7D Help Please!

Since buying this Canon 7D in Oct 2010 I've been time sharing it with the Canon Irvine Service Facility. I have it for a few months or so and then they have it for a few weeks.

A couple of weeks ago after getting my 7D back from Canon Irvine for the umteenth time I notice the quick control screen suddenly goes dim everywhere except on "exp comp" box. While viewing the dimmed screen I'm entertained with a flashing askerisk or star between the Fstop square and the ISO square in that little otherwise blank nondescript box.
Now there may be a total simple explanation for this display but I'm "outta" gas.
At this point I'm one Irvine Service Center adventure away from including the camera, a shoehorn and a tube of KY or more appropriately Poligrip and letting these fine folks realize the joys of having a 7D placed where it was not designed to go.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

IMAGE LINK: http://smg.photobucket​.com …a/7d_zps7be66f2​7.jpg.html

1: Does this occur in any mode ?
2: What are your Custom Controls settings ?
3: Did "Clear all camera settings" and "Clear all Custom Func. (C.Fn)" help?
4: Remove Magic Lantern from the CF Card and Update the firmware to 2.0.3.

NU27D wrote in post #16145239
Since buying this Canon 7D in Oct 2010 I've been time sharing it with the Canon Irvine Service Facility. I have it for a few months or so and then they have it for a few weeks.

A couple of weeks ago after getting my 7D back from Canon Irvine for the umteenth time I notice the quick control screen suddenly goes dim everywhere except on "exp comp" box. While viewing the dimmed screen I'm entertained with a flashing askerisk or star between the Fstop square and the ISO square in that little otherwise blank nondescript box...............

Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

Not sure about the 7D but the 5D3 manual says the asterisk or star means you have AE Lock enabled. It may have something to do with AE Lock?

msowsun wrote in post #16147454
Not sure about the 7D but the 5D3 manual says the asterisk or star means you have AE Lock enabled. It may have something to do with AE Lock?

Mike thanks so much for your response! I've learned a ton from you over the past 2-3 years. Your help is always clear, concise, polite and often illustrated which helps me and I'm sure others effectively grasp the subject.

The 5d3 as shown in your pic shows exactly the issue. My 7D manual doesn't show the box as having any purpose and certainly no asterisk whereas the 5d3 does.
Apparently I placed the camera in bracketing or AE lock mode inadvertently.
Anyway,once again thanks for your time and effort!

Glad to help. I couldn't get that asterisk to show up in my Q Menu even when using AE Lock. Auto Exposure Bracketing doesn't do it either. Did you figure out which it was?

NU27D wrote in post #16148638
Mike thanks so much for your response! I've learned a ton from you over the past 2-3 years. Your help is always clear, concise, polite and often illustrated which helps me and I'm sure others effectively grasp the subject.

The 5d3 as shown in your pic shows exactly the issue. My 7D manual doesn't show the box as having any purpose and certainly no asterisk whereas the 5d3 does.
Apparently I placed the camera in bracketing or AE lock mode inadvertently.
Anyway,once again thanks for your time and effort!

I think this is what happens when Canon introduces a camera and updates firmware with new features that aren't in the user manual.

It appears it was the bracketing feature though none of the steps to activate this function was initiated. So still puzzled as to it's activation but at least we've identified the box and the blinking asterisk.
I'll try to spend some more time trying to duplicate the condition and post my results.
Thanks again!

Ae lock is as easy as hitting the * button when taking a shot. Bracketing takes a bit more work, you have to be on the Q screen and when on the exposure comp box, you spin one of the dials, but then when you shot, it would take multiple shots if you have one of the burst modes on.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #16152125
Ae lock is as easy as hitting the * button when taking a shot. Bracketing takes a bit more work, you have to be on the Q screen and when on the exposure comp box, you spin one of the dials, but then when you shot, it would take multiple shots if you have one of the burst modes on.

Thanks TeamSpeed! I'm aware of the differences and how to activate now, however I'm unable to duplicate the flashing * in the previously mentioned box between Fstop and ISO boxes in "Q"....as shown in msnowsun's pic.
It's a little troubling knowing it activated with a flashing asterisk icon unintentionally but can't be duplicated intentionally. The rest of the display seems to indicate that it was AEB and not AE Lock...but now without the blinking asterisk.

I can't get the * to show up in the Q-Menu either.

Arent' there 2 ways to get to that screen, the Q button takes you to the user interactive screen, and the info button takes you to the view only. Perhaps one mode of this screen shows something differently than the other? I will have to pull out the 7D and try it this evening.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #16155073
Arent' there 2 ways to get to that screen, the Q button takes you to the user interactive screen, and the info button takes you to the view only. Perhaps one mode of this screen shows something differently than the other? I will have to pull out the 7D and try it this evening.

I would be curious to see if anyone can figure out how to get the * to show up in the Q-menu.

I no longer have a 7D but I can't get it to show up in my 5D Mk III even with the Info button.

When I go to the Info screen that looks quite a bit like the Q screen, and I lock exposure, the * shows up. Once the metering has timed out (period in which you can set EC, etc), the * goes out, and you have to relock exposure. I cannot get it to show anything in M, which would be logical.

It shows this also in the manual, on page 229.

Thanks TeamSpeed, I'm primarily an "M" shooter so the whole thing was a surprise to me. In every other way it displayed as bracketing but with flashing bracket and I believe flashing *

Here's Canon's take:

"Thank you for contacting Canon product support regarding your EOS 7D.
This asterisk indicates that either Auto Exposure Lock (AEL) or Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) had been activated. This should be reset by simply power cycling the camera, and should not come back unless you press the AE Lock button which is marked with an asterisk, or activate the bracketing feature.

Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance with your EOS 7D. Thank you for choosing Canon."