5D MkIII Shoots once then dies

[Blackbird2021]

I turn on the camera, everything works, all the buttons, dials, focus, etc.  As soon as I take a shot, the camera shows the image in the screen, then everything shuts down - all the buttons, dials - focus still works, but I can't shoot.  I have to take the battery out and put it back in then I can take one more shot.

The problem started yesterday while using a Sunpak DigiFlash 3000 - I assume this is related to the camera problem.

The problem persists whether I am trying to use the flash or not.  All settings reset to default.  Flash disabled.  Still doesn't work.  

[Blackbird2021]

If anyone is interested in how this story ends - I know I am - here it is.

Drove 3 hours to the repair shop.  Lady at the counter tries it out - it works.  I try it out - it works.  Driving home 3 hours I realize that I took the CF card out before taking it to the shop.  After trying several combinations of card selections (CF, SD, CF & SD, RAW, JPG) it seems related to the CF card, but can't replicate the problem reliably.  Now the camera works most of the time, refuses to work at others.  It's an improvement.

[jrhoffman75]

Look into the CF card slot and see if there are any bent pins.

Did you try more than one CF card?

[wq9nsc]

CF card pins are far too easy to bend, especially if you fall prey to one of the very common counterfeit knockoff cards.  There is very little room for error and a card slightly out of tolerance will easily result in a bent pin.

I primarily use the SD card slot in my 5DS  and 5DS R bodies with the CF card only in use on the rare occasions where I want the redundancy of having the RAW files recorded to both cards.  My 1DX, 1DX II, and 1DX III files are transferred to my workstation via their fast ethernet port which is a mechanically reliable connector and their cards stay in place.

Rodger