Canon 30 strange technical issue

I bought a like new canon 30d second hand a few days ago the camera was in pristine condition rarely used...

In every mode I was not able to set precisely the value of ISO after iso 1600 only the "H" (for high I suppose) indicator was appearing on the upper lcd.

now after a walk to get a few pics I noticed that the battery indicator was half (1 bar instead of 2 ) and flashing on and off... also next to it a symbol appeared that is similar to wifi symbol (a dot and 2 corves next to it like they are waves of some sort) and a symbol of an eye

I never have seen those symbols... also nomater that the battery indicator was flashing the camera kept working hard (taking shoots every few seconds and with main lcd at full brightness etc) for many hours and didnt run dead at all...

also now for some reason I am able at any mode to set the precise number of iso like iso 8000 without the "H" sign to appear...

Whhich button have I accidentally pushed??

P.S I am asking for an answer about whats happening to my camera... not which exactly buttons did I push that was just humor..

I believe that on the 30D that 1600 was the max iso, with 3200 achievable via the H setting. Did the camera come with a manual? Read it so you'll know what the various symbols mean. If you don't have a manual I'm pretty sure one can be downloaded from Canons site.

Oh also the C.Fn indicator shows up above the "wifi" symbol and the eye. also I did find a manual but i am not a native english speaker... and manual has only info about battery indicator being ful, half and empty mine is half and flashes on and off... but the camera works fine for hours so there is no power problem

Ok I didt a mistake in the openning post... the iso is normal it goes to 1600 and up to 3200 by displaying the (H) symbol...

but now something new happened.... I turned on the camera (with fresh recharged battery) to see if something is wrong in custom function menu...

and the camera died... and took the battery out and in again it worked but after a few clicks it died again... (it was freshly recharged...)

I put the battery to the rechargers and recharger indicated that the battery is full !!!!!!


yesterday the half battery flashing indicator was doing the same thing but my batter lasted for hours... today it flashes again but my batters lasts for seconds- minutes....

darn is it the camera or the battery???

Or is it an other bug like the connections between the camera and battery need cleaning etc?

If that's your only battery, and it's original to the camera, it's most likely just worn out. If you have access to another battery you can easily confirm, if not just buy a new one (buy 2). Sterlingtek is a good source for 3rd party batteries

Sounds like a bad battery. The "eye" symbol sounds to me like the symbol for evaluative metering. You can set a custom function to display iso in 1/3 stop increments. Flashing battery indicates very low battery.

ok now considering the recent event my battery seems to have worn of... but then again how do you explain the battery indicator blinking all the time at half but the camera it self shoot like 150 shots within 3 hours??? I mean why didnt the camera die??

also why the charger shows the battery as fully charged??


last but not least I took a look for original canon batteries but they seem to me too expensive...

are there any other battery alternatives that you trust ?? do those much cheaper batteries last for significant less recharges???

also I see some batteries (the cheaper ones) be more powerfull (2000-2500 mAh) compared to the 1400 mAh that my current (original) one has... that means that they will last longer but since they are cheap they die faster?

I mean is it wiser to buy a cheaper 1400mah battery than to buy a same priced 2500 mah for the fact that the second one will endure less recharge cycles than the other cheap counterpart?

thnx

SterlingTek. Buy 2

I do not live in the states so SterlingTek is not for me...

isnt it strange for a battery (original canon) to die from one day to an other being full capacity one day able to give power for hours of shooting and next day not to last even for one click>?

papajo wrote in post #14743362
isnt it strange for a battery (original canon) to die from one day to an other being full capacity one day able to give power for hours of shooting and next day not to last even for one click>?

Lithium ion batteries like these do get strange when they are worn out. It partly comes from the charger sometimes being able to get charge into them, and sometimes it thinks they are full when they have just started. mA ratings don't mean much as it isn't specified how it is measured and at what discharge rate. Higher mA rated batteries don't necessarily last longer, they can be less. Canon batteries are high quality and trustworthy, but many people have had good luck with other brands. I have some BP-511s in Energizer brand and they have worked fine too.

papajo wrote in post #14743362
I do not live in the states so SterlingTek is not for me...

isnt it strange for a battery (original canon) to die from one day to an other being full capacity one day able to give power for hours of shooting and next day not to last even for one click>?

You may have a bad camera, but I also think it is just your battery. It's much cheaper to buy a spare battery rather than sending in your camera for an estimate. You should try another battery even if you have to borrow one.

Where are you located? Sterlingtek ships to Canada as well. If you are in the U.K., Amazon has cheap batteries that should work well: http://www.amazon.co.u​k …8%2Ck%3Abp-511&sort=price

This review has a lot of pictorial detail into the features of your camera and can help you learn the various functions. http://www.dpreview.co​m/reviews/canoneos30d/

I agree with CRN3371... If you have the camera manual, you should read it before panicking.... If you don't have it, you can download it for free from http://usa.canon.com …s_30d#Brochures​AndManuals (or visit your closest Canon website to get this in another language, if you prefer).

Nothing sounds out of order with the camera. It just sounds as if you are unfamiliar with it and I suspect it hasn't been used in a long time so the battery is run down. Often when that type battery hasn't been used in a long time it goes "flat" and will not take a full charge right away. I've had that happen with BP511/511A that the 30D uses (among others). The battery and charger indicate a full charge, but only lasts a couple minutes in the camera.

Simply put it through a few recharge and drain cycles, and chances are it will start to work properly. If that doesn't work, BP511 are widely available for little money. You should have a spare or two, anyway. Generic BP511 are on eBay and many other places. Last ones I bought cost all of $8 apiece and actually were rated much higher capacity than the Canon, have worked fine for years.

[QUOTE=papajo;14743362​]I do not live in the states so SterlingTek is not for me...


SterlingTek does ship overseas. Drop them a line and ask if they will ship to your country.