm able to pop off one shot and sometimes it works and writes the image, but there's intense banding across the image. A few more attempts later, I'm getting just corrupted images writing to the card. I've tried with multiple CF cards and it seems to be a camera issue.
Here's some sample shots to show you what I mean.
This is from the beginning of the last performance when the camera was still functional. Just resized, rotated, and sharpened. Straight out of camera otherwise.
The banding is horizontal, but the image has been rotated so it looks vertical.
Finally, for the purely corrupted images, most of them won't open in PS, but I found one that does. In the Windows thumbnail preview, all I see is the top strip and the black/white area shown here is all gray. It looks like it's able to take a pic, but it's failing to read out the entire portion of the captured image.
I'm gonna send the camera off to CPS and have them repair it. I don't think it's a shutter issue. Perhaps a dying sensor? Perhaps some sort of buffer problem? I really don't know what the issue is. If the repair is too expensive, I may just have to pick up another body since the 1D's are so inexpensive these days.
I'm not familiar with this issue, but I feel for you as a fellow 1D user
The 1D is atypical in that the sensor splits its data and sends it out to two receivers, one on either side, rather than just one side like normal CMOS-based bodies. That may make any sensor issues a bit stranger. Good luck with the fix!
How do you get that button battery out? The screw is super tiny and really screwed in. I've got some screwdrivers that can unscrew it, but it's hard to get a grip on it and it's starting to strip the actual screw...
I used a small computer screwdriver. I'm sure an eyeglasses screwdriver would also work.
This is a good time to change the little battery since you will lose the camera settings. They are a buck or two at any drugstore, box store, or Radio Shack.
CR2025 COIN CELL
If the lens is stuck in manual mode you can't do tracking. Must be on AF, but I'm sure you tried another lens.
Good news is the base repair price is still about $185. A few weeks ago my friend paid that plus shipping for a 1D that would not AF at all. We believe he got a new shutter since the counter was zeroed.
my guess would be that the power supply to the camera is dying, with your aging batteries the camera has probably been fed all kinds of varying voltages over the charge cycle of each battery and it has finally taken its toll on the power supply. With incorrect voltages being fed to the components they are not acting correctly and out of sync.
I dont know if the power supply and the main board are the circuit board same on a 1d, but continuing to attempt to use the camera could damage more components further.
Ariel Bravy wrote:
If I set the camera to single shot, silent shutter mode (Pf. 21), it shoots just fine. Banding solved itself too!
Problems remain on normal shutter mode or multi-shot mode however...
At least I can use it to take pictures now.
I too didn't think of the shutter at first but now it looks like it. if in silent mode works and in normal mode doesn't then it is the shutter mechanism.
anyway send it to Canon CPS.
ah look at the clarity of the first shot you posted! that clarity only a good old 1D can achieve!
Thanks for reviving this thread. The camera's been back for a little while now fully functional, thanks to the awesomeness that is CPS.
Just for the sake of completion and archival purposes in case information on this topic is needed again, here's the update from CPS after the $247 repair job:
"We have examined the product according to your request, and it was found that the part was inoperative. The part was replaced. Other electrical adjustments, inspection, cleaning, and parts replacements were carried out. Could not duplicate banding problem. As a precaution we performed digital adjustment. If problem persists, send it back with sample images."
I have no idea how they couldn't replicate the problem and am totally dumbfounded as the camera was completely dysfunctional when I sent it off. Perhaps it magically fixed itself on the way.
In any event, I'm not exactly sure what they did. The shutter count is still the same so I don't think the shutter itself was replaced.
hm, nope. Actually sent it with a battery because I couldn't find the plastic cover thingy to put in instead. I tried with all of my batteries (I've got 4) and they all had the same issue before repairs.
An email was sent to CPS regarding the specifics of the repair and once I hear back from them, you guys will be the first to know.
They replaced the charge unit, bottom cover case (which seems to be just the rubber grip on the bottom), accessory shoe (got a brand new black one) , plate spring (part of the hot shoe), and shutter.
The shutter count through CanCount is still at ~200k or so. That number they said only gets reset when they put in another mirror box. That number is designed to show how many shots were taken on the body, not the shutter itself. The only way for them to determine the actual shutter count is to hook it up to specialized software they have at Canon.
In any event, I got a new shutter out of the deal. Hooray!
