# 1DX Mark II shutter shading



## H. Jones (Oct 23, 2017)

So I probably already know the answer to this, but wanted to get some opinions on the shutter of my 1DX Mark II.

Both images taken at ISO 100, 1/8000 sec,with no lens, aimed an empty sky at 14 FPS.










Shutter count for the camera is about 169,000 clicks in the year I've had it, which makes me somewhat disappointed that this came up so quickly.

An interesting note to this, the shading on the bottom of the first frame only ever occurs at the first photo in a burst and the rest all look like the second frame consistently until a new burst starts. It's only even noticeable above 1/4000 sec, and below that is really a non-issue.

I realized this has been happening since at least June of this year if not before, but I didn't think much of it until today I was shooting some wide-aperture portraits in broad daylight and it really stood out to me.

Is this a sign of shutter failure approaching, or just a laggy shutter? I just had to send my 5D Mark III in to Canon after the focus joystick broke, so I'm not really in the mood to send another camera in, and I don't really use 1/8000th of a second enough to be too bothered by it right now, but if it's likely to put my 1DX out of service randomly, I'd rather have it out of service on my own time than in the middle of a job.


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## pwp (Oct 23, 2017)

Ouch! My now retired 5D MkIII which was on it's third shutter showed very similar shading as the images you've posted when the shutter was at end of life. And on two of those occasions, the fault was intermittent. 

If it is the shutter, that's very unusual for any 1-Series body. I'd be contacting and emailing these examples to your local CPS for an opinion. 

-pw


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## H. Jones (Oct 23, 2017)

pwp said:


> Ouch! My now retired 5D MkIII which was on it's third shutter showed very similar shading as the images you've posted when the shutter was at end of life. And on two of those occasions, the fault was intermittent.
> 
> If it is the shutter, that's very unusual for any 1-Series body. I'd be contacting and emailing these examples to your local CPS for an opinion.
> 
> -pw



Amazingly, my 5D Mark III is still on its first shutter after almost three years. I think it's far past 250K clicks at this point, and doesn't display any issues. That said, it has had a hell of a life, and is currently at CPS for the joystick and mode dial cap falling off on assignment.

Thanks for the thoughts! Will also be sending these pics over to Canon.

How long did the shutter last before it totally crapped out? Doesn't bother me much at the moment, but I definitely don't want to have my 1DX2 die on the job.


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## Valvebounce (Oct 23, 2017)

Hi H. Jones. 
Just a thought, do you have the shutter release time lag setting C.fn7 set to shortened? 
I have no idea whether this might be a cause or not, it just popped in to my head that it is available on the 1D series. 

Cheers, Graham.


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## Pookie (Oct 23, 2017)

pwp said:


> Ouch! My now retired 5D MkIII which was on it's third shutter showed very similar shading as the images you've posted when the shutter was at end of life. And on two of those occasions, the fault was intermittent.
> 
> If it is the shutter, that's very unusual for any 1-Series body. I'd be contacting and emailing these examples to your local CPS for an opinion.
> 
> -pw



NEVER, NEVER, NEVER understood this claim. Especially as you say you're a professional. Speaking from the point of view of a business owner, why would you ever replace a shutter 3 times? In my studio I have multiple camera bodies (more than one 5D3), some with over 3ook actuations and this type of failure (3 dead shutters on one camera) would be a dump in the trash and another camera or different model. Just doesn't add up if you are a professional photographer...


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## Viggo (Oct 23, 2017)

Valvebounce said:


> Hi H. Jones.
> Just a thought, do you have the shutter release time lag setting C.fn7 set to shortened?
> I have no idea whether this might be a cause or not, it just popped in to my head that it is available on the 1D series.
> 
> Cheers, Graham.



You’re more right than you know. I had my 1dx to “shortened shutter lag” all the time, my shutter went at 167.000 actuations. Since that I have spoken to several people, including the technicians, they all said the same thing; Using the shortened lag WILL seriously decrease the shutter life... haven’t used it since.


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## Larsskv (Oct 23, 2017)

Viggo said:


> Valvebounce said:
> 
> 
> > Hi H. Jones.
> ...



Thank you for the tip. I just turned of my "shortened shutter lag". I can tell the difference, though. It makes the camera feel a bit less responsive. :-\


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## Viggo (Oct 23, 2017)

Larsskv said:


> Viggo said:
> 
> 
> > Valvebounce said:
> ...



Indeed it does, but I’ve gotten used to it now, so hopefully you will also.


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## Larsskv (Oct 23, 2017)

Viggo said:


> Larsskv said:
> 
> 
> > Viggo said:
> ...



If I get used to it, it will make my 5Ds feel faster.


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## H. Jones (Oct 24, 2017)

Valvebounce said:


> Hi H. Jones.
> Just a thought, do you have the shutter release time lag setting C.fn7 set to shortened?
> I have no idea whether this might be a cause or not, it just popped in to my head that it is available on the 1D series.
> 
> Cheers, Graham.



Thanks for pointing this out; I hadn't considered it, but my camera does not have it set to shortened. That almost makes it more frustrating for this to be happening so soon in the life of my 1D.

After getting in touch with my local CPS, they said it may just be an issue of having to adjust the shutter timing on my camera, or could require a total shutter replacement. Hopefully it's the former, as that would be a much cheaper repair, but I guess once my 5D gets back in my hands I'll just have to send in my 1D, at least for even just an estimate or to establish if it's just the shutter timing.


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## pwp (Nov 5, 2017)

Pookie said:


> pwp said:
> 
> 
> > Ouch! My now retired 5D MkIII which was on it's third shutter showed very similar shading as the images you've posted when the shutter was at end of life. And on two of those occasions, the fault was intermittent.
> ...



The first was under warranty. The other two were at around 130k actuations which really is pretty poor. But 5D shutters are relatively inexpensive, plus my studio is just 10 minutes drive from our local CPS. It's a very simple matter. The heavy lifting here is usually done with ridiculously durable 1-Series bodies, currently a high mileage 1DX, now backed up with a 5D MkIV and an admittedly rarely used 7D MkII.

-pw


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