My 5D Mark IV Camera stopped taking RAW mid shoot

[stone58]

The temperature was mid-20s and I was using the 24mm-105mm lens getting some landscape pictures. I had the camera set to RAW + jpeg and when I went to edit, I noticed that the last 50 shots were just jpeg. I know that I had to switch batteries part way through, but the camera still indicates that it is shooting in both formats. 

[shadowsports]

Greetings, 

A few possibilities for this might exist.  Problem or issue with the recording media.  Storage configuration.  User action.  Hardware problem.

Some possible explanations.

A physical problem with a card or its formatting might cause an issue like this.  Lack of storage space for RAW images, or using custom folders.  Do you have the card(s) set to record both file types to each card or RAW to one and JPEG to another?  Were either one of the cards removed and replaced?

Just swapping a battery should not cause this type of issue.  The recommended operating temperature range is 32 to 104° f .  Lots of people shoot in colder weather with the understanding that reduced battery life, mechanical variations and condensation might occur.  For a battery swap, the recommended process would be to power the camera off, open the battery door then remove/ re-insert a new battery.  Close the door.  Then repower the camera.  

This is not normal behavior, so it's pretty difficult for us to do anything more than speculate.  

[wq9nsc]

Did you get to the low battery warning point before switching packs?  Battery life goes from low to nothing extremely quickly in very cold conditions and the battery monitor firmware isn't calibrated for these conditions. So one possibility is the battery voltage dropped below system critical level before you changed and when that happens the systems in the camera will behave in an unpredictable fashion (something people frequently experience with cars this time of year when attempts to start with a nearly dead battery cause the same issue with the multiple embedded networked processors and controllers used in modern cars).

I have never had to change packs in my 1 series cameras during an event (and I have shot football in below 0 conditions multiple times) but I do watch the battery level closely late in those events and if it drops below the 1/2 point I would change packs.  The only glitch I have ever had with a 1 series Canon body was when I was shooting football in very cold weather with a non-Canon battery pack.  During a sustained burst, voltage would drop causing the camera to lock requiring a power off and on sequence to restore. I could watch the battery level monitor drop from full to one bar during a short burst and then it would recover back to indicated full after the burst indicating the battery issue.

I had purchased a pair of third party packs when Canon packs were out of stock at both B&H and Adorama and once I replaced these with Canon packs the problem never returned.  You can get the same behavior with Canon packs if they are heavily discharged during very cold weather because every consumer battery chemistry loses a lot of capacity when operated in very cold weather so when in bad conditions don't push them as far into the discharge curve.

Rodger

[stone58]

Thanks for the advice. I did get a low battery warning before i switched packs, and I also shot until the battery died. So, I turned the switch to off, changed batteries and then flipped it back on. I also typically take all the pictures off my card and format it in the camera before a new shoot. And since I only took 350 pictures that day, I was nowhere close to capacity on the 128 GB card. But I do not send JPEG to one card and RAW to another. 

[stone58]

I did get the low battery warning and shot until it died, then I switched batteries. But even under the new battery, I didn't get RAW images. And the camera is still set to take both. I'll try some more this winter and see if that was a one off experience or something that persists. Thanks for taking the time to help me.