Ever have this happen with your 20/30D

[HWP]

I had a close bird in flight, locked on with AI servo, the bird filling my frame and pushed the button and nothing happened. no click nothing. I was p!$$ed.
The power was on. I focused on something else and it fired away.

Any idea what happened?

Thanks

Henry

[hTr]

I had a close bird in flight, locked on with AI servo, the bird filling my frame and pushed the button and nothing happened. no click nothing. I was p!$$ed.
The power was on. I focused on something else and it fired away.

Any idea what happened?

Thanks

Henry

I've had it quit shooting if I lost focus, so Hear your story I believe it felt you had lost focus or there was not enough contrast in the Target area. What metering mode were you using?

[sugarzebra]

What's the MFD with a 300 f/4 & TC? If the bird was full frame perhaps it just got too close??

[HWP]

Gary, Scott,

Thanks for the response.

I saw through the lens that I had focus. I usually don't hit the button until I see focus.. even on a BIF. Here's what I'm thinking might have happened. It was a low sun but bright. The Bif was an Egret. I had my 300 mm set at f4.0 and the camera was on Av. Even though it was fairly bright there were still a lot of shadows. When I focused on the Egret and he filled my frame the low sunlight was shining off of the bird. Is it possible the camera could'nt achieve proper exposure because it ran out of shutter speed? Maybe it won't let the camera shoot if it has to use more shutter speed than it has. I haven't checked the manual.

Does that sound like a reasonable explanation?

Thanks

Henry

[BradM]

That is probably exactly what happened, you would know for sure if you had seen the shutter speed blinking in the viewfinder.

[hTr]

Gary, Scott,

Thanks for the response.

I saw through the lens that I had focus. I usually don't hit the button until I see focus.. even on a BIF. Here's what I'm thinking might have happened. It was a low sun but bright. The Bif was an Egret. I had my 300 mm set at f4.0 and the camera was on Av. Even though it was fairly bright there were still a lot of shadows. When I focused on the Egret and he filled my frame the low sunlight was shining off of the bird. Is it possible the camera could'nt achieve proper exposure because it ran out of shutter speed? Maybe it won't let the camera shoot if it has to use more shutter speed than it has. I haven't checked the manual.

Does that sound like a reasonable explanation?

Thanks

Henry

I can't speak to that but there is another problem with the 20/30D cameras if you get too verticle they will not fire.

[canonloader]

Yup, the bird got too close or the speed was too high, although, I have had the 30D fire when 8000 was blinking. I've also laid on my back and shot at hawks directly above me and had no problem.

[BradM]

Gary - that is a new one to me, even though I usually use the XTi for macro stuff I have used my 30D for many macro images and have been vertical and over w/o any issues. Thinking of one image in particular on this thread in macro forum:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=365719

the spider hanging in mid air, I was on my back shooting up to it just over vertical to try to lose the web w/ lighting.

[HWP]

To add more to it... Since the sun was low and there were many shadows I had the ISO at 400 to get decent shutter speeds in the low light area's. So as soon as the big egret filled my frame with the sunlight reflecting off of his pure white body the camera must have needed more than 8000 shutter speed.

I'll skim the manual to see if I can find any reference to it disabling shooting under this condition.

Thanks for everybody's responses.

Henry

[canonloader]

Aside from these experiences, I have had the 30D lock up twice and not fire. Once in 20 below weather and a 25 mile an hour wind while shooting eagles. Just quit. I had to shut it off, take the battery out and just put it back in and it started again. Another time, in warm weather, it did the same thing. This stuff happens. That's why they tell you what to do about it when it does. ;)

[HWP]

I checked the manual and it doesn't say anything about disabling the shutter under conditions like this.

I'll bet though that the software has a protection algorithm that is invoked when the camera detects a need for a shutter speed some amount greater than 8000 and say's "Hey bud.. you're not going to get any shutter action because you may dammage your sensor". It might be trying to protect for somebody inadvertently pressing the shutter button while the lens is pointed at the sun. I believe that would dammage the sensor. It's possible that I had just reach that amount required over 8000 that disables the shutter. Make sense?

After all this it's safe to say...user error!

Thanks again

Henry

[MicheleRF]

I had the exact same thing happen to me yesterday and I was p!$$ed too! I do think it was a matter of not enough contrast and/or possibly not enough distance. I had decided to test drive my new Dynatran monopod; it was starting to get dark and shady. Although I had had no trouble just minutes before, I did not get the focus beep when I depressed the button, although the bird, a red-breasted nuthatch (a new one for me), seemed to be in focus in the viewfinder. I had my ISO set at 800 and was in Tv mode with shutter set at 1/60 with metering set to pattern. I depressed the shutter button and.....nothing....and again...nothing! Darn it! I did get a couple of shots off after that but he was a little further away. Frustrating to say the least but chalk it up to another learning experience :oops:

[HWP]

I had the exact same thing happen to me yesterday and I was p!$$ed too! I do think it was a matter of not enough contrast and/or possibly not enough distance. I had decided to test drive my new Dynatran monopod; it was starting to get dark and shady. Although I had had no trouble just minutes before, I did not get the focus beep when I depressed the button, although the bird, a red-breasted nuthatch (a new one for me), seemed to be in focus in the viewfinder. I had my ISO set at 800 and was in Tv mode with shutter set at 1/60 with metering set to pattern. I depressed the shutter button and.....nothing....and again...nothing! Darn it! I did get a couple of shots off after that but he was a little further away. Frustrating to say the least but chalk it up to another learning experience :oops:

Michele.. I feel your pain! What I saw in my view finder would have been an awsome shot. But the camera probably knew better than me. If I had gotten the shot I'll bet the Egret would have been a big white blown out splotch.

[kenyc]

I had a close bird in flight, locked on with AI servo, the bird filling my frame and pushed the button and nothing happened. no click nothing. I was p!$$ed.
The power was on. I focused on something else and it fired away.

Any idea what happened?

Thanks

Henry

I've had exactly that happen when the subject was close and I had the focus range set on the "far" setting.

KAC