EOS 6D Mk II anomalous behavior

[ChrisPBacon]

I planned some photos in the blue hour photographing the moon near a windmill, planning it right down to what I wanted the photo to look like, where I was going to stand, what settings I wanted to start out with, etc, and when I wanted to take it; mode, exposure compensation, metering, etc.

When I triggered the shot, I got a >20 second time exposure despite having the shutter speed set at 1/125th of asecond.  I rechecked all my settings, repeated the shot and got the same results.  I've used the option to erase all settings:  got the same result.  Again, I reset all camera settings; reloaded my shutter, aperture, ISO, exposure compensation settings, retried the photo in Manual and Aperture-priority: same results.

I've gone so far as to look at every yellow, green, and orange menu, checking each option — but still get the 20+ second exposure; I've tried various lenses; different focus, white balance, metering, exposure compensation settings but can't eliminate the malfunction.

I've called Canon, retraced my steps, and haven't found a solution.

Ideas?

[Waddizzle]

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@ChrisPBacon wrote:

When I triggered the shot, I got a >20 second time exposure despite having the shutter speed set at 1/125th of a second.  I rechecked all my settings, repeated the shot and got the same results.  I've used the option to erase all settings:  got the same result.  Again, I reset all camera settings; reloaded my shutter, aperture, ISO, exposure compensation settings, retried the photo in Manual and Aperture-priority: same results.

I've called Canon, retraced my steps, and haven't found a solution.

Ideas?

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My first thought?  Operator error.  Your incomplete descriptions just simply do not add up.  You cannot set a shutter speed in Av mode.  Have you ever heard of Safety Shift?

[ChrisPBacon]

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@Waddizzle wrote:

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My first thought?  Operator error.  Your incomplete descriptions just simply do not add up.  You cannot set a shutter speed in Av mode.  Have you ever heard of Safety Shift?

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I believe that I stated I retried the photo in manual and Aperture-priority. Perhaps the better explanation would be that I retried taking the photo first in Manual mode THEN Aperture-priority.

My mentor also has the EOS 6D Mk II: we sat down the next morning and looked at every menu feature to see if he could replicate the problem using his camera: the effort was unsuccessful.  I haven't yet attained the level where everything I do is perfect, but I'm ecstatic to learn that I don't have the skills to troubleshoot a problem.  Thank you.

[Waddizzle]

"When I triggered the shot, I got a >20 second time exposure despite having the shutter speed set at 1/125th of asecond."

Triggered?  As in remote trigger?  I assume that you also tested without a remote trigger if you were using one.  

Make sure that the shooting mode dial is working properly.  I assume that it is good, but the behavior you describe is consistent with it being off by one click.  What happens if you take a regular photo in P mode?

Did this camera body ever work properly?

[ChrisPBacon]

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@Waddizzle wrote:

"When I triggered the shot, I got a >20 second time exposure despite having the shutter speed set at 1/125th of asecond."

Triggered?  As in remote trigger?  I assume that you also tested without a remote trigger if you were using one.  

Make sure that the shooting mode dial is working properly.  I assume that it is good, but the behavior you describe is consistent with it being off by one click.  What happens if you take a regular photo in P mode?

Did this camera body ever work properly?

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I originally used a Canon EOS 6D Mark II camera body; BG-E21 battery grip with 2 LP-E6 batteries; Hahnel intervalometer; Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sport (EF) lens and Sigma 2x converter.  I've used this configuration successfully for over 1,000 exposures without any anomalies.

All switches on the BG-E21 battery grip were off: the camera was mounted on a gimbal-mounted tripod which we'd used all day, changing the lens before attempting photographs of the full moon with the configuration detailed above.

Tested with a Hahnel then Vello intervalometer, then individual exposures done manually.

We tried different modes, all with the same results.  Yes, we at first thought we'd inadvertently selected C1 or C2, but the Quick Control Screen showed we were in the correct mode.

I had another problem prior with this camera body so I wrote up the discrepancy after talking with both Canon Technical Support and Canon Professional Services and sent the 6D2 into CPS: the camera was returned as "repaired" — but then we encountered this problem a few months after.  I was hoping to troubleshoot this anomaly before sending the camera back to CPS.

[ebiggs1]

" I've used the option to erase all settings:"

Did you also "clear all custom settings"?  If you didn't do that, you didn't totally reset the camera.

"...retried the photo in Manual and Aperture-priority:"

At other times does your M mode work as it should.  I.E. if you do a normal shot in daylight and you set a pretty normal 1/125 SS, does it work? Like pointed out above, you can not set a SS in Av mode so I, too, suspect operator error.

[ChrisPBacon]

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@ebiggs1 wrote:

" I've used the option to erase all settings:"

Did you also "clear all custom settings"?  If you didn't do that, you didn't totally reset the camera.

"...retried the photo in Manual and Aperture-priority:"

At other times does your M mode work as it should.  I.E. if you do a normal shot in daylight and you set a pretty normal 1/125 SS, does it work? Like pointed out above, you can not set a SS in Av mode so I, too, suspect operator error.

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Yes, I did twice — as did my mentor after my second reset...  We checked every switch, each menu's features/options.  We both went through the menus on both cameras to check for discrepancies or anomalies between the two.  We sat down with a menu tree I developed to learn the camera (a holdover from working for Boeing).

Canon grilled me on the phone and our efforts to find the anomaly or operator error were unsuccessful.

[ebiggs1]

"Canon grilled me on the phone and our efforts to find the anomaly or operator error were unsuccessful."

This doesn't sound promising does it?  

Reaching now, do you or did you have any non-Canon items connected o the camera? Battery grip? Batteries? Anything? Any thing at all even like a computer monitor? 

The camera was all Canon?

[ChrisPBacon]

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@ebiggs1 wrote:

"Canon grilled me on the phone and our efforts to find the anomaly or operator error were unsuccessful."

This doesn't sound promising does it?  

Reaching now, do you or did you have any non-Canon items connected o the camera? Battery grip? Batteries? Anything? Any thing at all even like a computer monitor? 

The camera was all Canon?

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All equipment used was Canon except for the intervalometer used. After trying the Vello unit, we unplugged it and took the exposure using the shutter button.  We even turned it off, left it off for several minutes; took out the batteries; replaced the batteries with two fully-charged ones and turned the camera on.  The anomaly persisted.

When the anomaly first presented itself, I was using a Sigma 150-600mm (Sport Canon EF mount) zoom telephoto with a Sigma 2.0x converter, which I've used dozens of times successfully photographing the moon with this camera body.  We assumed at first an intervalometer problem, eventually tried different modes, went through the settings to assure consistency with setting of previous successful photos (both camera and lens), and tried the same photograph using only the 6D2 and an EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens.  Same result.  At this point, I went through the camera clearing all camera, custom (C1 and C2), and custom menu settings: my partner and went through each menu and confirmed the setting agreed with a new 6D2 body we'd never used before.  Same results. I called Canon, the CPS; after long discussions, we'd made no progress and eliminated every possible cause we could think of.

We went to my photography mentor (a former Canon Learning Center instructor) who is equally stymied.  

At this point I came to the Community to see if we could resolve this. 

[jrhoffman75]

Hi Chris. I may have missed it in reading your troubleshooting steps, but what happens if you set camera to P mode, go outside mid-morning and try and take a photo?