EOS R3 Freeze-up Issue - The likely cause!

[sbunting]

My friends,

I believe I found the issue causing freeze-ups in the Canon R3!!!

Recall the following:

1) I experienced freeze-ups with my Canon R3 the first week I received it.

2) Canon CPS took the camera in for repair, replicated the issue, reinstalled the firmware, reset it to factory settings, tested it, found no more freeze-ups, declared it fixed and returned it to me.

3) I restored my settings manually and the freeze-ups still occurred.

4) Canon replaced my original R3 with a brand new R3

5) I updated my firmware to V1.1.1 and restored my settings from a CSD file this time, and the freeze-ups still occurred.

6) In all cases my freeze-ups were such that the buttons and dials would not respond (including power switch), yet touch functions still functioned including the smart controller. It would also freeze-up, at times, while asleep and could not be awakened. Of course, since the screen was black (asleep), no touch function could work. The only way to restore the camera was to pull the battery and then reboot the camera.

I have since, of course, contacted Canon and am awaiting a response, as Canon's engineering department seems to be in a denial mode, despite a Canon repair technician in Virginia having replicated the freeze-up issue when it first went in for repair.

I advised Canon that while I await their response, I was going to, one by one, change my settings to default and see if any particular setting eliminated the freeze-ups.

My first setting change was to restore the aperture and speed change dial settings to default, as I had them reversed. No change. I still had freeze-ups, so I restored my setting.

Next, I reasoned that, since the freeze-up even occurred while the camera was asleep, the only function I had changed that would involve activity during the sleep mode would be the GPS setting, which I had set to Mode 2. I disabled the GPS altogether. Since I have done so, I have left the camera on 24x7. Not once has it failed to awaken from sleep mode nor has it frozen at all while awake and being used. I have been testing for a solid week now (on 24x7) and I'm optimistic that this is the cause of the freeze-ups, as before I could rarely go a day without a freeze-up.  

I'm asking that some of you who are experiencing freeze-ups with the R3 such as I have been experiencing to check this setting and 1) verify it is enabled on your camera and 2) verify that by disabling it that the freeze-ups no longer occur.

Similarly, those of you who have an R3 and have experienced no freeze-ups, can you verify that your GPS is disabled.

Again, I'm optimistic that this is the issue, but I'd like to get feedback from others to verify what I'm experiencing before I approach Canon.

Steve

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

FW 1.3.0 dropped yesterday. Doesn't mention anything about the freezing, but it won't hurt to upgrade and try it.

Canon Support for EOS R3 | Canon U.S.A., Inc.

[edaniels6902]

I saw that, but since my freezing issues don't happen too often, I'm leaning towards giving the firmware update a week or so, just in case there are issues.

[HighOctanePhoto]

I updated to 1.3 on the weekend as the lock ups are particularly frustrating shooting drag racing... The following day I was just hanging out at a local theme park with my daughter for her birthday and taking the odd shot and had no problems... then last night was back at the track for a mid week street meet and had no issues for most of the night, then 2 locks ups in about 5 minutes...

I have also found that since the lock up issue has become so common, I'm starting to automatically pull the battery whenever the camera is a little slow to wake up (sometimes I'll see the screen light up just as I unlock the battery and by then I'm already committed and the battery is out...)

Hopefully Canon are still looking as they haven't got it sorted yet...

(yes, GPS is _on_ and for reference, this was with an EF 200 f/2.8L non-IS and Canon control ring adaptor)

[HighOctanePhoto]

I think I need to backtrack a little on this - I was out shooting again the other night and made a conscious effort not to pull the battery when I thought the R3 had locked up, and it did wake up eventually, it was just really slow to do so, so perhaps an improvement has been made after all - only time will tell I guess... (it seems Canon isn't going to publicly admit there's an issue, so they're not likely to announce the fix either)

[bmitra]

Wow - this thread is making me think of whether I did the right thing switching to Canon from Nikon. This is like going on and on. Not comparing but had somewhat similar weird issue and Nikon resolved it within a month and sent considerable amount of freebies to the guy who found the solution.

[jlfratkin]

It's nice to see people with the R3 are experiencing issues just like all of us R5 and R6 users. I love how those "experts" continue to say "its the lens", "install the update". blah blah blah, when the problems still occur. Why would brand new R bodies, with brand new R lenses, cause issues? A massive amount of people with the R3, R5, and R6 are all experiencing the camera freezing, getting error messages, and having to remove the battery and start up the camera again. This is the most frustrating issue on the planet for us photographers who shelled out thousands of dollars for new tech that doesn't work right out of the box.

In your case, I truly hope, that your GPS toggle solves your issue on your particular camera. For the R6, we don't even have GPS, but are experiencing a bundle of freezing/error issues. 

[edaniels6902]

Had a couple lockups previously, then seemed fine. I had two yesterday (R3 with latest firmware) using a new RF 70-200 2.8 (also with new firmware). GPS has never been on, and both lockups were the camera not waking up after going into sleep/power save mode. I now find my self hearing the click of the evf turning off when it goes into this sleep/power save mode, and I'll press one of my af buttons and I listen for the click of the evf turning on.

This is becoming a little more frustrating.

[edaniels6902]

Did it a couple more times this morning while shooting basketball. Curious if anyone at Canon recognizes this issue or even cares.

ETA: did it a few more times this week when shooting basketball. This time, however, I just waited to see how long it would stay frozen. The evf turned off as it went to sleep/power save mode. Pressed my back button focus, and nothing. I waited, and eventually saw the red indicator light on the back of the body flash, then it woke up. It happened a few more times, and I estimated it took 8-10 seconds to wake up. I'm glad it's not actually frozen, however I did miss some shots and it was frustrating.

[Johnsoncd]

I noticed this old thread after recently purchasing an R3 and RF 70-200 2.8 and experiencing the same lockup issue described here multiple times taking it out to shoot an event for the first time.  GPS always disabled so that is not a solution, latest firmware installed (as of 8/21/2023).  Card is a SanDisk 128 GB Extreme Pro CFExpress Card Type B.

Does anyone know of any resolution to a freeze up issue unrelated to GPS being enabled?

[MJ58]

I have my R3 about 16months.  I shoot a lot of birds, and the camera locked up regularly at the beginning using the 100-400 and other lens with the adaptor.  Brought it in to be checked.  They couldn’t find anything wrong with it.  Tried lots of different things to help, read about the GPS but I don’t have mine on. I went on a travel shoot, away for a few days and used the old 70-200 with adaptor, and I never had a problem.  Since then it has happened once or twice only, and that is in the last year!!  Not really sure what it was though!  Sorry I can’t be more specific.