20D just shuts down/ bad batteries?

I have been having this problem for a while now, and the more that I read the more I think that it is not just my camera. I will be on a shoot, and after the first couple of shots the camera will say that the batteries are dead. I have a grip with three sets of batteries. The first set is about two years old, but the other two sets are almost new. I normaly have to take the batteries out and put them back in and most of the time that does the job. Makes me look like an idiot infront of the model. Anybody else have this proplem? Is it a camera, grip, or battery problem.

Well.. disconnect the grip and try shooting without it for a while - if the problem doesn't occur again, it's likely the grip.

If you do a search on here the 20D's grip is kinda infamous for having this issue with a notable amount of them... mine did it a couple of times but hasn't for about 18 months.

Jim, I haven't tried that yet, but have cleaned the connections on the inside of the grip. I will give that a try this morning. Does anyone know about how long the canon factory batteries shoud last? Just wondering.

There were a batch of 20Ds recalled by Canon with a similar problem..They would shut down during a shoot and not turn on again..The batteries had to be removed to reset the camera..I believe it happened only to gripped 20Ds..Maybe your 20D is one of those..

Jurgen

What batteries are you using? are you using the Canon battery pack(s) or 'AA' cells?

Using 'AA' cells is not a reliable source of power in the early ones I believe - I could only get a few shots out of mine with AA's in the holder.

The old original BG-E2 is a POS IMO (I assume the new BG-E2n is better??) and I rarely use mine now, I got all sorts of power issues with it and false low battery indications - with the grip removed the camera is fine.

Use only one battery at a time in the grip. That way you have a couple of advantages.

One advantage is that you will find a bad battery far more easily than trying to guess which battery of a pair is bad. You can probably go longer with fewer batteries and a charger than you could with a pot-load of batteries used in pairs. I don't know of any chargers that handle pairs of batteries at the same time.

Another advantage is that the camera will be a little lighter in use.

battery grips have had issues check recall non gold plated version

I know the battery grip fits on my 20D something awful. With that said, I haven't had any issues these past years.

I bought only canon BP-511A batteries for my BG-E2 grip. All factory. I would have that problem on and off before say six months ago. Now it just seems like it happens all the time with fully charged batteries, and it reads dead. I really like the grip and I use the hand strap, so I guess I will have to either get a new grip, or take off the hand strap. I also think that it is time to start looking for a new camera. Thanks guys. I just wanted to throw this problem out there and see if I was the only one having it.

Have you tried the camera without the grip, just to try to narrow it down?

This week I have a shoot, and will try it then. I again don't want to look like a complete idiot infront of the model. Without the grip, the camera feels so out of balance though. Will give it a try. thanks

As referenced above, check to see if your grip is included in this service notice. A friend of mine had the same symptoms with his 20D with grip, and his grip was part of batch referenced.

http://www.usa.canon.c​om …464&keycode=211​2&id=25573

Check here for faulty grip info:

Canon

Thanks everybody, has anyone sent there grip in, and how long does it take them to repair/replace it and get it back to you?

I have had the same problem with my 20D and BG-E2.
The first time it happened I showed up to a high school game and discovered that I had no battery. Not knowing any better I assumed I had done something wrong to the camera while it was in the bag and took no shoots that evening. I charged the batteries when I got home. A couple of weeks later I was shooting another game and the batteries went from full to zero. I sat down and ordered new batteries on my Iphone. I took them out to check the model number and when I put them back everything worked. The batteries were old so I bought new ones anyway.
Last night it did it three times with the new batteries and sometimes it wouldn't turn on after the pop 'em out routine only when I persevered, switching to spares. The "Dead" batteries are showing a full charge this morning.
I checked the recall notice on this thread and it covers numbers from 1 to 096000.
Mine is 268173 and the contacts appear to be gold in color.
I'll clean the contacts in the body and on the grip. Next time it happens I'll lose the grip and see if I have the problem, though the intermittent nature of the problem is difficult.
If I can isolate the grip as the problem I'll call canon and see if they can repair it.