Canon 5D mkiii won't take photos

[GoodOlOneEye]

Hello, 

I need expert assistance for my Canon 5D mk iii.

CONTEXT:

I hadn't used my camera for several days and left it stored in a cushioned camera case where it sat in my camera bag. It was brought to my car and left in the passenger compartment or placed in a locked trunk where it was cold but not significantly so. The humidy was quite low.

DISCRIPTION OF TECHNICAL PROBLEM

When I turned on my Canon 5D mk iii with a freshly charged battery it turns on as the lcd panel settings are visable and you can see the settings change when I go from Auto to Manual. The problem however relates to the loss of control of the following controls:

• The shutter button when depressed will not take a photo - the lens does focus as you can see and hear it focusing
• Depressing the menu button doesn't bring up the menu
• Depressing the Quick Control button doesn't bring up the menu

I'm wondering if somehow a setting was changed causing this problem? I haven't been ablt to find the reason nor a fix for this. Hopefully I will not have to send it in for repair after all I only purchased in June or July of 2017

In advance thank you for your asssitance.

Scott

[TCampbell · Accepted solution]

Will it take a photo if you disable auto-focus?  That can sometimes be a hint that you're in a mode that requires focus priority but for some reason the camera is failing to lock focus on at least one focus point (hearing the motors doesn't necessarily mean it succeeded and it will eventually give up trying).

The issue of the 'menu' and 'quick ontrol' buttons are a bit more puzzling.  I do not know if any setting that allows you to override the function of the menu button.  Normally that will just work.

When you bring a "cold" camera into warm air, it can cause condensation.  Though the 5D III body is weather sealed, removing the lens would, of course, allow lots of warm moist air into the internals of the camera.  This moisture usually wont cause any permanent damage if the camera is allowed to completely warm up and dry out (putting the camera in a sealed zip-lock bag with dessicant packs and leaving it in there for a day or two can help dry out any moisture that may be inside the camera.)          

But if that doesn't do the trick, it probably needs service.

[RobertTheFat]

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TCampbell wrote:

Will it take a photo if you disable auto-focus?  That can sometimes be a hint that you're in a mode that requires focus priority but for some reason the camera is failing to lock focus on at least one focus point (hearing the motors doesn't necessarily mean it succeeded and it will eventually give up trying).

The issue of the 'menu' and 'quick ontrol' buttons are a bit more puzzling.  I do not know if any setting that allows you to override the function of the menu button.  Normally that will just work.

When you bring a "cold" camera into warm air, it can cause condensation.  Though the 5D III body is weather sealed, removing the lens would, of course, allow lots of warm moist air into the internals of the camera.  This moisture usually wont cause any permanent damage if the camera is allowed to completely warm up and dry out (putting the camera in a sealed zip-lock bag with dessicant packs and leaving it in there for a day or two can help dry out any moisture that may be inside the camera.)          

But if that doesn't do the trick, it probably needs service.

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One minor quibble about that advice: The sealed zip-lock bag won't help unless you put the camera in it before you bring it into the house. Once the camera is exposed to warmer air, which normally contains more water vapor, you want the air to circulate in order to carry the condensate away from the camera. Dessicant can help, but isn't likely to be as effective as circulating air.

[TCampbell]

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@RobertTheFat wrote:

One minor quibble about that advice: The sealed zip-lock bag won't help unless you put the camera in it before you bring it into the house. Once the camera is exposed to warmer air, which normally contains more water vapor, you want the air to circulate in order to carry the condensate away from the camera. Dessicant can help, but isn't likely to be as effective as circulating air.

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Hi Bob,

The idea of putting the dessicant packs in a sealed zip-lock bag (along with the electronics... such as the camera) is that dessicant packs pull humidity out of the air and create an extremely dry environment.  

The rate of evaporation is related to the relative humidity of the air (and also air temperature but that also alters the relative humidity).  This really helps speed up any evaporation of moisture inside the camera.  Basically if there is any way for moisture to get “in”, then this method can pull that same moisture “out”.  

I once had a phone fall in a lake... it was pretty much shot (or so we thought).  A few days of drying out and it actually started working again.

I picked up some “rechargeable” dessicant packs from Pelican (the people who make the water-tight cases).  They sell a type that are in metal trays instead of paper bags and they can be heated in the oven.  Their dessicant changes color as it absorbs moisture and there’s a point when they tell you it wont pull any more moisture out of the air until you recharge it.   To “recharge” it, you throw it on a cookie sheet in a 300°F oven for about 3 hours... then let it cool down (and you’ll see the color has returned to when it was new).  The heat forces the dessicant packs to give up their moisture and they’re ready to go again.

I have a couple of these for each of my gear bags.

BTW, “dessicant” is a generic word... there are lots of different materials that can be used.  Not all are safely rechargeable — so I would not try this with just any dessicant pack.

[GoodOlOneEye]

Hello Tim, 

Thank you very much for your advice. I can't tell you how long I have spent trying to solve the problem, and found it necessary to walk away for awhile and remain calm while I reminded myself that it is unlike the Canon dslr brand to have such a failure. 

After reading your reply I had to move my manual to get up and glancing at the page I had been reading was the recommendation not to forget your SD or CF card. This struck me because I had for the last little while been only using a new Samsung 256GB EVO memory card. It is very very fast. To the point now, I removed the card completely and loaded a CF card, but it wasn't completely solved so I opened the battery compartment to remove the battery and gently pushed it in again. 

VOILA!!! She works again!!! I've tried it with multiple lenses and indeed the camera is working beautifully. I'm not sure if it was solely the SD card or the battery, plus I had removed them and reloaded them before, but whatever the sequence I will be able to take photos at Christmas. Excellent!!!

Thanks again. All the best of the season and a Happy New Year to you your friends and family. 

Best regards,

Scott Townley

[TCampbell]

Good to hear it’s working again!

If it was a moisture-related issue then it’s possible that just sitting indoors long enough allowed any internal moisture to evaporate.

I have heard of bad memory cards that refuse to let a camera power up until the card is removed.  But your issue wasn’t about not powering up... it was about not working correctly after powering up — so I didn’t suspect a card problem.

One thing to keep in mind is that the power switch is really just a software switch... it doesn’t actually cut power.  The switch tells the computer that you’d like to “power off”... but the camera really just goes into an extended sleep state.  This is why you can see the camera perform a sensor-cleaning cycle even after you’ve powered off the camera.  When you pull the battery it, of course, really goes off — and that means it has to do a fresh boot the next time you insert a battery and close the battery compartment door.  This effectively “reboots” the camera.