5d mk2 will not turn on

swintonphoto

So, I showed up to a wedding today with my 5dmk2 in hand and it would not turn on. I changed batteries, memory card, lenses, etc. no luck. I was lucky my wedding was only a few miles from my local camera dealer (pictureline), and they loaned me their floor model for the day so I could shoot my wedding. I have been photographing weddings for 15 years and have always had a backup. This one time I didn't have one and this happens... Anyone else had any problems getting their 5dmk2 to power on? Should I just send it straight to Canon for evaluation and repair? I bought the camera just over a year ago so it is out of warranty. How expensive are their repairs typically?

Andy

try removing the other battery too - see the manual for instructions. sometimes this helps to reset things. Failing that, off to canon with it

Matthew Saville

I hate this time of year, when I have to send one or both of my cameras in for regular service, and I get stuck with shooting with a single camera or an unknown loaner. Eesh.

Sounds like a common problem, I think the camera will probably come back to life after a little while, and the internal clock battery trick might work but after just a year that shouldn't be a problem. You never know! Either way, I'd say that if you're a wedding photographer, your main camera should go in for service once a year or at least every 1.5-2 years. It's just safe practice. Get that kinda stuff checked out.

Chances are, it's a $100-200 repair. Very few repairs on a $3000 DSLR can cost more than $300, unless you dunk it or smash it.

Good luck!
=Matt=

swintonphoto

Thanks for your ideas Andy and Matt. I tried the internal clock battery but no dice. Sent it in to Canon for service.

Overfocused

I had my internal power supply fail, might be the same problem as you. It was $210 total including shipping for the repair

swintonphoto

I think that is what the problem likely is. I have found many other photographers posting on forums with the same problem. Seems that Canon needs to do something to make sure this doesn't happen.

jhefti

Quite coincidentally my 5D2 did something similar at a game last friday. First it stopped shooting with a busy signal on the LCD display, then it died. It restarted once or twice, but finally fully died. Unfortunately the stadium lighting was horrible at this game, so I was really counting on using this as my main camera.

When I got home I discovered that attached vertical grip was loose. Once tightened, it worked fine. Damn!! Should have figured this out at the game!

Probably *not* what's going on for the OP, but thought I'd at least suggest looking at this.