5D shutter failure above 2000th/sec...

I've determined something on my 5D is having trouble w/ shutter speeds over 2000th/sec. At 1/2000, everything is fine. By 1/4000 there is noticeable shading across the top of the image. By 1/8000th the frame is about 95% covered.

I typically shoot interiors and portraits with this camera, seldom (if ever) sports or any other hi-speed applications. In fact, I've shot with this camera for months and only noticed it by accident this weekend when I had a f/1.8 lens on shooting in Av.

Here are my questions:

1) Is this a shutter speed issue, or do you think it's my mirror (flip up) that is having a problem?

2) If it's a shutter problem, do you think it it is atually happening across ALL shutter speeds? In other words, if I am shooting at 1/1000, do you think I'm really getting 1/1000 or is it actually slower than that?

3) If I'm only shooting slower than 1/2000 anyway, do I even need to worry about it?

Thanks...

klynam wrote in post #4042726
I've determined something on my 5D is having trouble w/ shutter speeds over 2000th/sec. At 1/2000, everything is fine. By 1/4000 there is noticeable shading across the top of the image. By 1/8000th the frame is about 95% covered.

I typically shoot interiors and portraits with this camera, seldom (if ever) sports or any other hi-speed applications. In fact, I've shot with this camera for months and only noticed it by accident this weekend when I had a f/1.8 lens on shooting in Av.

Here are my questions:

1) Is this a shutter speed issue, or do you think it's my mirror (flip up) that is having a problem?

2) If it's a shutter problem, do you think it it is atually happening across ALL shutter speeds? In other words, if I am shooting at 1/1000, do you think I'm really getting 1/1000 or is it actually slower than that?

3) If I'm only shooting slower than 1/2000 anyway, do I even need to worry about it?

Thanks...

my 5d shutter failed after about 15k clicks but i didn't have the problem you mention.

ed rader

ed rader wrote in post #4042824
my 5d shutter failed after about 15k clicks but i didn't have the problem you mention.

By "failed" do you mean it completely stopped working?

From what I have been reading, that is one of the signs of a shutter going bye bye soon. It will only get worst and showing up in slower speeds.

Isn't it under warranty? Bring it in for repair before it costs you a couple of hundreds to repair the shutter when out of warranty.

How can yo accept a camera that can only take pictures under 1/2000 when it is rated for 1/8000???

I have read 2 users here have had 5D shutter failures under 15K. Ed (above) was one of them.

Bought mine pre-owned w/ less than 8K actuations, so I'm not very happy at the moment. Hoping Canon will do me right on this...

klynam wrote in post #4042880
By "failed" do you mean it completely stopped working?

a piece plastic fell out when i removed the lens. would you consider that "failed"?

ed rader

ed rader wrote in post #4043145
a piece plastic fell out when i removed the lens. would you consider that "failed"?

pretty much...

Any idea how much this will cost if not under warranty?

klynam wrote in post #4043174
pretty much...

Any idea how much this will cost if not under warranty?

~$300

klynam wrote in post #4042726
By 1/4000 there is noticeable shading across the top of the image. By 1/8000th the frame is about 95% covered.
…
1) Is this a shutter speed issue, or do you think it's my mirror (flip up) that is having a problem?

If it was the mirror, it would block the bottom part of the image.

My first guess is that the second curtain is moving slightly faster than the first curtain… or that the first curtain is moving slightly slower than the second curtain, which is the same thing. This would result in the exposure gap closing up as the curtains near the bottom of the sensor (top of the image). Just a guess.

If it was just a dark band across the top I'd suspect that your camera was exhibiting the "shutter bounce" problem that some 1D models are prone to. But that wouldn't affect 95% of the picture.

That has to be your call. It's quite possible that the shutter is starting to fail. Can you afford to wait to see if it fails completely? If you're relying on the camera for professional work, probably not—if it's just used for personal hobby work, maybe so.

It starts at the top and gradually fills more of the screen until at 1/8000 there is only a thin area of image at the extreme bottom of the frame.


Just called Canon - this is going to be a "cluster-..."

First of all, they don't transfer warranties on anything - oh really, there's some NEWS for everyone on POTN who says otherwise!!!

So if I dont have the original purchase receipt IN ADDITION to the un-filled out warranty card, I'm SOL for warranty service. Of course they wont give me any time or $$$ estimate on the repair, and i have to send the camera to Irvine CA for an unknown period of time for the repair.

The 'dear soul' who sold me this camera is going to pay...

Are you shooting in areas lit with fluorescent lighting? It's my understanding that high shutter speeds and fluorescent lights (because they flicker) don't mix well.

*edit:
a la this thread or this one with examples

This doesn't really seem to resemble your problem entirely, but it may be a good starting point.

ed rader wrote in post #4042824
my 5d shutter failed after about 15k clicks but i didn't have the problem you mention.

ed rader

How much did it cost for a new shutter if you dont mind me asking?

I'm already fed up w/ Canon so I'm not going to send it in until I can (try to) track down the seller and get a copy of the original receipt to (hopefully) get this serviced under warranty.

Since it's completely usable for my purposes, I'll keep shooting with it as is and see what happens. (As I said, it could have been this way from the day I received the camera becuase I never shoot a high shutter speeds.)

Current shutter/image count appears to be 7505.

As an interesting test, let's see how long it goes before becoming completely unusable. I'll update this thread every 1K or so actuations, or as soon as I begin noticing a difference.

Nick_C wrote in post #4043377
How much did it cost for a new shutter if you dont mind me asking?

$874...............















just kidding ! canon fixed the shutter under warranty and the round trip took 8 days.

Klynam -- canon may fix you camera under warranty even if you don't have the receipt. they recalibrated a lens that i bought secondhand that i didn't have the receipt for tho the lens was fairly new.

so even if you don't have a receipt just attach a letter pleading your case when you send in the camera.

good luck!

ed rader

ed rader wrote in post #4044613
$874...............















just kidding ! canon fixed the shutter under warranty and the round trip took 8 days.

Klynam -- canon may fix you camera under warranty even if you don't have the receipt. they recalibrated a lens that i bought secondhand that i didn't have the receipt for tho the lens was fairly new.

so even if you don't have a receipt just attach a letter pleading your case when you send in the camera.

good luck!

ed rader

How much do you want to bet thats the going rate for replacing a shutter in this country! your probably not far off the mark everything is much more expensive here.