What ruined my evening?

Hi guys,

we had the most amazing sunset in SoCal last night due to some tropical moisture from Mexico... and I missed it. I went to the beach with plenty of time to find the best FG interest and took a bunch of pics until the sun was about to go down.

Then I moved the camera and tripod to the location from which I wanted to shoot and I must have pressed something: the camera (40D) kept taking pics, one after another. The only way to stop it was to turn off the camera. After turning it back on I pressed the shutter... and the same thing happened.

I ended up packing it in and almost cried The sunset was amazing, with a gorgeous red sun, clouds, etc.

Once back in the car I decided to take the battery out. Voila, problem fixed.

Can someone explain to me what happened so I can avoid it in the future?

Sounds like you were in burst mode, which takes about 75 photos I believe, this does vary depending on what type and the quality you write ie (Fine JPG+RAW). I'm not quite sure how to turn this on/off, I haven't ever used the feature hence I do not need to know how to use it, I just use high speed shutter and hold the button.

You should check the manual or wait for another response on here.

fubarhouse wrote in post #6110542
Sounds like you were in burst mode, which takes about 75 photos I believe, this does vary depending on what type and the quality you write ie (Fine JPG+RAW). I'm not quite sure how to turn this on/off, I haven't ever used the feature hence I do not need to know how to use it, I just use high speed shutter and hold the button.

You should check the manual or wait for another response on here.

There is no burst mode that keeps taking photos without being told to. You have to keep your finger on the button otherwise it stops.

It sounds like a hardware problem to me, send it to Canon if it happens again.

Thanks for the fast response. Burst mode, huh? Does it have another name, because that term is not in the manual?

Lol, maybe you should check it out too if you don't know how to turn it on/off. I certainly never intended to activate it and it killed me!

I've heard of a problem like that on the 20D, caused by shutter problems. But I haven't heard of it on the 30D or 40D. Besides, on the 20D it wouldn't stop when you turned the camera off… you had to pull the battery to get it to stop.

One informed speculation is that the shutter didn't get fully cocked and so released itself, with a repeating cycle of cock, slip, cock, slip. I don't think that the 20D was actually capturing photos—I think it was just the shutter repeatedly cycling. Did yours take photos?

Edited to add: Here's a link to one thread of 20D owners commiserating on their problem:
http://www.sportsshoot​er.com …ge_display.html​?tid=22353

tim wrote in post #6110558
There is no burst mode that keeps taking photos without being told to. You have to keep your finger on the button otherwise it stops.

It sounds like a hardware problem to me, send it to Canon if it happens again.

Oh no!!! It is working fine right now at home but I will certainly put it to a more extensive test tomorrow.

Fortunately I'm only 4 miles away from Canon.

Doug Pardee wrote in post #6110564
I've heard of a problem like that on the 20D, caused by shutter problems. But I haven't heard of it on the 30D or 40D. Besides, on the 20D it wouldn't stop when you turned the camera off… you had to pull the battery to get it to stop.

One informed speculation is that the shutter didn't get fully cocked and so released itself, with a repeating cycle of cock, slip, cock, slip. I don't think that the 20D was actually capturing photos—I think it was just the shutter repeatedly cycling. Did yours take photos?

Edited to add: Here's a link to one thread of 20D owners commiserating on their problem:
http://www.sportsshoot​er.com …ge_display.html​?tid=22353

Yikes, Doug! That sounds very familiar. Yes, the camera took pics, which I had to delete in order to try pressing the shutter again since the card got filled up.

Fortunately I still have 3 weeks on my warranty, talk about timing

Hm, at the beach... Sand stuck in the trigger switch?

apersson850 wrote in post #6124398
Hm, at the beach... Sand stuck in the trigger switch?

I know , it has occurred to me too, now that I had some time to test the camera some more and it worked just fine. I was using the cable release and it is definitely possible that sand got stuck in it when I moved to the other location.

I suppose that would be good news. Problem is, I have no way of knowing for sure. Hmm, the sensor needs cleaning anyway, I suppose I will take it to the "express" service center on Monday ( I love the "express" part!).

dazzlebea wrote in post #6124480
I know , it has occurred to me too, now that I had some time to test the camera some more and it worked just fine. I was using the cable release and it is definitely possible that sand got stuck in it when I moved to the other location.

I suppose that would be good news. Problem is, I have no way of knowing for sure. Hmm, the sensor needs cleaning anyway, I suppose I will take it to the "express" service center on Monday ( I love the "express" part!).

The cable release switch wasn't accidentily moved to the "running lock" position was it? I did that once, but it was with a film camera and it burned the whole roll in about 10 seconds...ouch.....

What was the frequency of the shots it was taking.... was it like full speed at 5 per second, or nearer one every two seconds?

If the latter, is it possible you had the "timer" set to two seconds AND "burst" mode ON?
In which case (and I stand to be corrected here) it would just keep taking pics???

TJ

sunbeast wrote in post #6124632
The cable release switch wasn't accidentily moved to the "running lock" position was it? I did that once, but it was with a film camera and it burned the whole roll in about 10 seconds...ouch.....

I know the switch wasn't locked because I wiggled at the time but I bet it was still the reason for the continuous firing. I just tried it and it seems to be faulty. One moment it works, the next I can't get it to trigger the shutter.

It's one of the release switches from the POTN store, not that that means anything

TeeJay wrote in post #6124650
What was the frequency of the shots it was taking.... was it like full speed at 5 per second, or nearer one every two seconds?

If the latter, is it possible you had the "timer" set to two seconds AND "burst" mode ON?
In which case (and I stand to be corrected here) it would just keep taking pics???

TJ

TJ, I was doing long-ish exposures, so each shot was about a second long. When I looked I didn't see the timer being on.

I now suspect it may have been the release cable, it wasn't working right when I just tried it.

I don't think you can have the timer as well as burst selected

dazzlebea wrote in post #6110561
Thanks for the fast response. Burst mode, huh? Does it have another name, because that term is not in the manual?

Lol, maybe you should check it out too if you don't know how to turn it on/off. I certainly never intended to activate it and it killed me!

It's one of the drive modes, and is called either "high-speed continuous shooting" or "low-speed continuous shooting," depending on the setting. Operation is covered on page 81 in your manual, and setting is covered on page 169.

If the camera is now working properly, it may have been just a grain of sand in the shutter release.

However, continuous shutter activation is one common form of shutter failure (happened to our 20D). So what happened could also be a symptom of upcoming shutter failure. Since you are still under warranty AND close to Canon, I would recommend sending it in to be checked. At the very least, they'll give it a good cleaning, which never hurts.