erratic battery grip

[narlus]

has anyone had erratic behaviour w/ their BG-E2 grip? the shutter release is fine, but the dial for AF point selection can be flaky. sometimes it just flat out refuses to work. the first time this happened, i thought it might be due to a low battery charge, but it's been happening more and more. it's inconsistent though - it comes back to life as well.

any ideas? :confused:

[JWright]

1. I assume you are talking about the Canon BG-E2 and not one of the third-party grips?

2. If it is the Canon, does the AA battery tray have chrome or gold contacts on it?

Canon recalled all the early BG-E2 grips because of issues with intermittent contact and causing the camera to shut down. Mine was an early one and even though I didn't have any problems with it, I returned it under the recall. When it was returned, I noticed the battery tray had been replaced withone with gold contacts.

You might want to check your serial number agains the recall numbers and see if your is one subject to the recall.

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=PgComSmModDisplayAct&fcategoryid=816&modelid=10464&keycode=2112&id=25573#BGE2

[evandavies]

Sounds to me like the dial switch is coming to the end of its life where the contacts become oxidised. How old is the grip? Has it been used in inclement weather?

[narlus]

canon model BG-E2
s/n outside the recall range
gold contact plates
no visible signs of oxidation; i rarely use it outside in misty weather. most of the time, it's an indoor camera (2/3rd of the time, i am guessing).

edit - just played w/ it now, and the problem starts when i hit the button to change the AF point, and the point will not stay lit in the viewfinder; it blinks, then i can't get it to be active and rotate it around the AF selection pattern.

when using the camera in landscape position, it works fine.

[JWright]

You're talking about the finger wheel right next to the shutter button on the vertical grip, right?

How is the wheel working for changing aperture in Av mode and shutter speed in Tv mode? If it's only "flaky" while changing the focus point, but works fine for other functions, then it's probably not the wheel. You can always use the wheel on the back of the camera or the joystick for selecting the focus point.

[narlus]

i think the wheel is fine (i can adjust shutter speed with 100% of the time), i think the issue is in just selecting/highlighting the AF point to begin with, by using the right-most button. sometimes nothing happens, and the red square doesn't illuminate in the viewfinder.

the joystick is a pain to use when the camera's in portrait orientation (probably not helped by the fact that i'm a right eye shooter).

[JWright]

It's possible a little bit of something has gotten into the button contacts. You might try blowing around the button with rocket blower or some canned air (be careful not to release the propellant--hold the can still) to see if that doesn't help the problem. If you can find some electronic contact cleaner that won't damage plastic (Radio Shack or any electronic supply house) you might try that on the button as well. As always, be very careful when using these products on the camera. You might remove the grip from the camera and take the batteries out of it before doing any thing like I've mentioned.

[narlus]

alright, this grip issue is driving me nuts...might be time to contact Canon...it works 90% of the time, but time it doesn't, i ended up changing exposure settings while trying to select an AF point, and it's very irritating.

anyone know off-hand what the warranty period is for grips?

[narlus]

well, i ended up sending the grip back to Canon right before the one year warranty expired. they didn't say what they ended up doing, and i know it's the same grip due to serial #....there was some bit highlighted in a copy of the manual/instructions about not powering it on before you install batteries, but i know that wasn't my issue.

anyway, whatever they did (or didn't do), it seems to be working fine now.