EOS R6 Hot shoe coming loose after 18 months. Canon Please Help!!!!!!

[jonathyny]

Hi Canon Community, 

I own a canon r6. I love it. Durning my photoshoot today, my flashes were misfiring. I noticed my hot shoe was loose. I started to look up solutions and found that this is a on going problem with some canon dslr cameras. I also found that in the R line they have changed the design which renders the users unable to easily fix the issue. Without a hot shoe, I won't be able to fully use the camera. I reach out to tech support. They refuse to acknowledge that this is a problem with the R6 and R5. This cost $400 dollars to fix. What guarantee do I have that this wont happen again in another 18 months. These are suppose to be top of the line cameras for Canon. Canon please acknowledge that this is a problem. Please come up with an alternative solution to your clients having to spend $400 every year to use a basic function of the camera. 

-Jonathyn

[Djleophotograph]

Word of advice, send it directly to canon for repairs, there is no tips nor tricks to get by

[SWC55]

I had the same problem with my R7 , which repair two times in 16 months . First time still within the warranty period and it it free, but the second I have to paid for it.

[wormhole33]

This is why when I got my R5C the first thing I did was apply thin locktite on the threads sticking up from the hot shoe. It will seep into the threads. I thinned some regular blue locktite but they do make a special locktite for already threaded screws. Haven’t had any issues with it yet but I don’t use the hotshoe much. I don’t understand why canon doesn’t put locktite on from the factory. Hot shoes take a lot of stress and that can loosen screws.

[jiaweihsu]

I have transitioned from Canon DSLRs to Mirrorless 3 years ago. While shooting events with my 5D3 or 5D4 I used a flash bracket TTL cord to avoid shadows and red-eyes. I hardly put the 580EXs directly on the camera hot shoes.

Nevertheless, when I'm selling all my DSLRs, I had to send in one of my 5D3s for loose hot shoe repair (with CPS membership it still cost over $300)  before I could sell it.

When I switched to mirrorless cameras (R3, R5, R6) I have also started mostly off camera flash photography. From the lesson I have learnt, I have modified brackets for each camera so I can sit the flash lights on the brackets and use much lighter remote triggers to trigger the "on bracket flash" and other off camera strobes.

A year and half ago my R6 became unreliable in triggering flash lights (all NOT on hot shoe) and I had no choice but to ship it for repair ($300+). This is a failure of the hot shoe with 0 on-camera-flash photography.

And just over the weekend, my R5 hot shoe stopped triggering other flash lights.

For 2 years plus I have been telling all fellow photographers to stop putting flash lights directly on hot shoes, but even with such precaution, the hot shoes still failed.

I have been extremely happy with the operation, the focusing ability, the color science of my Canon cameras, but this hot shoe issue is one thing that's driving me crazy. I don't know when my R3 will have the same problem.

I understand the stress on the hot shoe when anything significant is on it, and I believe this applies to any brand name, but I really think this should not have happened on a $3,800 camera especially when only very light remote triggers have been used on it.

[jiaweihsu]

The repair is close to four hundred dollars without a CPS membership.

I've had a 5D3, R6 repaired, and 2 days ago I found the same problem with my R5.

I have learnt my lesson from the 5D3, and have not used flashes directly on the hot shoe. Instead I use brackets to hold the flash and a remote trigger on the hot shoe, still the R5, R6 hot shoes failed.

[jiaweihsu]

I'm ready to send in my 3rd Canon camera in for the same problem. With CPS membership, the cost is still over $1,000😖

[tammys]

I have the same problem with my R6- Here we are a couple of years later- after your post and the cost to fix this is over $600.  Canon you need to do better!  If you are going to pop new camera models out left and right you need to perfect the ones already on the market!  I rarely use a flash on my camera- however when I want to use one I don't expect for my flash to just fall off due to a faulty hot shoe.  Based on all of the post on this forum it IS an issue with the product.  Why not own up to the faulty issue and do a recall and make it right for all of us that feel like we have been cheated.  Paying over $2K for a camera and a few months later having to drop another $600 to fix a faulty issue is ridiculous!   @canonusa DO BETTER!  

[Adelyna1]

May I ask what brand is your bracket? I like the design of it, I will have to start doing this to not put stress on my hotshoe. Mine is currently getting repaired 

[jiaweihsu]

The brackets for both R3 and R5 (R6 is the same) are both Smallrig, I think around $99 and $30 at B&H and on eBay. You need to buy some 1/4" adaptors and cold shoe to put together yourself. Look at the top photo I posted and pay attention to where the flash sits on the cold shoe, be sure to get the cold shoe with a recess on the bottom so when the flash is on it, the contacts on the flash foot do not touch the metal to short the flash.

[jiaweihsu]

Those adaptors you can find at B&H or Amazon, you also need those blue thread locks so the adaptors don't become loose during a shoot.