Canon R6 Freezing Up Intermittently

[llehmann]

Anybody else having this problem with the Canon R6 freezing up. It usually starts with the camera not focusing. Its also becomes none responsive to mode changes. The on/off button doesnt work. Opening the battery door shuts it off... but still doesn't fix it. Pulling the battery out usually fixs the problem right away. But again... not always and sometimes it take a few battery removals to get it back up and running. 

This has happened while shooting both photo and video. It happens with different lenses. It happens with different memory cards. I can't recreate the problem on command. The camera works 99% of the time. But at least once a wedding shoot, over the period of 6 hours, It freezes up!

In the video below... I was attached to the Ronin gimbal. But it's happened just shooting photos and without the gimbal. Plus, when I open the battery door and try and turn the camera on/off... it still doesn't work. Has nothing to do with that.

I was on firmware version 1.4
I updated the firmware this week to version 1.5.0.
This problem has been happening for a long time... 8 months. Camera is less than a year old.

Again, at last nights wedding... it froze. 

Here is a video that I recorded when it happened.
1. Focus isn't working. Both back button and touch.
2. Display freezes up. You can still see the audio working.

3. On/off doesn't work.

4. open battery door... nothing works.

5. Pull Battery

[jmontygo]

I’m convinced now.  I just got my camera back from Canon and it was identified as a bad circuit board and it was replaced.  I field tested my camera yesterday and put it through heavy work.  So far no freezing.  In my case everything mentioned in this thread failed for me and while appreciating the advice nothing worked.  I believe this is some sort of factory defect and I’m disappointed I had to fork out close to $500 to repair my camera that was just purchased in Feb 2022.  

[llehmann]

Quick FYI... my R5 is going in for a repair after only a year and a half. So I've lost it being covered by warranty. Thats fine... as long as they can solve the problem. 

It's really expensive for me because I live in Mexico. And when I sent thing to the USA for repair, where it was purchased, they charge me tax and duty on the items returned from repair as if they were new. 

Before you go down the road of why I don't use Mexico Canon repair... because it's not first world service. Even for Canon... in Mexico! Don't go there

[Waddizzle]

“  I use different memory cards... never had a problem with my Sony cards. 
This has been going on for over a year...  “

Really?  What makes you so certain that your Sony cards are not the issue.  YouTube content creator Tony Northrup made a video a few years ago about his bad experiences with Sony SD cards failing at a rate many times higher than other brands.  I hope you are not buying memory cards on Amazon.

BTW, your R5 issues are off-topic in a thread about R6 issues.  

[llehmann]

I exclusively use my Sony cards in my R6MII... so they are not an issue for me. That's not saying they're isn't a problem with Sony cards. Just not in my experience with my cameras.

You are absolutly right about being off topic... let's keep it about the R6 as mentioned.

[DhandaNot]

In my experience with the freeze on R6, I find it happens not while frames are being clicked, it generally happens when the subject is being tracked and I am waiting for the right moment to click. It is before or when the moment arrives I find the camera is frozen and I have missed the shot. This proves that it has little to do with the SD cards.

[wq9nsc]

I hope Canon steps up quickly in solving these different locked up errors people are experiencing.  It certainly shouldn't be happening and it wasn't a widespread problem with earlier cameras and it isn't good for the corporate reputation.  I remember when Canon used Andre Agassi in their advertising campaign with the tagline "Image is everything".  That was a great campaign and it is equally true for corporate image.

Photography is a hobby for me, my doctorate is in marketing and I spent much of my career also doing enterprise risk management as a side consulting practice.  Never give the competition an easy opening.

I have been using primarily Canon 1 series cameras since 2005 and I have had a total of a single camera lockup with error in hundreds of events where I have shot several hundred thousand images over the years in rain, heat, bitter cold and snow.  That one lockup was when I had to use a non-Canon battery in my 1D Mark II and that battery couldn't maintain the required current under a sustained high speed burst resulting in voltage drop and lockup.  Even that aftermarket battery probably would have been OK under burst mode in normal conditions but I was shooting a football playoff when the actual temperature was -5C.

Not every Canon body should be built to 1 series weather resistance but they should be reliable because with past Canon bodies I could always count on a great user interface, excellent optics, and rock solid reliability. 

The greatest risk to an organization is the loss of perceived quality and it doesn't even matter whether the perception is fully based in reality.  As Canon and Andre stated back in the 90s, "Image is everything".

Rodger

[ehost]

I agree, but if you notice, this thread has been around since mid 2022 and still there are new models (Mark II) rolling out with the same latent defect. Canon is actively ignoring the issue while at the same time they are hoping it will just go away. This happens as people is losing money with days we can't work due to lack of equipment while is is being "repaired" or replaced or whatever. 

[JAYSTATON]

It happens on mine when taking photographs.  When I hold the shutter release down for 3-4 seconds, my R6 stops.  The live view stops on the subject I was fixed on, and the only was to fix the issue is to take the battery out, and reinstall it.  But by then the couple has already kissed.

[Waddizzle]

---

@JAYSTATON wrote:

It happens on mine when taking photographs.  When I hold the shutter release down for 3-4 seconds, my R6 stops.  The live view stops on the subject I was fixed on, and the only was to fix the issue is to take the battery out, and reinstall it.  But by then the couple has already kissed.

---

That sounds exactly like what is supposed to happened when the buffer fills up, especially with a slower memory card.  The camera stops until the buffer clears.  

I have yet to read anything from anyone chiming in that does not sound like their issue is either bad memory card, wireless interference, or just simply operator error.  

Filling up the buffer and locking up the camera would qualify as operator error.

[DhandaNot]

Not in my experience. I have experienced most of my freeze event when I am just focus tracking the subject, without any images being clicked and stored to Memory card