400D Strange behaviour

Hi,

I've had my 400D since april and its excellent! 6500 shots so far.
Now, I've noticed a couple of anoying problems that rarely occurs, but
do occur from time to time.

1. Sometimes after I take a shot, the info in the viewfinder goes
black, and the screen is black.. the camera is completely non-
responsive.. the on-led is lit, even if I switch the camera off. I
have to remove and reinsert the batteries to obtain control again..
the picture I took is gone.. I guess the error could be located either
in the CF-card.. or the camera itself.. it's very strange.. This can
happen a couple of shots in a row.. but is rare

2. I have a 580 EX flash. The on camera flash flashes rapidly to help
focus.. the 580 EX uses a red light located on the flash.. Rarely, the
580 EX starts to light up like the on camera flash... it goes really
bright for a relatively long time (around 2-3 seconds).. like the on
camera flash trying to help focus.. it doesn't sound or look good...
Again.. the error could be in the flash or on the camera... I think I
may have hit the flash exposure button (the one that sends out a
single flash for exposure measurement) once and it happend... but I
can't replicate the error..

Has anyone ever had the same problems??

I can't really send it for repair.. the errors are fairly rare, and i
can't reproduce them.. I'm just worried that the bulb in my flash will
blow one day.. or i'll take a special picture that gets lost after the
camera freezes. I'm just praying the camera and/or flash will break
before my warrenty runs out.. if I send it for repair, and they don't
find anything.. they're gonna return my equipment with a fat bill on
top.

Soren

Soren wrote:
Hi,

I've had my 400D since april and its excellent! 6500 shots so far.
Now, I've noticed a couple of anoying problems that rarely occurs, but
do occur from time to time.

1. Sometimes after I take a shot, the info in the viewfinder goes
black, and the screen is black.. the camera is completely non-
responsive.. the on-led is lit, even if I switch the camera off. I
have to remove and reinsert the batteries to obtain control again..
the picture I took is gone.. I guess the error could be located either
in the CF-card.. or the camera itself.. it's very strange.. This can
happen a couple of shots in a row.. but is rare

2. I have a 580 EX flash. The on camera flash flashes rapidly to help
focus.. the 580 EX uses a red light located on the flash.. Rarely, the
580 EX starts to light up like the on camera flash... it goes really
bright for a relatively long time (around 2-3 seconds).. like the on
camera flash trying to help focus.. it doesn't sound or look good...
Again.. the error could be in the flash or on the camera... I think I
may have hit the flash exposure button (the one that sends out a
single flash for exposure measurement) once and it happend... but I
can't replicate the error..

Has anyone ever had the same problems??

I can't really send it for repair.. the errors are fairly rare, and i
can't reproduce them.. I'm just worried that the bulb in my flash will
blow one day.. or i'll take a special picture that gets lost after the
camera freezes. I'm just praying the camera and/or flash will break
before my warrenty runs out.. if I send it for repair, and they don't
find anything.. they're gonna return my equipment with a fat bill on
top.

Soren


It might be worth trying the following:

1) Set everything back to factory defaults
2) Apply the latest firmware update
3) See what happens then

Personally, I'd get it back to Canon for a check-over before the
warranty expires. Even if they don't find anything, you've reported it
before the warranty expiry, so that might help if the problem becomes
'solid'. You could argue that because the fault was reported before the
expiry, Canon couldn't argue that it was a new fault requiring you to pay.


Clem

On Mon, 17 Sep 2007 12:13:36 +0000, Soren wrote:

Hi,

I've had my 400D since april and its excellent! 6500 shots so far.
Now, I've noticed a couple of anoying problems that rarely occurs, but
do occur from time to time.

1. Sometimes after I take a shot, the info in the viewfinder goes
black, and the screen is black.. the camera is completely non-
responsive.. the on-led is lit, even if I switch the camera off. I
have to remove and reinsert the batteries to obtain control again..
the picture I took is gone.. I guess the error could be located either
in the CF-card.. or the camera itself.. it's very strange.. This can
happen a couple of shots in a row.. but is rare

Sounds to me like it's broken - return it for repair.


2. I have a 580 EX flash. The on camera flash flashes rapidly to help
focus.. the 580 EX uses a red light located on the flash.. Rarely, the
580 EX starts to light up like the on camera flash... it goes really
bright for a relatively long time (around 2-3 seconds).. like the on
camera flash trying to help focus.. it doesn't sound or look good...
Again.. the error could be in the flash or on the camera... I think I
may have hit the flash exposure button (the one that sends out a
single flash for exposure measurement) once and it happend... but I
can't replicate the error..

Has anyone ever had the same problems??

I can't really send it for repair.. the errors are fairly rare, and i
can't reproduce them.. I'm just worried that the bulb in my flash will
blow one day.. or i'll take a special picture that gets lost after the
camera freezes. I'm just praying the camera and/or flash will break
before my warrenty runs out.. if I send it for repair, and they don't
find anything.. they're gonna return my equipment with a fat bill on
top.

Soren

"Clem Dye" wrote in message
...
Soren wrote:
Hi,

I've had my 400D since april and its excellent! 6500 shots so far.
Now, I've noticed a couple of anoying problems that rarely occurs, but
do occur from time to time.

1. Sometimes after I take a shot, the info in the viewfinder goes
black, and the screen is black.. the camera is completely non-
responsive.. the on-led is lit, even if I switch the camera off. I
have to remove and reinsert the batteries to obtain control again..
the picture I took is gone.. I guess the error could be located either
in the CF-card.. or the camera itself.. it's very strange.. This can
happen a couple of shots in a row.. but is rare

2. I have a 580 EX flash. The on camera flash flashes rapidly to help
focus.. the 580 EX uses a red light located on the flash.. Rarely, the
580 EX starts to light up like the on camera flash... it goes really
bright for a relatively long time (around 2-3 seconds).. like the on
camera flash trying to help focus.. it doesn't sound or look good...
Again.. the error could be in the flash or on the camera... I think I
may have hit the flash exposure button (the one that sends out a
single flash for exposure measurement) once and it happend... but I
can't replicate the error..

Has anyone ever had the same problems??

I can't really send it for repair.. the errors are fairly rare, and i
can't reproduce them.. I'm just worried that the bulb in my flash will
blow one day.. or i'll take a special picture that gets lost after the
camera freezes. I'm just praying the camera and/or flash will break
before my warrenty runs out.. if I send it for repair, and they don't
find anything.. they're gonna return my equipment with a fat bill on
top.

Soren


It might be worth trying the following:

1) Set everything back to factory defaults
2) Apply the latest firmware update
3) See what happens then

Personally, I'd get it back to Canon for a check-over before the warranty
expires. Even if they don't find anything, you've reported it before the
warranty expiry, so that might help if the problem becomes 'solid'. You
could argue that because the fault was reported before the expiry, Canon
couldn't argue that it was a new fault requiring you to pay.


Clem

I agree, send it back. Do it now!!

"Soren" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi,

I've had my 400D since april and its excellent! 6500 shots so far.
Now, I've noticed a couple of anoying problems that rarely occurs, but
do occur from time to time.

1. Sometimes after I take a shot, the info in the viewfinder goes
black, and the screen is black.. the camera is completely non-
responsive.. the on-led is lit, even if I switch the camera off. I
have to remove and reinsert the batteries to obtain control again..
the picture I took is gone.. I guess the error could be located either
in the CF-card.. or the camera itself.. it's very strange.. This can
happen a couple of shots in a row.. but is rare

2. I have a 580 EX flash. The on camera flash flashes rapidly to help
focus.. the 580 EX uses a red light located on the flash.. Rarely, the
580 EX starts to light up like the on camera flash... it goes really
bright for a relatively long time (around 2-3 seconds).. like the on
camera flash trying to help focus.. it doesn't sound or look good...
Again.. the error could be in the flash or on the camera... I think I
may have hit the flash exposure button (the one that sends out a
single flash for exposure measurement) once and it happend... but I
can't replicate the error..

Has anyone ever had the same problems??

Yes. Does this happen with more than one lens?

Also, have you tried cleaning the battery contacts?

You might need a new battery.

Your camera could be defective.

This is a difficult problem to pinpoint the actual cause.