5D2 froze for a while

two weeks ago, i did some shooting out at night in SD by the harbor and it was pretty chilly out like around high 40s degree.

did a lot of long exposure shots, like 15s to 25s shots in AV mode at ISO100 - ISO800.

the weirdest thing happened after we shot the botanical garden in balboa park, my 5D2 was stuck. i can still shoot the photos, but i can't get out of f8.0, iso400, +1/3 exposure. that was the last setting i shot with and no matter what i did, it wouldn't get out of there.

i tried all sorts of buttons and even power down and remove out the battery, it still didn't work. it wasn't that cold out.. so not sure if that's the cause.

but after i got back to the hotel, left my camera in the bag for a while until it's no long cool to touch, i powered back on and guess what.. now i can shift around and change any exposure, shutter speed or aperture i want.

has anyone even had that happen to them?

Maybe moisture froze between the buttons? No idea TBH. But would like to know too.

that's what i was thinking too. the weird part would be i can turn the dial to shift from AV to TV to M to any other, but the ISO, Aperture, and Shutter would remain the same value. Heck, even the focus select points wouldn't move at all.

Is it back to normal now? put it in a plastic bag in the freezer for awhile and see if it happens again

yes it's back to normal. after i went back into the hotel, i left my camera in the bag then after about 15 mins.. took it out, fired it up and everything was a-ok.

just found it strange to have it happen like that. i was shooting 20~ 30 sec exposures with my 24-70. but i guess the 5D2 is not weather-sealed?

My wheel behind my shutter button stopped working in the cold the other night for a few minutes, nothing to worry about, mine tends to have a freak out now and again.

derek.. glad to hear i'm not the only one. i guess if this keeps happening.. i can tell my wife i need a 1DX.. wahahaha

not only the 5D2 froze for a while
even our minds froze for a while when we see a great photo from this camera

lol... yes that's correct too!

If you are going in and out of really cold temps, you should be careful or you can end up with condensation inside the camera (and/or lenses, etc.). Enough of that can lead to other problems... corrosion on circuitry, fungus in lenses. The best way to avoid this is to put the entire kit inside a couple large garbage bags, double sealed, then bring indoors and let them warm up for an hour or so before opening up the bags.

Usually camera "glitches" in cold temps are due to the batteries. They just don't perform nearly as well when cold. Keep a spare battery in an inside pocket, where body heat will keep it warm. Switch it out if the camera starts to act up.

Another thing that often happens in the cold, LCD screens might not display properly and might hang up. It's possible that you were changing the settings, but the changes weren't being reflected on the screen.

Shutters and apertures can get sluggish, too. Back in the days of film, the film advance could give problems and the film itself might get brittle and break in cold weather. We used to have out cameras prepped specifically for severe cold, with lighter lubrication on all the mechanisms, so that shutters and apertures would remain as accurate as possible. I'm kinda glad to be in the Coastal Northern California area now, where we only occasionally see freezing temps!

alan.. thanks for the tip. i'll keep that in mind. i have both battery in the grip, but looks like that might be a cause too. thanks.