EOS 5D Mark II glitched then fails to turn on at all

[dougcanon]

I have an EOS 5D Mark II and recently traveled to Europe with it.  I carried it generally in a leather backpack during the day until I used it and had 2 lenses with me.  About 9 days into the 11 day trip, I noticed my picture preview wouldn't show the pictures but the camera still continued to take pictures.  The next day, the screen wouldn't show any menus at all and stayed black...the mode dial on the top left side would not show any changes on the LED screen and thus I could really only shoot on Automatic setting.  The camera would still take pictures at this point, but I could not review them nor could I change any settings.  I got home and the camera wouldn't turn on at all...no power what so ever.  No lights blink, nothing even on the top right LED settings screen.  I've fully recharged the Canon battery.  The date/time/backup button battery has plenty of charge.  I read/saw the posts about the battery door lever/switch but that's not my issue...I tried holding that down and it still doesn't fix anything.  I've tried different lenses...pulling all batteries and cards out and letting sit overnight...I've tried turning the on/off switch about 10-11 times to clear out capacitors.

Canon will not support the camera any more and I can't seem to find any camera repair places either.  Any help is much appreciated.

[jrhoffman75]

Try Midwest Camera Repair.  midwestcamera-dot-com

[dougcanon]

Thanks, I'll contact them.

[amfoto1]

Based upon how the camera functions seemed to gradually degrade and among things you might be able to test yourself....

...my first suspicion would be the battery(ies) or charger. If they are original to the camera, your batteries are now 12 or 13 years old and have probably been through many charge and drain cycles over the years. Batteries can appear to be charging up, but not really doing so. Insufficient power to the camera might cause the symptoms you've seen.

Do you have extras so you can try different batteries in the camera? Do you have more than one charger, so you can try different ones? Do you have more than one camera using the same battery, so you can test your battery(ies) in that other camera?

If you have no means of cross testing those things, it wouldn't cost very much to simply try new batteries... both the main rechargeable LP-E6 and the "watch battery". An LC-E6 charger isn't hard to find either. (Be wary of cheaper third party batteries... Some are good, such as Watson... but others are not.)

By the way, were you using a voltage adapter to charge the battery while in Europe? Maybe it wasn't working properly... have you tried charging at home? (I'm assuming you're in the US, since you are here on a USA website) Or maybe the voltage converter didn't work correctly and damaged your charger.

If you have determined the batteries aren't at fault, then perhaps some other component in the camera has failed. And repairs will be necessary. Depending upon where you're located, on the East Coast you might try KEH Camera, who appear to do a lot of repair work. More in the center of the country are Midwest Camera repair in Michigan and Discount Camera Repair in Colorado. I'm sure there are some independent repairers out on the West Coast too, but none are coming to mind. Maybe someone else can suggest a shop. Or you could ship to one of the shops I've mentioned.

Keep in mind that a used 5D Mark II can be purchased relatively cheaply now. i just looked at a couple dealers and found excellent condition 5D Mk II for roughly $400 to just over $500. If repairs cost more than that, they probably aren't worth doing unless you have some sort of emotional attachment to that particular camera.

***********

Alan Myers
San Jose, Calif., USA
"Walk softly and carry a big lens."
GEAR: 5DII, 7DII (x2), 7D(x2), EOS M5, some other cameras, various lenses & accessories
FLICKR

[dougcanon]

Thanks Alan.  The charger is newer (a few years).  I bought a backup battery (non-Canon) and both worked fine prior to the trip and during the trip.  I did charge them both after returning to the US and both appear to be fine (before it finally quit...the battery percentage on the camera showed sufficient battery power on either battery).  I volt meter tested the watch battery and it was fine..  I will try Midwest Camera as they are only a couple hours away from me.