Shutter Dial and Aperture Ring do nothing at DVinfo.net

Howard Wilczynski · January 25th, 2009, 11:10 PM

I pulled out my camera tonight to test another problem I wrote about a few months ago and found that I cannot set the shutter or Aperture in any mode.

The shutter is "set" to 1/30 and the aperture is set to F1.0. So in Manual mode I see both those settings. In TV mode is show 1/30 and in AV mode F1.0 and in all three modes neither dial does anything.

I read in the forum that this happened to some one last year and Canon "fixed" it but didn't know what caused it.

Anyone have any more information on this before I send my camera to Canon?

BTW - It is not the exposure lock, per se, I have checked it several times. There is no E. Lock on the screen, in fact nothing seems to happen when I press the E.Lock button. So that may be messed up too.

Chris Soucy · January 25th, 2009, 11:19 PM

Try pressing the "reset" button (with a toothpick or similar) located under the LCD screen recess, forwards of the speaker, sounds like it may have had a cardiac arrest.

CS

Howard Wilczynski · January 25th, 2009, 11:36 PM

Chris,

I did thee reset, had to remove the battery first, then pressed the button.

Put the battery back in and all the information displayed was in Japanese.

I figured how to get it back in English, then tried the shutter and aperture again.

Darn, still the same problem.

I'll try the XL-XH series owner's club hotline tomorrow.

Howard

Chris Soucy · January 26th, 2009, 12:26 AM

Well, it was worth a shot.

CS

Howard Wilczynski · January 26th, 2009, 07:56 AM

Yes it was. Thanks.

Howard

Chris Hurd · January 26th, 2009, 08:06 AM

Irvine there in Orange Co. will be your nearest service center. Good luck and let us know how it goes,

Howard Wilczynski · January 27th, 2009, 11:41 PM

I got an email from Canon Service tonight. They want $267 to fix it, but didn't say what "it" was.

I will call them in the morning to find out what "it" is and see if I can get them to lower the price too.

Howard

Chris Hurd · January 28th, 2009, 07:36 AM

That's the standard charge for breaking open the camera, diagnosing whatever the problem is, and fixing it. I don't think the price is negotiable.

Howard Wilczynski · January 28th, 2009, 08:16 AM

Thanks Chris, that makes me feel a little better, though there is supposed to be a 10% discount for members of the XH club. So I will ask for that.

Update 9:01 AM
Just got off the phone with them. Yeah, that is just the base fee for opening it up. They haven't even looked at it yet to find out what is wrong.

Howard

Rob Cook · January 28th, 2009, 12:41 PM

Howard, just wondering if you have a after market warranty, like Mac or SageMax Protection Plan. I have the 4 year Pro Video Mac warranty, I have never used it, and hope it's not ever needed. Please keep us informed of the fix and total cost.
Rob

Howard Wilczynski · January 30th, 2009, 01:24 PM

Got the camera back today. It was nice to have a 4 day turn around. It helps that I am one shipping day from the repair center.

Good News: The camera is working correctly again.

Bad News is: They have no idea what was wrong. This is what they said (this is exact wording):

"We have examined thee product according to your request, and, upon close inspection the exact cause could not be identified but it was found that causing incorrect exposure. Electrical adjustments were carried out on the pcb assembly... update firmware-> 1.0.2.0"

I called to see if I could get any more specifics and though they were very nice, he could not tell me what was wrong, just that the benched the camera to factory specs.

This doesn't give me any "warm fuzzies" that it will not happen again.
I do have a 90 warranty.

Howard

Howard Wilczynski · January 30th, 2009, 04:09 PM

I thought I would post a little update. Now this is real scary.

The Canon rep called me back and said he spoke to the technician that fixed my camera. He said, they are only speculating, but even though the camera should be protected enough, it is in the realm of possibilities that the cause was "static electricity".

I then told him, I put the camera away in it's bag just after finishing capturing on my Mac and don't remember a shock of any size.

BTW - I thought that was great that he did try and find out more information for me.

Daniel Epstein · January 31st, 2009, 10:14 AM

Static electricity can be very powerful and confuse electronics pretty easily. My old Palm pilot lost the ability to sync due to static electricity and required a complete reboot after draining the battery to reset the electronics. As to whether your problem was due to static it is very hard to say unless you can duplicate the issue. Try and find out what process they used to clear up the issue. Did it clear up after they installed the firmware update? Or after they made the adjustments on the board? It may be a one time thing but they might have interrupted the circuit which was causing the issue long enough for it to reset. Or the firmware update fixed some instruction which was damaged somehow and now the camera is starting correctly. Time will tell. It may be worth having a copy of the firmware update around so if the camera goes through this again you can reinstall the firmware and see if that clears it up if it happens again. HTH

Brian Pratt · January 31st, 2009, 10:51 AM

Is a firmware update something that we can do ourselves (if necessary!) .. are there any instructions on how to do it, is there an updated (or original) Pal (UK) firmware available for download ? - I've not seen one on Canons site.

Howard Wilczynski · January 31st, 2009, 12:14 PM

I asked about the firmware update and he said unlike still cameras, Canon keeps firmware much closer to the vest for camcorders because they are more worried that the average user will mess up the camera.

I will call him on Monday and asked which proceedure cleared the problem and if that is something that could be duplicated at home.

January 25th, 2009, 11:10 PM	#1
Howard Wilczynski Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Canyon Country, CA Posts: 71	Shutter Dial and Aperture Ring do nothing I pulled out my camera tonight to test another problem I wrote about a few months ago and found that I cannot set the shutter or Aperture in any mode. The shutter is "set" to 1/30 and the aperture is set to F1.0. So in Manual mode I see both those settings. In TV mode is show 1/30 and in AV mode F1.0 and in all three modes neither dial does anything. I read in the forum that this happened to some one last year and Canon "fixed" it but didn't know what caused it. Anyone have any more information on this before I send my camera to Canon? BTW - It is not the exposure lock, per se, I have checked it several times. There is no E. Lock on the screen, in fact nothing seems to happen when I press the E.Lock button. So that may be messed up too.

January 25th, 2009, 11:19 PM	#2
Chris Soucy Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Fairfield, Dunedin, New Zealand Posts: 3,689 Images: 18	Hi Howard......... Try pressing the "reset" button (with a toothpick or similar) located under the LCD screen recess, forwards of the speaker, sounds like it may have had a cardiac arrest. CS

January 26th, 2009, 12:26 AM	#4
Chris Soucy Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Fairfield, Dunedin, New Zealand Posts: 3,689 Images: 18	Bugger....... Well, it was worth a shot. CS

January 26th, 2009, 08:06 AM	#6
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	Irvine there in Orange Co. will be your nearest service center. Good luck and let us know how it goes, __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

January 28th, 2009, 07:36 AM	#8
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	That's the standard charge for breaking open the camera, diagnosing whatever the problem is, and fixing it. I don't think the price is negotiable. __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

January 25th, 2009, 11:36 PM	#3
Howard Wilczynski Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Canyon Country, CA Posts: 71	Chris, I did thee reset, had to remove the battery first, then pressed the button. Put the battery back in and all the information displayed was in Japanese. I figured how to get it back in English, then tried the shutter and aperture again. Darn, still the same problem. I'll try the XL-XH series owner's club hotline tomorrow. Howard

January 26th, 2009, 07:56 AM	#5
Howard Wilczynski Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Canyon Country, CA Posts: 71	Yes it was. Thanks. Howard

January 27th, 2009, 11:41 PM	#7
Howard Wilczynski Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Canyon Country, CA Posts: 71	I got an email from Canon Service tonight. They want $267 to fix it, but didn't say what "it" was. I will call them in the morning to find out what "it" is and see if I can get them to lower the price too. Howard

January 28th, 2009, 08:16 AM	#9
Howard Wilczynski Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Canyon Country, CA Posts: 71	Thanks Chris, that makes me feel a little better, though there is supposed to be a 10% discount for members of the XH club. So I will ask for that. Update 9:01 AM Just got off the phone with them. Yeah, that is just the base fee for opening it up. They haven't even looked at it yet to find out what is wrong. Howard Last edited by Howard Wilczynski; January 28th, 2009 at 11:21 AM.

January 28th, 2009, 12:41 PM	#10
Rob Cook Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Oklahoma City Posts: 99	Howard, just wondering if you have a after market warranty, like Mac or SageMax Protection Plan. I have the 4 year Pro Video Mac warranty, I have never used it, and hope it's not ever needed. Please keep us informed of the fix and total cost. Rob __________________ Canon XHA1, Canon T2i, FinalCut 3 , MacBook Pro 2.4Gz, FireStore FSC-60, DP1X Monitor

January 30th, 2009, 01:24 PM	#11
Howard Wilczynski Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Canyon Country, CA Posts: 71	Got the camera back today. It was nice to have a 4 day turn around. It helps that I am one shipping day from the repair center. Good News: The camera is working correctly again. Bad News is: They have no idea what was wrong. This is what they said (this is exact wording): "We have examined thee product according to your request, and, upon close inspection the exact cause could not be identified but it was found that causing incorrect exposure. Electrical adjustments were carried out on the pcb assembly... update firmware-> 1.0.2.0" I called to see if I could get any more specifics and though they were very nice, he could not tell me what was wrong, just that the benched the camera to factory specs. This doesn't give me any "warm fuzzies" that it will not happen again. I do have a 90 warranty. Howard

January 30th, 2009, 04:09 PM	#12
Howard Wilczynski Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Canyon Country, CA Posts: 71	I thought I would post a little update. Now this is real scary. The Canon rep called me back and said he spoke to the technician that fixed my camera. He said, they are only speculating, but even though the camera should be protected enough, it is in the realm of possibilities that the cause was "static electricity". I then told him, I put the camera away in it's bag just after finishing capturing on my Mac and don't remember a shock of any size. BTW - I thought that was great that he did try and find out more information for me.

January 31st, 2009, 10:14 AM	#13
Daniel Epstein Trustee Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: New York, NY Posts: 1,267	Static electricity can be very powerful and confuse electronics pretty easily. My old Palm pilot lost the ability to sync due to static electricity and required a complete reboot after draining the battery to reset the electronics. As to whether your problem was due to static it is very hard to say unless you can duplicate the issue. Try and find out what process they used to clear up the issue. Did it clear up after they installed the firmware update? Or after they made the adjustments on the board? It may be a one time thing but they might have interrupted the circuit which was causing the issue long enough for it to reset. Or the firmware update fixed some instruction which was damaged somehow and now the camera is starting correctly. Time will tell. It may be worth having a copy of the firmware update around so if the camera goes through this again you can reinstall the firmware and see if that clears it up if it happens again. HTH

January 31st, 2009, 10:51 AM	#14
Brian Pratt Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Lancs, England Posts: 48	Is a firmware update something that we can do ourselves (if necessary!) .. are there any instructions on how to do it, is there an updated (or original) Pal (UK) firmware available for download ? - I've not seen one on Canons site.

January 31st, 2009, 12:14 PM	#15
Howard Wilczynski Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Canyon Country, CA Posts: 71	I asked about the firmware update and he said unlike still cameras, Canon keeps firmware much closer to the vest for camcorders because they are more worried that the average user will mess up the camera. I will call him on Monday and asked which proceedure cleared the problem and if that is something that could be duplicated at home.