T3i/600d Weird Situation

[xvxanonxvx]

Ok.... I'll try to explain this as best as possible.

I was out last night taking milky way photos.  I use a star tracker that has a bulb feature that I use with my T3i that I then use with my app on my phone and tablet.

Here's where it gets weird and I can not for the life of me figure this out.

When I was taking a photo with my app that connects to the startracker that connects to the camera (following?).... the app fritzed and the bulb was continuously shooting WAY past the mark I set on the app, so the camera was shooting a VERY LONG shot. 

So I unplugged the cable from the Star Tracker (AZ-GTI), and the T3i snaps the photo after 60 something seconds (where as i set it to 30 seconds).  I was like weird.... So I plugged the cable back in, the T3i starts another bulb shot, I HAVE NOT TOLD IT TO DO SO... It just shoots automatically.... and will continue to do so everytime i plug in any intervolometer, whether its on the star tracker or a handheld.

Here's where it gets REALLLLY WEIRD...... 

I now no longer have an lcd screen that works, on any camera settings not M, P, AV mode...EXCEPT!!! MOVIE MODE.... Movie mode works, but only with certain lenses, which helps me none, but i still can't access the menu with MOVIE MODE... All other settings do not work nor do my buttons work...... DISP, Q, MENU, ISO, nothing.....  What does work is that i can change my timer to bulb and the info button ONLY ON MOVIE MODE. 

Whats reaaaaallly weird is that when i turn the camera off, the LCD screen shows SENSOR CLEANING...... So the LCD isn't bad, obviously because MOVIE MODE WORKS..... It does work.... ish.... 

I have done all of the battery stuff, drained it, held the shutter button, blah blah.... I've read literally every article i could get my hands on.  I DO NOT HAVE A SENSOR above the eyepiece, so that's not it either... I CANT TAKE OUT THE INTERNAL BATTERY TO RESET the t3i because its very internal, so i've come to find out.

i purchased a mini HDMI cord, I'm waiting for it to come in, in hopes that may fix it by connecting it to the tv, as a user here did....

I'm posting the video here to show you what I'm talking about, maybe a guru here can figure this out.... i'm beating my head against the wall... I'm not giving up on this, because she still works, seems like she's just frazzled about something.....

NOTE:  I did do a FIRMWARE UPDATE about a week ago to work with stellarmate (astrostuff), It is an official firmware update and it was done correctly.  My suspicions lie there. I would totally revert to factory if I could just access the MENU. 

[xvxanonxvx]

Ok so here's another video of me demonstrating this weirdness.  Maybe this can clarify some things.

Please watch all the way to the end to see what I'm talking about in the OP.

[deebatman316]

Are there any other things installed on the camera other than the firmware. At the end of the video it looked like a program shutting down rather than an automatic sensor cleaning. Are you using full sized SD cards. Canon cameras act quite strangely with micro SD cards in an adapter. This is looking more like a hardware fault rather than a software issue. Not an LCD screen fault because it works more like video issue. Does the camera freeze or lockup on you. Does it throw an error message. In the video you mentioned that the camera reports a "busy" message how often does it do that. 

-Demetrius

40D, 5D IV, EF 16-35mm F/2.8L III USM, EF 24-70mm F/2.8L II USM, EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM, EF 50 F/1.8 STM

430EX III-RT & 600EX II-RT

[xvxanonxvx]

AWESOME QUESTIONS. I'll answer in succession.

1. I installed Canon Firmware Ver 1.0.3 about a week ago from canon.  And that is the only software that has been installed.

2. I'm using a full sized 32 gb SD card.  In fact I've used this card for almost a year now.  I purchased TWO identical cards, I've used that one for about a year, I literally just opened up the new one today to make sure it wasn't an SD card issue.

3. The ISO is locked at 3200, i can not change the ISO/LIVE VIEW/Q/DISP/MENU.

4. I have not received any error messages.

5. The BUSY message only appears when you take a "bulb" photo as the camera needs time to process the image, usually the same amount of time as the photo +3 or 4 seconds. So a 30 second photo will take about 33 seconds to process, and in that time you will receive the "BUSY" message.

Bizarre right? 

It might even be a hardware AND software fault.  I never had any difficulty until i updated the firmware.  If i could just get back to the menu to revert to the Factory settings, i would. 

[deebatman316]

1. When did you start using your 3rd Party shutter release.
2. Did your old setup ever have an issue.
3. When did this issue start i.e. after the new 3rd party shutter release or before.
4.  Was the new firmware installed on the camera with the old setup or only the new setup.         

-Demetrius

40D, 5D IV, EF 16-35mm F/2.8L III USM, EF 24-70mm F/2.8L II USM, EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM, EF 50 F/1.8 STM

430EX III-RT & 600EX II-RT

[xvxanonxvx]

1. I've never used the 3rd party shutter release, never got a chance to.

2. Old setup worked beautifully. AZ-Gti(startracker)/T3i/SynScan Pro (app)

2.5 I installed Firmware 1.0.3 in order to use a Raspberry Pi StellarMate + AZ-GTi + T3i. Basically how that works is startracker is connected via ip address, the t3i is plugged into the Raspberry Pi via AV/OUT.  This setup worked ok... i didn't really get the results i was after, but then again, stellarmate has quite a learning curve.

2.75 The next night, i didn't use the Raspberry Pi, i reverted back to the old setup AZGTi/T3i/SynScanPro and took a timelapse of 988 photos. Worked great! (mind you this is with the 1.0.3 update.

3&4. The issue started last night  when i went out, i had my OLD SETUP with the firmware. I started taking test photos, once you have everything setup, you press the START button on the advanced camera settings in the APP, this allows the camera to start taking photos in BULB mode on the T3i.... when i STOPPED the photo, the timer kept going on the camera, but not on the app, so I switched it to AV or TV (one of the two) to make it stop taking the long exposure... and that's where it all started. 

[deebatman316]

@xvxanonxvx wrote:

the t3i is plugged into the Raspberry Pi via AV/OUT.  This setup worked ok... i didn't really get the results i was after, but then again, stellarmate has quite a learning curve.

 START button on the advanced camera settings in the APP, this allows the camera to start taking photos in BULB mode on the T3i.... when i STOPPED the photo, the timer kept going on the camera, but not on the app, so I switched it to AV or TV (one of the two) to make it stop taking the long exposure... and that's where it all started. 

1.  I noticed that you mentioned "the t3i is plugged into the Raspberry Pi via AV/OUT."
2. I see a connection with A/V Out and the video circuitry not working. 
3. "when i STOPPED the photo, the timer kept going on the camera, but not on the app, so I switched it to AV or TV (one of the two) to make it stop taking the long exposure... and that's where it all started."
4. It is possible that your circuit board is toast now. Or was probably on its way out before any of this.                                                                                               

-Demetrius

40D, 5D IV, EF 16-35mm F/2.8L III USM, EF 24-70mm F/2.8L II USM, EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM, EF 50 F/1.8 STM

430EX III-RT & 600EX II-RT

[xvxanonxvx]

Had a bad feeling about that. 😭

[deebatman316]

Canon does offer a program called the Canon Loyalty program. Where you can trade in old nonfunctional for new or refurbished gear. Canon recycles the old nonfunctional gear and you get new gear at a discount. If you decide to move to a Full Frame DSLR any EF-S lenses that you own will NOT mount to the camera. 3rd party APS-C EF Mount lenses will cause vignetting (black areas in all 4 corners). If you move to a Full Frame EOS-R series mirrorless camera you will need an EF/EF-S-RF mount adapter. Note when you use adapted EF-S lenses on a Full Frame EOS-R series camera. The picture taken will apply a 1.6x crop automatically and your megapixels will go down. For example the Canon R5 is a 45 megapixel camera in Full Frame mode but in 1.6x crop mode the camera is only 17.3 megapixels. Canon currently offers 2 APS-C EOS-R series mirrorless cameras the R7 and R10 and 2 different RF-S lenses.

-Demetrius

40D, 5D IV, EF 16-35mm F/2.8L III, EF 24-70mm F/2.8L II, EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM, EF 50 F/1.8 STM

430EX III-RT & 600EX II-RT

[xvxanonxvx]

Honestly at this point, I think I'm going to upgrade to a dedicated digital astro camera, i can get adapters that work with my current lenses and also any future telescope that i purchase. i don't take enough photos of anything else but stars so it makes sense for me.

so in saying that. thanks for your time to try to figure this out. it's very appreciated!! you guys really know that right questions to ask. i'm safely betting parts of my board are fried OR some sort of hiccup in the firmware update. 

either way, it's been real learning about dslr's throughout the year, but for what i want to do, i need to upgrade. 🙂 i'll probably through this thing on ebay for parts. 

cheers!!

[xvxanonxvx]

I really hope it's not bricked.