5D Mark II reliability

[chromatix]

I just upgraded my six year old 5D to a 5D Mark II (okay, I'm not an early adopter). On my first day of shooting, the camera badly misbehaved. After a shot, the image would appear on the rear LCD only intermittently. The menu button often brought no response. The live view button was also unreliable. Turning off/on repeatedly did not help. The newly charged battery was more than half full, so that was not the source of the problems.
A fellow 5D Mark II shooter on the same treck told me that this model is "unreliable in cold weather". In fact, his started misbehaving as we spoke. Well, it was only 50 degrees, which is not cold. However, the humidity was high (though no rain) and there was a lot of condensation on the body from my breath. The next day, I left the dry camera outside for an hour to get nice and cold, but could not reproduce the problems. I guess that is good? So, I have to ask my fellow Canon-ites, what has your experience been with the Mark II in damp and cool weather? Thanks.

 

[bchernicoff]

I've had two 5D Mk II bodies and both of them occasionally do this though turning them off then back on took care of it. This happens maybe once every two or three weeks and I have never noticed a pattern. The other two quirks I have noticed are the flash and lens AF motor freaking out (various lenses).

I think this is probably more of a firmware bug than a hardware issue with the cameras.

 

[niccyboy]

I have two and taken them to both extremes.. Himalayas + eastern Europe (-15c) and Thailand + India (40 with 85+% humidity)

I have not had this problem with mine.

It's strange it happened straight away. I'd use your warranty and swap it. Sounds like a lemon

Good luck!

 

[branden]

I have shot in rainforests and in the humid tropics with my 5DII and have not experienced what you describe. So either the one 5DII I've used doesn't do that, or you were in more humid a clime than I.

I wish you luck, I have had overall very good experiences with the 5DII, hopefully this problem is just a one-time fluke.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Mine is three weeks away from its first birthday, and the day my extended warranty runs out. So far, it has had no issues of any kind, not even temporary ones. However, it gets limited bad weather usage, that isn't its strong point for sure.

 

[chromatix]

Thanks to those who replied and I'm glad your Mk II bodies are holding up well. Fortunately, I think I found the source of the problem. I was using a cable release when the issues first cropped up. Turns out that my cat had chewed through the rubber coating, making it and the camera body act in very strange ways. Without the cable release, the body seem fine! Good news. My cat has been grounded.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

One issue is that new users inadvertantly depress the depth of field review with their left hand, and this will freeze the controls. After doing this a few times and determining what it was, I never had the issue again.

 

[willrobb]

Was going to sing some praises for my 5DmkII compared to the 5D I used to have and how you must have got a lemon, but I see from the posts that your 5Dmkii wasn't a lemon.....would suggest you think about a cat upgrade though ;-)

 

[tron]

Was going to sing some praises for my 5DmkII compared to the 5D I used to have and how you must have got a lemon, but I see from the posts that your 5Dmkii wasn't a lemon.....would suggest you think about a cat upgrade though ;-)

I agree. My 5DII is fine too. I would also suggest to feed the cat better and/or teach it how to press the shutter release ;D ;D

 

[willrobb]

Was going to sing some praises for my 5DmkII compared to the 5D I used to have and how you must have got a lemon, but I see from the posts that your 5Dmkii wasn't a lemon.....would suggest you think about a cat upgrade though ;-)

I agree. My 5DII is fine too. I would also suggest to feed the cat better and/or teach it how to press the shutter release ;D ;D

With DSLRs getting so much better so quickly things must surely plateau soon.....then the next step up could well be "cat friendly" cameras! Probably start off with versions for higher functioning primates, but with canon and hello kitty both coming from japan some kind of sickly/cute collaboration would be in the pipeline in no time

 

[markd61]

I had the same issue with the Canon cable release and I don't even own a cat. Whenever I connected it the camera got flaky. Finally I junked it for a new one that also had a radio remote release. Much better.