Canon 1D MK2 - Every other photo is black? HELP

[danrusso]

I recently purchased a Canon 1D Mark II. I had it serviced, picking it up last Monday. Nothing was wrong with the camera. A coworker asked to take photos in the office. He stepped away, returning a few minutes later, asking me if the camera's taking a black frame, every other frame was normal. 

At the time, I didn't think much of it. I thought it was user error. However about a hour later, I tried to take some photos and encountered the same problem. Every other photo is black. The photos which do show up, are clear, well balanced and properly exposed.

So far I reset all custom settings on the camera, and make sure noise reduction was disabled.  So far no luck.

Does anyone know what's going on?

Thanks so much.

[MikeSowsun]

What does the EXIF data say for the black photos?  If it is the same as the normal photos, I would suspect your shutter or mirror is not operating properly. 

[cicopo]

Where are you seeing them as black? On the LCD or a computer? When you take several photos one after another WITH ENOUGH TIME TO VIEW THEM ON THE LCD as they are stored is every second one black or do they all show up when the red lamp stops flashing? If they all show up on the LCD but not on the computer it might just be a lack of the right software to view the RAW files also being created.

[danrusso]

take a look at my reply below.

[MikeSowsun]

The EXIF data for the black photos is the same as for the properly exposed photos. (Manual mode, 50mm, ISO 100, f/10, 1/200)  That leads me to suspect that either your shutter, or your mirror is failing, and not allowing the light to reach the sensor.  

I can't think of any other reason for a black photo. 

[danrusso]

my fears... shutter was replaced in 2012...

[ebiggs1]

Well this will be easy to trouble shoot if it is a mirror or shutter problem.  Set it to manual, remove the lens and watch it.

 You should see the mirror and shutter move.

[danrusso]

I did just that. I couldn't see anything. I'm stumped.

[ebiggs1]

What about the shutter?  Set it to a slower shutter speed and look.

[danrusso]

I saw the **bleep**ter not rising as much as the mirror. I just brought it in for service. If you want I'll tell ya what they find. The odd thing is they just did a clean and check two weeks ago. The camera checked out. It wasn't dropped or anything.