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

[DamienVincent]

I am having the same problem with the R6.  This happened about 18 months of owning it.  So unfortunate I’m a wedding photographer and I need this to be working.

[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.

[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.

[Adelyna1]

Thank you! So I was able to find cold shoe adapters no problem, but I notice you have two cold shoes happening here. I’m having trouble looking for the bottom one, I circled it for you. Do you happen to remember the exact name? Been trying to look for it since last night, having trouble finding it. Thank you so much! 

 

 

[jiaweihsu]

The Smallrig bracket doesn't come with a cold shoe, so I had to add this angled adapter with cold shoe (flat bottom) so the actual cold shoe the flash sits on is further away from the camera top, leaving just enough space for the trigger. The angled adapter is also a Smallrig brand, but I can't remember where I got it, most likely B&H or Amazon. I have attached 2 close ups for you to see.