Damage from airport scanner

Damage from airport scanner
Last Wednesday I was flying from Paris to Amsterdam with my 6 months old canon 60d and 5 year old canon 35L, I’ve been using my 60d and 35L for last six months without any issue, and I took almost 5000 pictures in that period. OK here it is what really happened, when the security personnel told me to put my camera through the scanner I was forgot to turn the camera off, after it came out of the scanner I put the camera in the bag and boarded the plane to Amsterdam, after arriving in Amsterdam I noticed the camera is not turning on, I thought my battery has died, so I went to the hotel and charge the battery to complete full, put the battery back but nothing happened as camera was dead, after maybe 5minutes I noticed camera is heating up a little where the menu button are located, I pull the battery out immediately and detach the lens, after little while I put the battery back without putting any lens and camera turned on like nothing ever happened, and I came to the conclusion that my precious 35L is gone. Last night I came back home to dubai and ask my friend to bring his camera and lens, first I put my 35L on his 450d and lens worked like a charm, then I attached his 28-90mm on my 60d and I have the same problem as no power and completely dead. I have few question for experts here if you guys can help. I would be greatly appreciate.
Is it a battery problem?
Is it my 60D? but as soon I take the lens out it turns on normally . Thankfully I have 6 months warranty left but might be expensive to send it to Chicago since I live in Dubai and bought the camera in US.
Or is it my 35L without any warranty Thank you so much for reading thru this.

not sure how the airport scanner is to blame... you're certainly not the 1st person to get their gear through an airport's scanner...

sounds like there's some sort of short when a lens is mounted - get it looked at...

There is a Nikon website that states "The digital cameras themselves are not sensitive to X-rays and will not be damaged by a properly operating security scanner." However, note the use of the word "properly". There are also quite a few sites that state the camera should always be "OFF".

You seem concerned about the 35L but you also state it works on a friend's camera, therefore it likely is OK. This is also supported by your use of a known good lens not working on your 60D body, and the malfunction occurs. This would suggest the 60D body as the issue.

The 60D does not have a separate and distinct back up battery for the camera functions as do some cameras. In some cameras, but not the 60D, you can remove the backup battery to fully reset the camera. You might try to contact Canon Tech support to see if there is some other manner to do a hard reset.

By the way in the old days of film, it was well known that the high frequency vibration of jet aircraft would cause screws to come loose. Professionals that travelled extensivly had cameras assembled in special wyas to minimize the issue (Lock tite, clear nail polish etc.). Any rattles if you give that camera a good shake?

SMP_Homer wrote in post #13347161
not sure how the airport scanner is to blame... you're certainly not the 1st person to get their gear through an airport's scanner...

sounds like there's some sort of short when a lens is mounted - get it looked at...

I am 100% sure it was the airport scanner because I should have turned the camera off, and as i mentioned it was working fine a moment before it went through the scanner.

John from PA wrote in post #13347242
There is a Nikon website that states "The digital cameras themselves are not sensitive to X-rays and will not be damaged by a properly operating security scanner." However, note the use of the word "properly". There are also quite a few sites that state the camera should always be "OFF".

You seem concerned about the 35L but you also state it works on a friend's camera, therefore it likely is OK. This is also supported by your use of a known good lens not working on your 60D body, and the malfunction occurs. This would suggest the 60D body as the issue.

The 60D does not have a separate and distinct back up battery for the camera functions as do some cameras. In some cameras, but not the 60D, you can remove the backup battery to fully reset the camera. You might try to contact Canon Tech support to see if there is some other manner to do a hard reset.

By the way in the old days of film, it was well known that the high frequency vibration of jet aircraft would cause screws to come loose. Professionals that travelled extensivly had cameras assembled in special wyas to minimize the issue (Lock tite, clear nail polish etc.). Any rattles if you give that camera a good shake?

you are right john, i think i should contact canon, but do you think this kind of damage would be covered by the one year warranty? and oh yea nothing happened if i shake the camera.

You said "as soon I take the lens out it turns on normally." Have you tried the reset procedure in the manual? Also, examine the contacts on the body to make sure they look normal. Some people suggest hitting them lightly with a pencil eraser but be careful you don't get any debris in the body.

You might try a firmware update which is available at http://usa.canon.com …os_60d#DriversA​ndSoftware or give Canon a call in Dubai. A "general" number is 971 4 3448862.

Try to reinstall the firmware. If that doesn't help just send it to Canon. Just tell them it started acting strange. No need to give them any details on what you think the cause is... as they might void the warranty.

John from PA wrote in post #13347335
You said "as soon I take the lens out it turns on normally." Have you tried the reset procedure in the manual? Also, examine the contacts on the body to make sure they look normal. Some people suggest hitting them lightly with a pencil eraser but be careful you don't get any debris in the body.

thank you john for your help, as far I can see the contacts on the lens and the body looks flawless, could you also elaborate on how to reset the camera? my next step is to upgrade the firmware. I will keep you guys update on how it goes.

Johnny V wrote in post #13347418
Try to reinstall the firmware. If that doesn't help just send it to Canon. Just tell them it started acting strange. No need to give them any details on what you think the cause is... as they might void the warranty.

thanks johnny for the advice.

Often you can't see what's on the lens to body contacts. It's oil from fingers or from the camera mechanisms. I don't like using a pencil eraser because those contacts are gold plated (to prevent corrosion)... and pencil erasers are made from vegetable oil. Instead I use a few drops of isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) on a clean, lint free cloth to wipe clean those contacts. It's important to carefully avoid touching the lens optics or the camera mirror & focus screen.

AFAIK, the 60D is not possible to reset. Check the manual to see if there is any info about it. The little "memory" battery is inside the camera, not user accessible.

So just reinstall the firmware... That might help.

I doubt it was the airport scanner that did damage to your camera. It's virtually impossible for the mild X-ray to have any effect on electronics... More likely the camera got a hard bump during the flight.

Doesn't matter really, if you can't get it to work and dont' know why it's acting up, Canon should fix it under warranty. If you or Canon were to prove it was damaged by a hard knock or exposure to X-rays, the warranty would be void and your insurance (if you have it) would be your only recourse to replace/repair the camera... or you'd have to pay for it. Hard bumps and X-rays aren't covered by warranty.

mine has gone thru scanners a couple of times on, never had a problem.

The only time I worried about scanners was in Paris when they insisted on running my cat thru the damn thing.

amfoto1 wrote in post #13347606
I doubt it was the airport scanner that did damage to your camera. It's virtually impossible for the mild X-ray to have any effect on electronics... More likely the camera got a hard bump during the flight.

This!

Most likely something else is the cause, and this just happens to be coincidence...

I very much doubt it was the airport scanner.

I have had my cameras through them dozens of times with no problems.

It definitely sounds like you have a problem with your camera.

Good luck with it.

Correlation does not equal causation.