R6 Mark II - Frozen, Black Screen, Removed Battery.

[MackenzieG]

Hi Everyone, 

I was shooting a wedding two days ago and twice my R6 Mark II froze, the screen went black, and the only way I could get it working again was to remove the battery, reinsert it, and try again. When turned the camera back on I had lost maybe 10 photos from right before the camera froze. I think the problem is my memory cards but I would love to know if I'm missing something or should send my camera in for repair.

The first time this happened I was shooting on continuous as it was a movement pose of the wedding party, it was fine I was able to reshoot the moment. The second time this happened I was shooting continuous again of the bride and groom walking down the aisle after their kiss with everyone cheering and throwing confetti. These shots I don't have and can't get back. 

Back story - Before my R6 Mark II, I shot with an R6. My R6 has NEVER done this to me from 2020 till early 2024. My R6M2 did this twice in one day and I've only had it for 2 months.

I was using a RF 24-70mm 2.8L lens both times this happened.
I had the camera on eye tracking and AI servo.
Camera was writing to two cards both RAW format.
Cards were SanDisk Extreme Pro SDXC USH-I C10 U3 V30 200mb/s.
I always low level format on the camera before I use the cards.
Battery was canon.
Firmware was 1.2.0 

Since this happened I upgraded the firmware on both my R6M2 and R6.
My assistant photographer also has this problem with her R6M2, she uses the same kind of cards as I do. 

Has this happened to anyone else? Do you have a solution for me? I strongly believe the problem is my memory cards but because they were fine in my R6 I just assumed they would be fine in my R6M2. But I've also lost trust in my brand new camera. 

I'm hopeful the firmware update and new faster cards will fix this problem.

Thanks in advance for the help. 

[p4pictures]

I would definitely suggest upgrading the cards to USH-II versions as they write much faster than your UHS-I cards. While UHS-1 cards are labelled as 200mb/s that is only for read, not write. You really should be using V60 or V90 spec UHS-II cards. Since these write faster, you will have less shots in the buffer queued up for saving so should avoid the losses you saw.

[MackenzieG]

Thank you so much for replying. 

I assumed that was the issue immediately after it happened, was my cards not being fast enough. I will try better cards and update if I have more problems. 

[stevet1]

MackenzieG,

In addition to the advice you got from Brian, it would be interesting to see what would happen if you shot Raw+Jpeg and saved your Raw to one card and jpegs to the other.

Steve Thomas

[MackenzieG]

I assume the RAW and Jpeg files would be easier for the camera/card when writing? But this doesn't help me specifically as I like the reassurance of having two copies of the RAW files.