Sticking light button on 5D2

Has anyone else ran into this? I don't use that button very often and then I tried to and it stuck down in the body. I got it back up with a sewing needle, but was wondering if there's a common problem with this at all?

guess it's not a common problem

I am guessing you mean the button that illuminates the top LCD...

I'd further guess that something sticky has dripped onto your camera, or some grit has found it's way in around the button, or there has just been some build up of finger oils, dust, etc. over time that's causing that button to stick.

On the 20/30/40/50D models it's not uncommon for their shutter button to get similarly sticky over time. It either causes a long delay or prevents the camera from firing at all because the button doesn't fully press, or sometimes it sticks in the "pressed" position and the camera won't stop shooting (if set to any of the continuous modes).

There's a DIY fix among owners of those cameras.... simply "flood cleaning" the switch with isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol works fine). The camera is turned upside down, batter removed, then the alcohold is dripped into the top (bottom since the camera is now upside down) of the battery chamber. That washes out the "gunk" in the switch so that it works properly again.

That flood cleaning has to be done carefully, with the camera slightly tilted to keep from accidentally flooding the top LCD panel of the camera... So this probably wouldn't work for that button that's adjacent to the LCD panel on the 5DII. But it illustrates the point of how those controls on top of the camera get dirty, and can be cleaned.

With your camera and particular problem, instead of the flood cleaning I'd suggest having a repair person look at it. They can probably remove the top cover and clean the button, to solve the problem. (If you sent the camera to Canon, they'd probably just replace the button completely, instead of cleaning it. Mostly the factory techs just do replacements, while independent repairers often can simply clean, fix or tune up an item, avoiding the cost of replacement parts.

amfoto1 wrote in post #16594622
I am guessing you mean the button that illuminates the top LCD...

I'd further guess that something sticky has dripped onto your camera, or some grit has found it's way in around the button, or there has just been some build up of finger oils, dust, etc. over time that's causing that button to stick.

On the 20/30/40/50D models it's not uncommon for their shutter button to get similarly sticky over time. It either causes a long delay or prevents the camera from firing at all because the button doesn't fully press, or sometimes it sticks in the "pressed" position and the camera won't stop shooting (if set to any of the continuous modes).

There's a DIY fix among owners of those cameras.... simply "flood cleaning" the switch with isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol works fine). The camera is turned upside down, batter removed, then the alcohold is dripped into the top (bottom since the camera is now upside down) of the battery chamber. That washes out the "gunk" in the switch so that it works properly again.

That flood cleaning has to be done carefully, with the camera slightly tilted to keep from accidentally flooding the top LCD panel of the camera... So this probably wouldn't work for that button that's adjacent to the LCD panel on the 5DII. But it illustrates the point of how those controls on top of the camera get dirty, and can be cleaned.

With your camera and particular problem, instead of the flood cleaning I'd suggest having a repair person look at it. They can probably remove the top cover and clean the button, to solve the problem. (If you sent the camera to Canon, they'd probably just replace the button completely, instead of cleaning it. Mostly the factory techs just do replacements, while independent repairers often can simply clean, fix or tune up an item, avoiding the cost of replacement parts.

awesome, thanks for your help