Electrical smell when chaging lens

[creighton]

This may be an odd question, however when I was changing lenses on the 20D this afternoon I noticed an odd odor from the mirror box. It was not quite an electrical burning type odor, but one similar and and equally tough to describe. Why my nose was that close to the camera body at the time I do not know. It's possible this odor has always been there I just never noticed it. I played around a little afterwards and if I took a couple of shots and removed the lens I could detect the odor. After a minute or so with the power off the odor was no longer detectible. I have not noticed the camera acting any differently with the exception that my recently charged batteries seemed to have drained unusually quickly (two batteries in the grip only went for a combined 300 shots with no flash). Is this odor a sign of something bad to come or is it normal?

[steved110]

It seems odd, I would suggest checking again several times in different environments. smells are deceptive, and even the nastiest odour quickly overloads your smell circuits. It's also easy to talk yourelf into believing you can smell something...is that gas?

[Mark_Cohran]

I'm an electronics technician/engineer -- usually that smell you associate with electronics/electrical problems is ozone, which is sort of a sharp, metallic smell. It's usually a result of arcing or gas ionization. If you've actually got that kind of smell in your camera, it's not a good thing, but I'd be very surprised if that's actually what you're smelling. Normally it's only associated with high voltages or shorted circuits. The most likely culprit, if you did have a problem, would be the electrical connections between the lens and the camera body. Take a look at those and look for any pitting or discoloration. If the connections don't look shiny, try cleaning them with a soft cloth and some electronics grade alcohol (from Radio Shack).

I suspect you're not really smelling ozone, but perhaps something else. Burning or overheated electrical insulation would have more of an acrid smell. So, I hope your nose is just fooling with you.

Mark

[creighton]

Thanks for the reply. The electrical contacts all still look good. The camera is still relatively new, I've had it for about three months and only ~900 shutter actuations so far. I'll keep an eye on it and hope for the best. With my luck the thing will spontaneously combust next time trip the shutter. :)

[That_Guy]

Another thing could be the actuator warming up. Did you shoot rapid shots in succession before removing? Electromagnets smell funning when used rapidly and get warm.

[creighton]

If so that's probably what I noticed then. IIRC I had been shooting in Burst immediately before the lens change.

[azoth]

I'd hate to bring up a 4 year old thread, but I just had to post this.

I was experiencing the exact same issue, a burning electrical smell... and quite frankly it freaked me out.

I was told my a friend of mine that it could be caused by friction against the body with the rubber used on the lens when taking it off.

I didn't believe him at first but, after grabbing my 17-85, pushing down the lens release button and kind of rubbing the lens back and forth as if I was taking it off and on again rapidly I was able to create a very strong version of what I smelt before.

Not all my lenses do this, only my Canon 17-85mm IS.

I hope this helps anyone in the future worried about a burnt sensor or something (like i was!)

[TTk]

Check your battery sometimes they short circuit inside, see if the battery get's warm/hot just by leaving your camera switched on for a while.

[Joemt]

I have smelled something myself when changing lens on my cams but it smelled more to
me like grease. I was thinking then lubricants used inside contributed to the smell.

Joemt.