# update: video Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with full battery



## ddyourself (Dec 14, 2013)

Just update with the video I sent to Canon, which didn't convince them there is an issue. I was basically told unless they can repro it on their end, no fix. I am amazed though they were not able to repro it for such a simple issue. 

http://youtu.be/3PNLUYd8g7A

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I bought this brand new canon 6D from BH. Recently, I found the camera constantly shuts itself off after 20 - 100 continuous shots with a FULLY charged battery (right off charger, showing 8.23V using multimeter, and showing 98% in battery info). 

The camera will just turn itself off in the middle of shooting, showing empty battery int the shoulder window. The solution is simple, open the battery door, then close it again, no need even to pull the battery. 

But this is annoying and it is wrong. Anybody saw this issue before and any solution?

TIA


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## Marsu42 (Dec 14, 2013)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*



ddyourself said:


> The camera will just turn itself off in the middle of shooting, showing empty battery int the shoulder window. The solution is simple, open the battery door, then close it again, no need even to pull the battery.



Sounds like your camera is broken, get it serviced. Opening & re-shutting the battery door reboots the camera, that's why it starts working again after a crash.


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## ddyourself (Dec 14, 2013)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*



Marsu42 said:


> ddyourself said:
> 
> 
> > The camera will just turn itself off in the middle of shooting, showing empty battery int the shoulder window. The solution is simple, open the battery door, then close it again, no need even to pull the battery.
> ...



Ah, this sounds bad, I got this camera new just a month ago from BH, only charged the battery twice. :-(


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## Marsu42 (Dec 14, 2013)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*



ddyourself said:


> Ah, this sounds bad, I got this camera new just a month ago from BH, only charged the battery twice. :-(



Well, things break, you know (this is the reason why pros always have backup gear). Be happy that it happened inside the warranty...


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## dgatwood (Dec 20, 2013)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*


Does it happen with both batteries, or just one? Sudden, random drop in output when under load is a common failure mode for defective Lithium ion cells.


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## Vivid Color (Dec 20, 2013)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*

I have a 6D and I've never had this happen. Since you only bought it a month ago, I suggest you call B&H and ask them to exchange it. If they say the timeframe is outside of their return period, then send it into Canon.


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## ddyourself (Jan 20, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*



dgatwood said:


> Does it happen with both batteries, or just one? Sudden, random drop in output when under load is a common failure mode for defective Lithium ion cells.



Well, I sent the camera for factory service missing the whole holiday. Canon genius sent it right back claiming no issue. Of course, they didn't fix it. 

I got a new battery and same thing happened, even worse. The camera now just randomly dies, sometimes even just after flipping through the menu without a single shot.

I am sending the camera back to Canon for service again tomorrow ...


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## Don Haines (Jan 20, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*



ddyourself said:


> dgatwood said:
> 
> 
> > Does it happen with both batteries, or just one? Sudden, random drop in output when under load is a common failure mode for defective Lithium ion cells.
> ...


Make sure you send the battery(s) too...
You could also shoot a video of it failing, burn it onto a DVD, and send it as well...


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## Marsu42 (Jan 21, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*



ddyourself said:


> Well, I sent the camera for factory service missing the whole holiday. Canon genius sent it right back claiming no issue. Of course, they didn't fix it.



... which proves that technology failing is not a bit issue, it gets problematic if it fails *sometimes* and you cannot reproduce it :-\ ... but I agree you should try to find some form of documentation so they can't dismiss your problem again.


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## ddyourself (Jan 21, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*



Marsu42 said:


> ddyourself said:
> 
> 
> > Well, I sent the camera for factory service missing the whole holiday. Canon genius sent it right back claiming no issue. Of course, they didn't fix it.
> ...



Well, as an engineer I myself, I know how difficult it is to debug a random issue. But this thing is easy to reproduce, very easy, if they have tried twice, I am pretty sure they would have hit one. I am fairly disappointment with the service. 

As suggested above, I am going to send a video in this time so they cannot just deny it.


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## tat3406 (Jan 21, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*

I also had similar problem, but I bought used, so I don't send back to Canon. I bought two 3rd party battery working very well, shoot at least 600 picture for a full charge. I think some battery have connect issue with the body.


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## ddyourself (Jan 21, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*



tat3406 said:


> I also had similar problem, but I bought used, so I don't send back to Canon. I bought two 3rd party battery working very well, shoot at least 600 picture for a full charge. I think some battery have connect issue with the body.



I heard similar stories. But I had two brand new genuine Canon batteries. Both give me 0 - 100 shots before quitting. That's just not acceptable.


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## tat3406 (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*



ddyourself said:


> tat3406 said:
> 
> 
> > I also had similar problem, but I bought used, so I don't send back to Canon. I bought two 3rd party battery working very well, shoot at least 600 picture for a full charge. I think some battery have connect issue with the body.
> ...




Send back your camera and battery to Canon, tell them third party battery is cheaper and working better.


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## Marsu42 (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*



tat3406 said:


> Send back your camera and battery to Canon, tell them third party battery is cheaper and working better.



Right, that'll make their CEO think


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## MintChocs (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*

Could be a faulty sensor, motherboard. Definitely get a replacement not a repair as it is so new otherwise the Canon repair will probably keep sending it back to you and finally give you a refurb instead of a new one that you paid for.


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## ddyourself (Jan 24, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*



MintChocs said:


> Could be a faulty sensor, motherboard. Definitely get a replacement not a repair as it is so new otherwise the Canon repair will probably keep sending it back to you and finally give you a refurb instead of a new one that you paid for.



Unfortunately, when I contacted b&h, it is a little bit over 30 day. I guess I have no choice but to wait Canon to fix it.


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## Valvebounce (Jan 25, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*

Hi dd.
Was it being away at canon that took it over the 30 days, just a thought, they may honour the return of the body if you are having a replacement 6D with it having already been back to canon?
Personally I think if they cannot fix it you should get a replacement new item not a refurb as it is so new, but I guess if that is not their policy it won't happen.

Whatever, I hope they sort it satisfactorily. 

Cheers Graham.



ddyourself said:


> MintChocs said:
> 
> 
> > Could be a faulty sensor, motherboard. Definitely get a replacement not a repair as it is so new otherwise the Canon repair will probably keep sending it back to you and finally give you a refurb instead of a new one that you paid for.
> ...


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## ddyourself (Feb 4, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*

I am totally amazed by Canon. 

I sent the camera in again with my lens and battery. Also, a video showing the issue on a standalone CF card (I know 6D does not take CF, just to put the video on it). 

Couples of days later, they called ask for accessories, I was like, what accessories, I don't have any more. 

Then the camera sit in their facility for a few days for nothing. All of sudden I received a phone call on Monday morning, said it is ready. The camera has no issue at all. 

I called, asked whether they have watched the video, they told me two technicians, including a senior one, was not able to upload the video to the computer. I was like, what the hell? why the heck you need to upload it to the computer, find a card reader, plug the card in, double click, how simple is that?

I talked to the service manager over the phone, he told me that there is nothing he could do, if their technician said so. They have decided to send my camera back, NOT fixed, again. 

Honestly, I am totally pissed, how stupid can they be? I included a letter with detailed steps on how to reproduce this issue. As an engineer myself, I know how easy to reproduce this issue. But what shocked me is that they don't even know or they didn't even bother to watch the video. In the same letter, I asked/begged them to contact me if they cannot reproduce the issue instead of just sending it back unfixed.

Guys, any other ways to get their attention? I already filed a BBB complaint. For a brand new camera of 3 months old, it has been in Canon's repair shop for almost a month. This is simply not acceptable.


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## Marsu42 (Feb 4, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*



ddyourself said:


> Guys, any other ways to get their attention? I already filed a BBB complaint. For a brand new camera of 3 months old, it has been in Canon's repair shop for almost a month. This is simply not acceptable.



Did you try to post this on Canon's official forum? Maybe more bad publicity closer to home will get their attention, like whenever someone complains about Adorama some helpful PR person will drop on you and include a gift voucher just to get you off their backs.

Or maybe they targetted you for a socio-demograpic customer survery, just trying to figure out your breaking point...


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## Pieces Of E (Feb 4, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*

DD, early in this post, you said you had the camera only 30 days(which you should have contacted B&H immediately), now you call it a 3 month old camera, being at Canon for less than a month which means you are not telling the truth about it's actual age. Also, you should have copied your video onto a CD and not a CF card and they might have taken a look at it. You also didn't tell us _which_ Canon repair facility you sent the 6D to. I hope you got your camera fixed or replaced for all you've been through, but your story doesn't jive.


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## agierke (Feb 4, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*

do you know anyone else that has a 6d or a 5D2 or 5D3? i would try to see if your batteries reproduce the failure in another camera or if their batteries reproduce the failure in yours.

i certainly sympathize with you concerning the service center's response so far. if it were me i would try to truly isolate what the problem is by eliminating as many variables as possible...thus the battery/camera swapping.

it is possible that you got a bad batch of batteries, meaning both of the batteries you recieved from B&H were faulty in some way. i don't think this is the problem but proving that definitively on another camera could be useful.

after that, i would stay on the service center. they are great most of the time but every once in a while they turn into frustrating dopes. it happens...

make a big stink and demand answers or replacement. try to remain calm with them as they should react better if you present your case with reason and documented facts.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Feb 4, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*

Its pretty obviously not a battery issue, since you tried two new batteries. Its likely a internal issue. They can be hard to duplicate, you mentioned that it happens after a large number of consecutive shots, but are you using high speed capture and holding the button down, or just clicking the shutter a hundred times? Canon will not want to put several hundred actuations on your camera to check it out unless you are specific.

It is only easily duplicated if you tell them exactly what shutter mode it happens in, and when it happens (At shot 111). If its a random number of shots, it could be 1000 sometimes.

I hope it gets resolved.


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## ddyourself (Feb 4, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*



Pieces Of E said:


> DD, early in this post, you said you had the camera only 30 days(which you should have contacted B&H immediately), now you call it a 3 month old camera, being at Canon for less than a month which means you are not telling the truth about it's actual age. Also, you should have copied your video onto a CD and not a CF card and they might have taken a look at it. You also didn't tell us _which_ Canon repair facility you sent the 6D to. I hope you got your camera fixed or replaced for all you've been through, but your story doesn't jive.




hmm, I purchased the camera on Oct 24th and delivered by the end of Oct, when I contacted Canon, it was around Dec 8th, wasn't roughly a 30 days? yeah, 40 days exactly. But I passed the return window from B&H. 

Now, it is 3 months old. I was saying the camera has been in their VA repair facility for almost a month for two repairs.


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## ddyourself (Feb 4, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*



Mt Spokane Photography said:


> Its pretty obviously not a battery issue, since you tried two new batteries. Its likely a internal issue. They can be hard to duplicate, you mentioned that it happens after a large number of consecutive shots, but are you using high speed capture and holding the button down, or just clicking the shutter a hundred times? Canon will not want to put several hundred actuations on your camera to check it out unless you are specific.
> 
> It is only easily duplicated if you tell them exactly what shutter mode it happens in, and when it happens (At shot 111). If its a random number of shots, it could be 1000 sometimes.
> 
> I hope it gets resolved.




It is not that bad, it only takes 20 shots to 100 shots at most to repro it. But this is truly a random number, 40 is the usual number I hit, but I had the issue reproduced with 0, 1, 2, or any number of shots. 

The worst part is I included a video, but they didn't bother to look at it. In that 2minutes video, the camera died twice without a single shot.


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## Gorku (Feb 4, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*

Well I do not have that exact problem however I found out that when I have the GPS turned on inside a Building the battery will discharge very very fast.

In fact sometimes I have only taken a few shots and left it in the camera back. The NeXT day the camera does not even turn on. This is because the GPS is always on (if not deactivated in the menu) even though you turn the camera off.


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## ddyourself (Feb 4, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*



Gorku said:


> Well I do not have that exact problem however I found out that when I have the GPS turned on inside a Building the battery will discharge very very fast.
> 
> In fact sometimes I have only taken a few shots and left it in the camera back. The NeXT day the camera does not even turn on. This is because the GPS is always on (if not deactivated in the menu) even though you turn the camera off.



But in that case, your battery is actually completely drained, right? In my case, GPS is turned off, and the battery is still almost full. If I turn the camera off and turn it on again, battery info still shows 90%+ battery.


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## Gorku (Feb 4, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*

Yes in my case the battery is totally drained and I have to recharge it (does not happen outside though). It then sounds like you have a defective camera. I hope the problem gets solved soon!


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## ifp (Feb 4, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*

Have you tried a different SD card?


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## ddyourself (Feb 4, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*



ifp said:


> Have you tried a different SD card?



Yes, also tried different SD card as well :-( Both a Patriot and a SONY Class 10.


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## agierke (Feb 4, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*

you know, it hadnt occurred to me before but all of a sudden i am reminded of my 5DC turning itself off intermittently. 

turns out the on/off switch was a bit faulty. the camera would power down with just a slight bump of the switch. it wouldnt even move to the off position at all...just a bit of a nudge and the camera would go down. 

it didnt help that the switch was on the back where my face would bump it while shooting and i realize the 6D has its switch on the top left of the camera but it might be worth wiggle the switches gently to see if that powers the camera down


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## ddyourself (Feb 5, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*



agierke said:


> you know, it hadnt occurred to me before but all of a sudden i am reminded of my 5DC turning itself off intermittently.
> 
> turns out the on/off switch was a bit faulty. the camera would power down with just a slight bump of the switch. it wouldnt even move to the off position at all...just a bit of a nudge and the camera would go down.
> 
> it didnt help that the switch was on the back where my face would bump it while shooting and i realize the 6D has its switch on the top left of the camera but it might be worth wiggle the switches gently to see if that powers the camera down



The camera is still with Canon at this moment, but I doubt that is the issue since in your case, I will assume the camera won't display flashing empty battery, right?


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## rifz (Feb 6, 2014)

*Re: Canon 6D turns itself off after a few shots with fully charged battery*

I'm guessing you already checked this,, but what is "auto camera off" set to?


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## ffcad (May 12, 2014)

Hello,

I am having the exact same problem with my 6D.

Have you found out anything?

Have you managed to solve the problem?

Thanks


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