EOS R6 Mark II - Freezing up (must take battery out and reinsert to restart camera)

[ryansandsphotog]

I've seen this topic discussed previously on the threads but I since that topic is 3+ years old, I wanted to start a new thread to bring Canon's attention to this matter.

I'm a full time professional wedding photographer. Late last year I finally took the plunge from my 5D IVs and purchased two Canon R6 ii bodies with the official Canon battery grips plus official Canon batteries. I'm also running the official Canon EF/RF lens converter since I'm still using all my Canon EF 24-70 ii, 70-200 ii, 35 1.4 ii and 16-35 ii. Recently my Canon R6 ii bodies have begun freezing on me during jobs which needless to say is completely unacceptable and a real danger for me when I'm right in the middle of shooting super important moments on my client's wedding days. I am using Sandisk Extreme Pro V30, v60 and v90 SD cards.

No matter what the condition, no matter what I'm doing the camera can freeze up at a moment's notice. Sometimes I'm not even using the camera only to look down at it in my hands and find that it has frozen up. Black/greyish screen, buttons are unresponsive and the ONLY thing that brings the camera back to life is taking the battery compartment out and reinserting it. This phenomenon happens with both of my cameras no no matter what lens I'm currently using. 

I've read on Reddit that A LOT of other users have this exact issue. Has Canon found a solution or released a firmware update or any kind of fix? Seems to me that they are avoiding taking responsibility for their total screw up. Does anyone know if the R5 ii or R3 also have this issue? Thanks in advance to all who reply.

[Stephen]

Hi. 

Welcome to the Canon Community.

I highly recommend contacting CPS to discuss these concerns. 

[deebatman316]

Are you using an external speedlite by any chance since you mentioned weddings. Certain 3rd Party speedlites will lock up the camera. When Canon switched to the EOS R Series. Canon modified the AF Assist signal the camera sends to the speedlite. When they made this change 3rd speedlites became incompatible. But a Canon speedlite sees this different signal and provides an AF Assist Beam differently. Canon speedlites switch to Intermittent Flash Firing instead of the IR AF Assist Beam turning on. A 3rd Party Speedlite doesn’t understand this command and locks up the camera with E-70 or Error 70. This problem dates back to the original R and RP. Godox speedlites are known to do this other 3rd Party Speedlites have this problem too.

[ryansandsphotog]

I very much appreciate the response Stephen. I see that many other users on these forums have contacted CPS to send their cameras in for "repair" only to have the issue persist so I'm a bit hesitant to waste my time driving to the service center in NJ and sending both of my bodies in for repair. I mean no offense whatsoever, I just have little faith that the issue will be resolved unless I hear that there is some kind of official fix for this phenomenon.

[ryansandsphotog]

Great question. Ok, so I am using a third party on camera flash (Neewer Z2C) and I do happen to notice that my camera can freeze up more often when I'm shooting dance photos during reception. On the flip side, this past Saturday I was shooting at Trump National in Bedminster and my body never froze up during reception and I was pounding on that flash all night long. 99.9% of the time this flash works perfectly on my R6 ii bodies and I have never received an E-70 or Error 70 when using this flash on camera.

Now, with that said, my bodies can also freeze up when I'm not using that third party flash, such as during a church ceremony when I have no flash attached to the camera. I also have a Canon 600EX ii-rt that I can try out to see if that stops the camera from freezing during dance photos, but I am hesitant to do so because of how slow the flash recycles seeing as how it relies on AA batteries and the Neewer model uses a much faster rechargeable lithium ion battery. I'm also unsure if the older 600EX ii-rt works with these new mirrorless bodies in the same way you described in your reply. I'm assuming that the AF assist signal fix is only available with Canon's newer flashes meant for their new bodies?

[deebatman316]

No all of Canon’s older flashes provide an AF Assist Beam on the EOS R series via Intermittent Flash Firing. Regardless of if the speedlite is old or new. I use old and new Canon EX series speedlites. They all switch to Intermittent Flash Firing instead of the IR AF Assist Beam turning on. As a test with the 3rd Party Speedlite put the lens cap on the camera. Set the camera to One Shot AF. Then make sure the AF Assist is enabled on both the camera and the speedlite. Make sure it’s not set to LED ONLY in the camera menu and see what happens. A Canon speedlite will work correctly and not lock up the camera. 

[ryansandsphotog]

I appreciate the response. Both r6 ii and canon ex ii + Neweer Z2C all have AF Assist beam turned on and yes, with the lens attached and cap plus the camera set to One Shot AF, both flashes will use the Intermittent Flash Firing feature. So as it turns out, both the Canon and Neweer model have this ability.

However, this still does not tell me why the camera continues to lock up even when I'm NOT using a flash attached to the camera. On Saturday's wedding I was outside the church waiting for the bubble exit and with no flash attached and without even using my camera, it locked up in my hands before I even started to use it. I had to quickly take out the battery compartment just as the couple was exiting the church giving me a mini heart attack.

[deebatman316]

Note depending on the ambient lighting. An AF Assist Beam can be projected by the camera or Speedlite. Generally the camera will try its LED AF Assist Beam first. If the contrast is too low or if it’s too dark for the camera to focus. The speedlite switches to Intermittent Flash Firing instead of the camera body’s LED AF Assist Beam turning on. 

[deebatman316]

I’d recommend contacting Canon and see what they say. My friend had this issue and Canon asked her to mail her entire system in for testing. This included the body, lenses, mount adapter & speedlites for testing to determine the cause.

[ryansandsphotog]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll have to contact them when I'm not so extremely busy. Having my entire set of gear out for repair/testing just isn't an option at this time but I'll definitely reach out to see if they have any options. Again, I appreciate all your responses 👍🏻