Shutter doesn't sound good and stays open too long - 50D

[Caps18]

I have a 50D camera that is about 3 years old that we abuse pretty good. But recently it takes photos at 1/400 or 1/800th yet they are very washed out. (Good photos and bad photos have the same EXIF data) If you listen to the shutter it doesn't sound like the normal click.

Now, we are using a power supply for this camera, and I'm hoping that it is still getting enough power. And if I unplug it and then plug it back in, it will act normally for a few photos. I could try it on battery power. And I'm using a center weighted average, so I think it should be able to get the exposure right in Av mode.

Do you guys have any guesses as to what it is or something I could try?

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

If you have a good battery, try it. power supplies do go bad.
Test it at high shutter speeds 1/8000 sec. that is usually where problems become very obvious.

 

[Hillsilly]

Just a thought - Do you have a flash or other accessory attached? If so, see if everything works fine without it. One of my cameras does a similar thing when I have a third party flash or trigger attached and the shutter speed is faster than the synch speed.

 

[M.ST]

If your batteries are okay, then you have technical problems with your camera.

Send it to a repair shop or CPS to solve the problem.

If that is a technical problem its a shame for Canon. My 350D has more shutter releases as my first 5D mark II and my first 1Ds Mark III together. A year ago I bought a new 5D Mark II and a new 1Ds Mark III because CPS is not able to fix the problems.

 

[Caps18]

If your batteries are okay, then you have technical problems with your camera.

Send it to a repair shop or CPS to solve the problem.

If that is a technical problem its a shame for Canon. My 350D has more shutter releases as my first 5D mark II and my first 1Ds Mark III together. A year ago I bought a new 5D Mark II and a new 1Ds Mark III because CPS is not able to fix the problems.

We can't blame Canon for this. This camera is the victim of some serious abuse (hot, cold, 24/7 operation).