Canon EOS 70D Loses Its Settings On Restart?

[znszalay]

I picked up a Canon EOS 70D body and a few lenses and I've been enjoying it. However, when I shut down the camera and come back to it later (or shut it down and restart it immediately), all the settings I put are lost.

This includes ISO, Exposure, Aperture, and even the LCD brightness and auto-shutdown timer. I can set up everything exactly how I like it but then on a restart they're all set to default.

Does anyone know what is causing this? Is it a bug? Is there a way to save settings on this camera that I'm just not using and it resets by default?

Keep in mind I've set the Mode Dial to "Custom" so I assume it should be saving any settings I make.

[TCampbell · Accepted solution]

---

@znszalay wrote:

I picked up a Canon EOS 70D body and a few lenses and I've been enjoying it. However, when I shut down the camera and come back to it later (or shut it down and restart it immediately), all the settings I put are lost.

This includes ISO, Exposure, Aperture, and even the LCD brightness and auto-shutdown timer. I can set up everything exactly how I like it but then on a restart they're all set to default.

Does anyone know what is causing this? Is it a bug? Is there a way to save settings on this camera that I'm just not using and it resets by default?

Keep in mind I've set the Mode Dial to "Custom" so I assume it should be saving any settings I make.

---

Your use of "custom" is doing this.

When you use the "custom" mode you initially set up the camera to some settings (in a mode which is NOT the custom mode) and then access a menu to "register" those settings as your custom mode.

You can then make any changes you want to the camera... but every time you rotate the dial to the "custom" setting, it will immediately revert to whatever settings you used at the time when you "registered" that mode.

You can clear and re-register new settings at any time, but the settings that are saved are the ones that were present at the time when you "register" the mode.

Some models have multiple custom modes (e.g C1, C2, and C3, etc.).   If you were a sports photographer you could set one mode the settings you typically use for action shots (maybe you use shutter speed priority, AI-Servo focus, etc.) and another settings you use for non-action shots (maybe you use aperture priority, One-Shot focus, etc.) and just flip between the two.

[znszalay]

So because I'm not "registering" those settings, it's just going back to default, as if I just moved the Mode Dial back and forth?

[znszalay]

You were 100% correct. I simply have to go under the settings and "register" any changes I make. There's even an auto-register feature.

I am very new to the pro photography gear, so I thank you very much for your patience.

[TCampbell]

Yes - and registering the settings is easy.  

Set the camera to a mode OTHER than the custom mode.  Configure the camera to all the settings that you want.  For example, if you want to set the "Custom" mode to use Shutter priority (Tv) with a shutter speed of 1/1000, ISO 800, f/4, AI-Servo focus, etc. etc.  then you pretend your camera doesn't have a "Custom" mode and just set the camera up as you want.

Next, use the menu and access the Yellow "Wrench" icon with 4 dots.  Select the "Custom shooting mode (C mode)" option on that menu.  This opens a new sub-menu as shown here.

Select the "Register settings" and press the 'Set' button.

At this point, you've "registered' your custom mode.  You could change modes, completely change all settings... but when you return to the "Custom" mode ('C' on the mode dial) the camera will immediately revert to those settings you set for the Custom mode.

However... look two rows down on that menu to the option that says "Auto update set.".   It's set to 'Disable' by default.  If you "enable" this feature than anything you change when in "Custom" mode will be remembered.

This is a dangerous thing to enable because it means you're going to have some configuration drift... in other words unless you've got an incredibly sharp memory... you can never be quite so certain what you're going to get when you switch to the "custom" mode.  For this reason, the "Auto update set." Is disabled as a factory default.

I hope that helps!

[znszalay]

Thank you again. Yes I noticed that and enabled it and immediately changed it back realizing that. That would essentially go back against what I wanted to use it for.