Canon 7D Mark II Freezes

[mmschill]

I have had my Canon 7D Mark II for two or so years, and recently it has began a focusing issue. I am a concert photographer and more and more commonly when I go to the shows I will be in the middle of shooting a set and the camera will just stop responding. One moment it is focusing and taking photos, the next moment nothing works. The LCD screen goes black, I can’t change any settings, or review any photos. The auto focus feature also stops working

Most often I am using a 17-55 f/2.8 canon lens to shoot, but it was purchased used.

Can’t seem to find a simple fix but after missing sets, swapping my lenses, and removing and reinserting the battery at some point it starts responding. Any ideas what’s going on??? Or how I can avoid this in the future?

[wq9nsc]

Do you have a second battery that you can try?  When the battery starts to age it can create errors and lockups, particulary when shooting continuously.  As the battery ages, an increased current demand will cause the battery voltage to drop significantly which can easily cause electronic "glitches".

Several years ago I needed some replacement batteries for my 1D2 and the only thing I could get before my trip were aftermarket types.  They worked OK except shooting at a high exposure rate would cause the camera to lock up but once I replaced them with new OEM batteries the camera was fine.  Although there are probably OK aftermarket batteries I would stay with the real Canon variety even though they are expensive.

Rodger

[mmschill]

Hi Rodger, thanks for the response!

I’m currently using a battery grip with both a canon and non canon battery, think that might be doing it? I lost the battery door after buying the grip... maybe I need to invest in a new one

[MikeSowsun]

Did you look for the batery door on the bettery grip in the spot designed to store it ?

[CaliforniaDream]

A few years ago I tried a non Canon battery and had nothing but problems with it.  In particular if I was doing  Continuous shooting the camera would turn off.  Gave up on the battery and only use Canon now.  BTW my understanding is the camera switches back and forth between he two batteries, it may have the problem when it switches to the non-Canon battery.

[mmschill]

Mike,

Great question, I have. Unfortunately, when I purchased the grip I didn’t know that was there and tossed the door into a bag. It’s disappeared since

[CaliforniaDream]

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@mmschill wrote:
Mike,

Great question, I have. Unfortunately, when I purchased the grip I didn’t know that was there and tossed the door into a bag. It’s disappeared since

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I did the same thing, then I happened to read the instructions (something I seldom do) and saw where the removed battery door storage was and took about 20 mins. to find and put the door where it belongs.  Taught me to always at least scan the instructions.