My 7D Horror Story at DVinfo.net

Ryan Mueller · November 6th, 2010, 09:59 AM

I have been using 5DIIs for a long time now and decided to buy my dad a 7D for fathers day earlier this year. Well, I used it to shoot an Orchestra Performance recently and all hell broke loose. The cam seemed to hold up fine until the very end when I went to power it down. The cam was completely unresponsive and showed an err 40 message on the top display panel only. The message is there even when the cam is powered off! The unit is pretty much a brick.

I tried everything, switching lenses (had a 70-200 2.8 II on when this happened), changing cards, changing batteries, charging batteries, cleaning the contacts, and nothing worked. At least the footage was all there.... kind of. I transcoded all of the footage and began editing together the 5D and 7D footage and I immediately noticed that the 7D footage also rendered 2 DEAD PIXELS! Man, what a nightmare! I have sent the cam into Factory Service and am now in the process of manually removing the dead pixels from every shot.

This is the first time I've ever worked with the 7D for an extended period of time and am kind of taken back by the whole experience. Never had any issues with any 5Ds in the time that I have been using them (since their initial release). Hopefully it is just a bad apple and all is peachy when it returns from factory service.

Bill Pryor · November 6th, 2010, 02:09 PM

When I had a 7D it was flawless. I have heard of others dying, but I could say the same thing about any type of digital camera or camcorder. One person I know had a problem with the chip. Canon replaced it and everything has worked perfectly since then. Thousands of 7D cameras are in use. I guess occasionally there will be a bad one. Seems like yours has two problems--whatever the error message is and the dead pixel issue. With dead pixels, they'll replace the chip. There could be something else causing the error or it could be chip-related too. Anyway, I'm sure they'll fix it. And at least your shot is fixable...pain in the butt though that may be. Better than losing it entirely.

Greg Kiger · November 6th, 2010, 02:20 PM

just a thought - the dead pixels would be a great name for a band :)

hope Canon takes care of you on this.

Jeremy Pevar · November 6th, 2010, 03:51 PM

That's a very unfortunate story, but for me the take-away isn't that the 7D sucks, but that you should always do a dry-run before game day. When I bought my 7D and two 16gig cards I ran the whole kit through its paces - filling up each card and transferring the resulting footage - TWICE before taking it into the field. If the camera or cards had been flaky it would most likely have turned up at this point. I have done similar testing with all my new equipment - camera, lights, etc.

Daniel Epstein · November 8th, 2010, 07:31 AM

I agree with Jeremy. Testing gear before using it in the field is the way to go. Just because you never know if you are going to get stuck with a problem unit. Of course things can and do break during use and these cameras are being asked to do a lot more than they were designed for.
Ryan did you ever find out what error -40 meant?

Here is one link to a user who had the same error code

Canon 7D - Error 40 - Talk Photography

Chris Hurd · November 8th, 2010, 07:34 AM

This would be a good reason to have a back-up camera at all times, such as the inexpensive Rebel T2i.

Daniel Epstein · November 8th, 2010, 09:16 AM

Chris,
Back up camera is a good idea but in Ryans case he would have had to use it during the performance. So it would really be a second package which for a live event is a very common and practical idea. Of course not easy to do if there is no budget for it.
The reliability of the DSLR systems seems to be an order of magnitude less than video or film systems we have become accustomed to. The price we pay for progress 2 steps forward one step back

Ryan Mueller · November 13th, 2010, 10:59 AM

OK, so I heard back from Canon Factory Service and they are taking care of this under warranty! Should have the cam back in a few days and I'm sure all will be right as CFS usually takes care of things pretty well.

I was by no means saying that the 7D sucks as I love the cam! Especially at the price point. Just basically venting the stress of picking up a bad apple and not realizing that it was bad until after taking a bite. Fortunately I did have a 5DII as a backup cam capturing the master shot and the 7D footage definitely was usable when all was said and done, and looks incredible by the way.

While it sucks that this happened, it is still such a good feeling when you hand a project over to a client and they pretty much jump for joy over the quality and professionalism of a piece that was shot on sub $3 DSLRs. I will definitely be testing out all of my equipment a few days before any major shoot in the future though.

November 6th, 2010, 09:59 AM	#1
Ryan Mueller Major Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Highlands Ranch, CO Posts: 336	My 7D Horror Story I have been using 5DIIs for a long time now and decided to buy my dad a 7D for fathers day earlier this year. Well, I used it to shoot an Orchestra Performance recently and all hell broke loose. The cam seemed to hold up fine until the very end when I went to power it down. The cam was completely unresponsive and showed an err 40 message on the top display panel only. The message is there even when the cam is powered off! The unit is pretty much a brick. I tried everything, switching lenses (had a 70-200 2.8 II on when this happened), changing cards, changing batteries, charging batteries, cleaning the contacts, and nothing worked. At least the footage was all there.... kind of. I transcoded all of the footage and began editing together the 5D and 7D footage and I immediately noticed that the 7D footage also rendered 2 DEAD PIXELS! Man, what a nightmare! I have sent the cam into Factory Service and am now in the process of manually removing the dead pixels from every shot. This is the first time I've ever worked with the 7D for an extended period of time and am kind of taken back by the whole experience. Never had any issues with any 5Ds in the time that I have been using them (since their initial release). Hopefully it is just a bad apple and all is peachy when it returns from factory service.

November 6th, 2010, 02:20 PM	#3
Greg Kiger Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: St. Louis, MO Posts: 134	just a thought - the dead pixels would be a great name for a band :) hope Canon takes care of you on this. __________________ Greg Kiger St Louis Mo www.GreenBridgeFilms.com Sony EX1 / Canon 5Dm2 / Cool Lights / DP1x / Marshall / Oktava / Sanken / Kessler

November 8th, 2010, 07:34 AM	#6
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	This would be a good reason to have a back-up camera at all times, such as the inexpensive Rebel T2i. __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

November 6th, 2010, 02:09 PM	#2
Bill Pryor Contributor Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Kansas City, MO Posts: 4,449	When I had a 7D it was flawless. I have heard of others dying, but I could say the same thing about any type of digital camera or camcorder. One person I know had a problem with the chip. Canon replaced it and everything has worked perfectly since then. Thousands of 7D cameras are in use. I guess occasionally there will be a bad one. Seems like yours has two problems--whatever the error message is and the dead pixel issue. With dead pixels, they'll replace the chip. There could be something else causing the error or it could be chip-related too. Anyway, I'm sure they'll fix it. And at least your shot is fixable...pain in the butt though that may be. Better than losing it entirely.

November 6th, 2010, 03:51 PM	#4
Jeremy Pevar Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 48	That's a very unfortunate story, but for me the take-away isn't that the 7D sucks, but that you should always do a dry-run before game day. When I bought my 7D and two 16gig cards I ran the whole kit through its paces - filling up each card and transferring the resulting footage - TWICE before taking it into the field. If the camera or cards had been flaky it would most likely have turned up at this point. I have done similar testing with all my new equipment - camera, lights, etc.

November 8th, 2010, 07:31 AM	#5
Daniel Epstein Trustee Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: New York, NY Posts: 1,267	I agree with Jeremy. Testing gear before using it in the field is the way to go. Just because you never know if you are going to get stuck with a problem unit. Of course things can and do break during use and these cameras are being asked to do a lot more than they were designed for. Ryan did you ever find out what error -40 meant? Here is one link to a user who had the same error code Canon 7D - Error 40 - Talk Photography

November 8th, 2010, 09:16 AM	#7
Daniel Epstein Trustee Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: New York, NY Posts: 1,267	Chris, Back up camera is a good idea but in Ryans case he would have had to use it during the performance. So it would really be a second package which for a live event is a very common and practical idea. Of course not easy to do if there is no budget for it. The reliability of the DSLR systems seems to be an order of magnitude less than video or film systems we have become accustomed to. The price we pay for progress 2 steps forward one step back

November 13th, 2010, 10:59 AM	#8
Ryan Mueller Major Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Highlands Ranch, CO Posts: 336	OK, so I heard back from Canon Factory Service and they are taking care of this under warranty! Should have the cam back in a few days and I'm sure all will be right as CFS usually takes care of things pretty well. I was by no means saying that the 7D sucks as I love the cam! Especially at the price point. Just basically venting the stress of picking up a bad apple and not realizing that it was bad until after taking a bite. Fortunately I did have a 5DII as a backup cam capturing the master shot and the 7D footage definitely was usable when all was said and done, and looks incredible by the way. While it sucks that this happened, it is still such a good feeling when you hand a project over to a client and they pretty much jump for joy over the quality and professionalism of a piece that was shot on sub $3 DSLRs. I will definitely be testing out all of my equipment a few days before any major shoot in the future though.