Canon 5D Mark IV randomly stops working

[SMPhotography20]

Hello, 

I have had my 5d mark IV for a few months now and i have noticed some days at sessions i will be mid shoot and the camera will just quit working. the LED screen on top will stay on and all the numbers and settings still appear but the when looking through the viewfinder it is black and when i try to go into live view nothing happens.  i can still press the play button and see images ive taken but the shutter will not fire and i cannot take photos.  I carry a backup 90d body as a fail safe but i dont prefer to use it after the quality of the mark IV.  it will stay locked up like this for around 30 minutes or so.  ive noticed it resolves slightly quicker if i detach the lens and take out the battery.

am i crazy or has this happened to anyone else?

[deebatman316]

Does the 5D Mark IV lock up in the middle of the exposure. What is the drive mode set to. How many fps are you trying to shoot.

[March411]

Do you have the Sigma dock? It may be worth checking the firmware on the lenses also.

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

Is your battery (or batteries) Canon brand?  Have you performed a full reset of the camera's main and custom settings?  

To test reset the camera.

Remove the lens and card(s).  If you are using a battery grip this should be removed as well.  Are you able to reproduce the issue.  Allow the camera to sit idle, the go into power save, now wake it and repeat. Result? 

If this works, add a lens, and again, allow the camera to go idle and then wake it.  Repeat. Result?

Now, remove the lens and add the cards.  Perform the same tests and attempt to reproduce the behavior.  

This should allow you to isolate the issue which could be caused by one or more accessories.  

If the behavior does not occur again, the issue was likely the cameras settings or a combination of customizations.  

Having up to date firmware on both camera and lenses can be helpful, but I would not make any changes to either until I was sure the camera was functioning reliably.  

[afronk8]

Hi! This is happening to me too… wondering if you found anything that helps! I noticed it’s when I try to switch from live view back to viewfinder shooting. My shutter won’t “open” and pressing the “start/stop” button switches the af settings back & forth between Servo and One Shot which it doesn’t normally do. Taking the battery out is the only way to reset it. It makes me so nervous—I would hate for this to happen mid-wedding or something!