T3i 'movie recording has automatically stopped' and other ongoing and 'new' problems.

[gooddaysfilm]

I purchased a T3i in March of 2011 and within a year of purchase we started experiencing problems.

Firstly - I purchased a three year Mack Warranty with this camera.

By June of 2012, the 'movie recording has automatically stopped' problem was no longer our only issue. That month we lost a whole production day of video. There was no explanation. It was on the same card that we had used before and we sued it after. It was not a particularly hot shoot because we were inside and out frequently. All footage from that day was gone from the camera. I ran a recovery on the files; they were present, but they were unrecoverable. When this happened again a couple of weeks later, we threw away the card that it happened on and on the third event, We were using speed 10 cards only.

On August 31st, I sent our T3i in to Mack who looked at it, couldn't duplicate the problem (movie recording auto stopped, much less data loss) and they got it ready to send back. I spoke with Mack support and got a supervisor to look more closely with a technician at the problem (I had sent a very detailed description of the problem) based on my description and a technician paying attention, they were able to duplicate the problem but not fix it. They sent it to Canon. Canon duplicated the problem and 'fixed' it. It was then sent back to Mack because they won't send directly to Mack's customer. Mack sent it back. I received it sometime after October 23rd. Note - that's no camera from 8/31 to 10/23 + a couple of days shipping. Nearly two solid months.

'Movie recording automatically stopped' would not go away but we were not losing footage. I called Canon. Canon support told me that it could be a card speed issue and if not that, maybe a bad make or brand. They said that this is a problem with DSLR's or maybe rebels specifically and we would need to learn to deal with it - something about data capture and data block sizes. The problem is that when you're shooting a scene, it's not always just 'incidental' if you have to start over because of an error, is it? And is this how Canon's products are to work, really?

In December, a white dot appeared on our sensor. We sent it in on Jan 10 and got it back sometime after Jan. 31st. Movie Recording Automatically Stopped is still occurring. It comes and goes. :Lately it's been infrequent.

A little while ago I pulled the camera out to take some snapshots of a system I'm working on. No matter which mode, autofocus on, with the flash up, attempting to get an autofocus (depressing snapshot button 1/2 way) I get this strange electric sound and a flash. Autofocus will not engage. Again - no matter which mode - no autofocus, a strange electric sound and a flash. Movie recording works fine. But that's not the only capability of this camera, is it?

Canon - it is apparent to me that we got a lemon. This will not work for my business any longer. Trying to get problems solved with this camera has been lengthy, disconcerting, painful. My disappointment has me throwing in the towel and asking - why the heck would I buy a Canon again much less the Mack warranty to go with it?

Please give me a solution beyond going for another two months without a camera that comes back and develops a new problem within one to two months’ time.

[Mykolas]

Hi gooddaysfilm,

Based on what you are describing, I believe your EOS Rebel T3i is operating normally.  There are a few reasons that the camera would stop recording automatically.

• The memory card is not fast enough to keep up with the camera.  The camera has to be able to write to the card fast enough.  If it cannot, the buffer memory in the camera will fill up too quickly and the camera must stop recording.
• The memory card is full.
• The maximum file size for a clip has been reached.  The camera is only capable to recording a single clip that is 4GB in size, which is about 12 minutes or so of full HD video.  If this limit is reached, the camera will stop the recording automatically and you must start a new clip.

The flash you are seeing could very well be the autofocus assist.  When lighting is not sufficient enough for the camera to focus, it uses the flash to illuminate the area in front of the camera to help it focus more accurately.  The strange electric sound you are hearing may be the flash being fired.  You would not normally hear the flash when you take a picture because you also hear the shutter firing.  Try going to a well lit area outdoors and pressing the shutter button down halfway to see if the camera is able to autofocus.  If so, then the previous conditions were what was preventing the camera from achieving a focus lock.  If a focus lock cannot be achieved after several attempts in low light, I recommend focusing the lens manually.

If this is a time sensitive-matter, additional support options are available at Contact Us.

[oswaldo467]

I have this problem and I'm using a SANDISK 16GB Class 10. This just started happening on Saturday, right when I needed it the most since my brother was graduation from college. It keeps failing even after I have formatted the card. I have recorded a lot before. I have easily recorded over 5 hours (lifetime) in 5-10 min. clips in the past 3-5 months. How can I fix this?

[Mykolas]

oswaldo467,

Have you tried using a different SD card in the camera?

How long is each clip now?

If this is a time sensitive-matter, additional support options are available at Contact Us.

[Matthew1990]

I bought a brand new card that is 64GB and Class 10 and when I go to film it'll only film for 3 seconds and stops automatically. I really don't want to get ANOTHER card and all I've seen in this entire forum thread is that getting a new card doesn't help. Is there anything else that could be done to fix this problem? 

[oswaldo467]

Maybe 64gb is not supported.

I used the 32gb, 16gb, 8gb, 4gb, and 2gb however they were not all class 10.

32gb and 16gb were class 10. the others like, 8gb and under were class 6 but they all worked.

I know you said you BOUGHT a NEW CARD but check the contacts are clean. You don't really want to touch them but look inside and make sure nothing is on they which there shouldn't but you never know.

Good luck!

I have used sony 32gb, sandisk 16gb, and other cheaper ones.

My problem was the contacts were scracthed on my card because somebody switched my cards for theirs.

[swannyma]

This problem has been posted online in many places & is a known and serious flaw with the T3i. How come Canon feigns ignorance & blames it on the card or file size? Why don't they post a positive solution or at least admit to the camera's shortcomings?

The Canon tech rep is being disingenuous! The problem happens on and off to a lot of people using the same card!!! It has happened to me as well with me as well. Sometimes it records to the max limit & sometimes it just stops! Doesn't Canon do research into serious errors with their cameras?

I'm sure they know of this problem & don't want to recall & fix their sh..ty camera.

[oswaldo467]

My solution was to buy a new card. I didn't think I would get affected using a card in which contacts were just a bit scratched. It worked well with pictures on the same camera. The card, it also worked fine with video and pictures on other cameras.

My only recommendation is to get a nice and clean card whether new or not.

[ebiggs1]

Personally I never buy extended warranties.  They are usually not worth the paper they are written on.  Like you have found out.  

First at this point you must reset the camera to factory defaults. You need to be at square zero.

You need to get a top quality SD card (Sandisk or Lexar for instance) from a reputable dealer not Cheap Charlies.

There is a 12 minute limit caused because every video file being written onto the card is capped at 4GB due to the FAT32 file system, one single file can only be as big as 4GB.

You cannot use NTFS since Canon doesn't support it. (Larger than 4 GB.)

Because of file system limitations it will not restart after stopping unless you put Magic Lantern on it and turn on the continuous video recording option. BTW,  Magic Lantern uses a lot of battery.

If your needs are true video you may need to look at a EOS C-100.  A true video camera. It does not suffer from the limits of the T3i.

The T3i is a "still" camera that does "video".  It is not a video camera that does stills.

[rwmorey]

I reformatted my SD card in the camera and the video recording is working fine again.