topic Re: Canon 5D viewfinder defect in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

Canon 5D viewfinder defect

ThomasPatrick — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 19:07:18 GMT

Hello, I have a Canon 5D whereby I look thru the viewfinder & all that visible is a clear hole. The remaining parts of the viewfinder are "blacked out" I put the same lens on a different camera and the issue went away. So my auumption is that the issue/defect is on the Canon Body. Has anyone had this experience & if so, how did you you repair your 5D? I'd send it to Canon but because so many upgrades came out after the original 5D, the repair price might be as high as the cameras value. I sure would appreciate any step by step instructions as I've tried other lenses on the 5D, than put those leneses on one of my other Canon's, so it has to be the body, perhaps the mirror elements. Please help. Kindly,

Gary

Re: Canon 5D viewfinder defect

wq9nsc — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 01:46:55 GMT

I have never owned an EF-S lens (designed for "crop sensor" Canon cameras) but that sounds much like what would happen if you tried to install a crop sensor lens on a full frame camera. What is the lens model that you tried?

Rodger

Re: Canon 5D viewfinder defect

JasonR — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 12:26:39 GMT

The 5D is designed for EF lenses, putting an EFs lens on a full frame camera such as the 5D can cause damage to the shutter and or adapter. The EFs lens is a crop frame lens and that would be why you are seeing what you are when you put it on the 5D. Also, I spoke with Canon just yesterday on an unrelated 5D repair issue and the 5D can no longer be sent in for repair as they do not have parts stock for these cameras any longer.

Re: Canon 5D viewfinder defect

RobertTheFat — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 15:10:11 GMT

@JasonR wrote:
The 5D is designed for EF lenses, putting an EFs lens on a full frame camera such as the 5D can cause damage to the shutter and or adapter. The EFs lens is a crop frame lens and that would be why you are seeing what you are when you put it on the 5D. Also, I spoke with Canon just yesterday on an unrelated 5D repair issue and the 5D can no longer be sent in for repair as they do not have parts stock for these cameras any longer.

I'm pretty sure that by the time the 5D came out, Canon had already modified the EF mount to physically refuse to accept an EF-S lens. So I'm dubious about that proposed explanation of the OP's problem.

Re: Canon 5D viewfinder defect

Waddizzle — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 16:36:46 GMT

@RobertTheFat wrote:
@JasonR wrote:
The 5D is designed for EF lenses, putting an EFs lens on a full frame camera such as the 5D can cause damage to the shutter and or adapter. The EFs lens is a crop frame lens and that would be why you are seeing what you are when you put it on the 5D. Also, I spoke with Canon just yesterday on an unrelated 5D repair issue and the 5D can no longer be sent in for repair as they do not have parts stock for these cameras any longer.
I'm pretty sure that by the time the 5D came out, Canon had already modified the EF mount to physically refuse to accept an EF-S lens. So I'm dubious about that proposed explanation of the OP's problem.

Why do you say that? Most third party lenses for APS-C bodies use the standard EF mount. Why should they design two different mounts when one works just fine?

Re: Canon 5D viewfinder defect

wq9nsc — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 00:16:42 GMT

Bob,

The actual Canon EF-S lens is built so that it is physically blocked from mounting to a full frame Canon DSLR body to prevent damage to the lens and/or mirror mechanism BUT that isn't true of all third party "crop" lenses some of which will mount to a full frame Canon DSLR body.

Depending upon the design of the particular lens, it may have sufficient clearance to avoid damage but I wouldn't chance it unless the manufacturer has tested that it will work (other than not illuminating the entire sensor area). Be particularly cautious if trying to use a zoom lens and or a rear focusing setup because the problematic protrusion will only occur under certain optical settings.

If you search on youtube, you will find a video of how to use crop sensor Canon glass on full frame bodies by removing the "blocking" piece. I strongly advise against this experiment because damage could be very expensive if your lens protrudes too far into the sensor box, sort of like what happens when a timing chain breaks on an "interference" car engine and the valve train becomes intimate with the piston faces.

Rodger

Re: Canon 5D viewfinder defect

RobertTheFat — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 04:18:18 GMT

@Waddizzle wrote:
@RobertTheFat wrote:
@JasonR wrote:
The 5D is designed for EF lenses, putting an EFs lens on a full frame camera such as the 5D can cause damage to the shutter and or adapter. The EFs lens is a crop frame lens and that would be why you are seeing what you are when you put it on the 5D. Also, I spoke with Canon just yesterday on an unrelated 5D repair issue and the 5D can no longer be sent in for repair as they do not have parts stock for these cameras any longer.
I'm pretty sure that by the time the 5D came out, Canon had already modified the EF mount to physically refuse to accept an EF-S lens. So I'm dubious about that proposed explanation of the OP's problem.
Why do you say that? Most third party lenses for APS-C bodies use the standard EF mount. Why should they design two different mounts when one works just fine?

Let's be clear. The reason an EF-S lens can't be used on a full-frame Canon camera is that it takes advantage of an APS-C camera's smaller mirror, which allows the lens to extend further into the camera body, A 3rd-party APS-C lens that didn't do that could presumably be mounted on a full-frame camera. But a (Canon) EF-S lens cannot, because it would interfere with the camera's mirror. So Jason's surmise that the OP was using an EF-S lens on his 5D could hardly be true, because the camera's EF mount would block an EF-S lens from being inserted.

Re: Canon 5D viewfinder defect

Ray-uk — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 10:38:35 GMT

It would be interesting to hear from the OP with a bit more information on this fault, although everyone is blaming the lens you can get this effect if the focus screen is missing.

Re: Canon 5D viewfinder defect

Waddizzle — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 17:18:06 GMT

@RobertTheFat wrote:
@Waddizzle wrote:
@RobertTheFat wrote:
@JasonR wrote:
The 5D is designed for EF lenses, putting an EFs lens on a full frame camera such as the 5D can cause damage to the shutter and or adapter. The EFs lens is a crop frame lens and that would be why you are seeing what you are when you put it on the 5D. Also, I spoke with Canon just yesterday on an unrelated 5D repair issue and the 5D can no longer be sent in for repair as they do not have parts stock for these cameras any longer.
I'm pretty sure that by the time the 5D came out, Canon had already modified the EF mount to physically refuse to accept an EF-S lens. So I'm dubious about that proposed explanation of the OP's problem.
Why do you say that? Most third party lenses for APS-C bodies use the standard EF mount. Why should they design two different mounts when one works just fine?
Let's be clear. The reason an EF-S lens can't be used on a full-frame Canon camera is that it takes advantage of an APS-C camera's smaller mirror, which allows the lens to extend further into the camera body, A 3rd-party APS-C lens that didn't do that could presumably be mounted on a full-frame camera. But a (Canon) EF-S lens cannot, because it would interfere with the camera's mirror. So Jason's surmise that the OP was using an EF-S lens on his 5D could hardly be true, because the camera's EF mount would block an EF-S lens from being inserted.

I understand that with Canon EF-S mounts. I do not think the OP said what lens model was causing the issue. I am just pointing out that the symptoms are consistent with some third party lenses made for Canon APS-C bodies.

Re: Canon 5D viewfinder defect

huskyC — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 00:48:54 GMT

Check if the mirror is still there. Some early batches of 5D had the problem of mirror detached from the mount.

There has been some discussions about this issue. The following is one of them.

https://petapixel.com/2015/05/13/canon-warns-the-original-5d-may-suffer-from-mirror-separation/

Re: Canon 5D viewfinder defect

ThomasPatrick — Fri, 25 Sep 2020 14:10:46 GMT

I inadvertently tried to put a Canon EFS 18-55 onto my 5D. My friend has a T7i & I grabbed what I thought was my "short lens". Obviously it did NOT mount and afterwards my viewfinder looked as though I was looking thru a telescope, minus the magnification. I'm able to shoot images, but it's nearly impossible to see thru the small hole that is now the viewfinder "look". I looked inside my 5D to see if anything looked "cocked" or missing & everything looked ok. I'm not tech saavy, as far as knowing how many pieces of "glass" are supposed to be inside the camera so it may look fine but something could be missing. If it matters, I am super gentle when handling my equip, especially when mounting smallish lenses. I never use the 5D but I took it along one day to see how it compared to my new camera as I planned on selling the 5D. Thanks everyone who responded. If anyone could tell me exactly what to look for & where to look I sure would appreciate it. Again, thank you kindly.

Re: Canon 5D viewfinder defect

ThomasPatrick — Fri, 25 Sep 2020 14:22:44 GMT

It was my mistake. I grabbed what I thought was my wide angle canon lens but instead grabbed mt friends canon EFS 18-55. I noticed instantly that I had the wrong lens but not until I did the "half twist" thingy. Afterwards when I mounted the correct lens onto the 5D, the only way to describe it...is that looking into the viewfinder...it looks as though your looking thru a long pipe or telescope without the magnification. If it matters ..the camera still is able to shoot images...but now the view in the viewfinder is only a small distant circle. I read & appreciate the replies & looked inside the 5D if it looked as though something was missing or at a strange angle but I didnt see anything that looked "out of whack". I'm not exactly tech savvy as far as the inside of cameras so maybe im just missing something. I'm pretty certain if something fell out of the camera when I attempted to mount the EFS lens I would have noticed. As I said, the camera still shoots fine but I need to undo whatever happened to the camera that the viewfinder looks as I described. If someone has a link to a diagram, that would help as I could compare my camera to the way it is supposed to be. I appreciate everyone's help.

Re: Canon 5D viewfinder defect

jrhoffman75 — Fri, 25 Sep 2020 14:33:32 GMT

Check that the circled part is now off the lens and stuck in the camera.