Canon 40D

[ayjay]

I think my venerable old 40D may have died today. I must have had it ten years, and it was second hand when I bought it.

I took it out of the box in the back of the car this afternoon and pressed the Info button to check that it was on the right setting, (usually C3 for Butterflies and Dragonflies) and nothing happened. I checked that it was turned on and although I knew the battery was OK I changed it for a fresh one, still nothing.

I'd used it yesterday and it was working fine then. I took the battery out and put it back in again a few times and at one point it did come alive, but not for long, maybe a minute.

Does this give anyone a clue as to what the problem might be?

Here's a share of the last pic that it might ever take. A Nursery Web Spider, Pisaura mirabilis.

[postcardcv]

It might be worth checking the cell battery that is in the camera (it is the one that keep time and date info correct when the main battery isn’t in place or charged). It can be found in the main battery compartment and is very easy to change so is worth a try.

[ayjay]

Thanks for that, I had just discovered that there was a second battery after some internet digging this morning. It's not been changed since I've owned the camera so highly likely that this could be the problem. Might just be the cheapest fix ever. I'll let you know once I've had a chance to nip out and buy one.

I should have said, I did clean up the main battery contacts on both the battery and the camera when I got home again after first encountering the problem.

[ayjay]

I'd love to be able to report that a new Date/Time battery had worked, but it didn't. It's still as dead as a Dodo.

If there was somewhere nearby to take it for repair I'd be tempted to do that, but on balance I think it's time for an upgrade.

I'm not going to ask for recommendations, (I'm confused enough as it is having spent a large part of yesterday researching that), but I'm willing to look at suggestions, although it would have to be a Canon, (I don't want to have to buy new lenses as well).

I'm tempted by the 7D Mkii, but will probably go with an 80D. I think the 7D is just more camera than I need, it's main attraction to me when it was introduced was the AF tracking for BiF shots, but I no longer do those and I've also given up on DiF shots too, too frustrating, I go out to enjoy myself not to get frustrated.

Probably my best DiF shot, (in case you were wondering).

[ayjay]

I drove 100 miles from Hampshire through all that heavy rain in Surrey yesterday to Hdew Cameras and bought myself an 80D body.

It's so very similar and yet so different to my 40D, there's a lot to learn.

One thing I'm struggling with is setting up the Custom Setting - C1 - I don't seem to be able to set the f stop to f11 as I did on the 40D. In actual fact I'm not even getting the option of f11, it jumps from f8 to f10 and then f13.

Everything else is saving correctly but I have to input the f number manually each time otherwise it's on f3.5. (The lens is a Sigma 180mm f3.5 APO Macro DG if that matters)

What am I missing?

[postcardcv]

I don’t know but it may be an issue with the lens rather than the camera. When third party lens manufacturers design the lenses they have to reverse engineer the lens mount based on the existing cameras. There have been occasions where newer camera bodies have compatibility issues with older lenses. It might be worth googling to see if others have had issues with that lens on newer bodies.

[ayjay]

I can see the logic in what you're saying and I'll not rule it out, but I'm not sure I'm buying it. The camera can definitely "see" the lens, and will set and use whatever aperture I want, it just won't save an f stop number to the Custom Setting.

I'll try it tomorrow with a Canon lens, although I only have an 18-55 kit lens and a 100-400L, (both fairly old).

I'll also have a look around for a dedicated Canon Forum, (or it might have to be a Facebook page, as that seems to be more popular than the forum format now).

[ayjay]

The plot thickens.

I spoke to my son last night who has had an 80D for about a year now, although he doesn't use the Custom settings.

He pointed out to me that when you first set C1 there's a message on the screen for a couple of seconds that says " Auto setting of shutter speed and aperture. Other settings can be configured manually."

I obviously hadn't seen this as it's only there for a couple of seconds and I'd not been looking at the screen when I was selecting the C1 on the mode dial.

However, I've seen a video on Youtube (screenshot below) explaining how to use C1 & C2 and that clearly shows Aperture and Speed settings.

Why is my camera different and what can I do about it.

[postcardcv]

Try putting your camera into Manual and then setting the aperture, shutter speed and ISO to the setting you want in your custom mode. Then press Menu > Custom Shooting Mode > Register Settings > select which C* you want to assign the settings to.

I don't have the 80D but this is how it works on other Canon bodies so it might work...?

[ayjay]

Great minds think alike (and little ones seldom differ ). I came up with that same idea myself whilst sat on the Thunderbox this morning, hopefully I'll find the time to try it soon.