# 5D MK III Focus Hiccup



## gbchriste (Aug 25, 2012)

I bought my 5D MK III in early June. I haven't shot a ton of stuff yet - maybe about 2000 frames over 7 or 8 sessions. But in 3 or 4 of those sessions, AF just quit. I use back button focus and at some point in the session, I hit the AF button and....nothing. No lens movement, no light, no beep, zippo. These situations have all been in good light conditions. The only way I cleared the system and reestablished AF functionality was to power off the camera and then power back on. I don't typically shoot time-sensitive stuff like sports or weddings where I have to worry about missing "the" shot. But I'm still concerned about this hiccup. Anyone else seeing this anomaly?


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## rpt (Aug 25, 2012)

Have not set mine to back button focus. Never had this issue on half depressed shutter button.


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## Rienzphotoz (Aug 25, 2012)

Mine is about a month old (but shot over 8000 pics) and have not had such problems


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## fugu82 (Aug 25, 2012)

I use back-button focus exclusively on my 5D3, and have never had that happen. You should contact Canon for advice/repair.


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## swampler (Aug 25, 2012)

Over 5370 shots, mostly with back button focus, and haven't seen this issue. Does it happen enough the tech could reproduce it at Canon? If so, you should get it checked out.


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## Canihaspicture (Aug 26, 2012)

I've had this exact problem with Firmware 1.13 on the first day I owned the camera. No lens movement ... nothing... no response at all. This was both with shutter and back button focus. I forget how I ended up fixing it if I removed the battery or changed the to/from AI servo etc... I fiddled with everything trying to get it to work again.

I've yet to duplicate the problem. 

Of note: whenever I hit the back button or the shutter it would flash "M focus" on the LCD suggesting that I had the lens in manual focus mode (which I most certainly did not). Plus, if I had it in manual focus mode the shutter/mirror would have actuated, instead the camera simply refused to function as if it couldn't lock focus (but of course it wasn't even trying to focus).


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## Bosman (Aug 26, 2012)

It happens to me sometimes but i just manually move the lens focus to close to what it should be and it works again. I don't think mine did that before the update either...


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## Jared (Aug 26, 2012)

I've encountered this peculiar and bothersome anomaly myself when shooting portraits - I too use the AF-ON button to isolate my metering and AF. I've never seen something like this after having shot with a 40D, 2x 5D2's, and a 1D4 over the course of 5 years, but I thought I was doing something wrong/going crazy! The problem seems to present itself when I least expect it and in good lighting conditions too. 

Will you go down the track of sending the camera in to Canon? I may do the same when time permits. 

Good luck!


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## Dylan777 (Aug 26, 2012)

My 5D III from the 1st patch...over 5K shots, no problem so far. Still has the original firmware.

Let Canon takes a look before the warrenty runs out.


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## Menace (Aug 26, 2012)

My shutter out is around 9k and I always shoot with AF-ON. Have not come across this issue yet but I'll keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary.


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## sandymandy (Aug 26, 2012)

Does this happen with different lenses?


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## pwp (Aug 26, 2012)

gbchriste said:


> I bought my 5D MK III in early June. I haven't shot a ton of stuff yet - maybe about 2000 frames over 7 or 8 sessions. But in 3 or 4 of those sessions, AF just quit. Anyone else seeing this anomaly?



Is this phenomenon happening with just one lens? Or across different lenses? It may not be the body at all.
I have a 20K plus actuations 5D3 with no AF problems so far. Mind you I did have the shutter replaced at around 2K actuations but this is irrelevant to the AF matter you have described.

-PW


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## Bosman (Aug 26, 2012)

pwp said:


> gbchriste said:
> 
> 
> > I bought my 5D MK III in early June. I haven't shot a ton of stuff yet - maybe about 2000 frames over 7 or 8 sessions. But in 3 or 4 of those sessions, AF just quit. Anyone else seeing this anomaly?
> ...


Shutter replaced on the new 5dm3 with 2k actuations! wow....


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## CharlieB (Aug 27, 2012)

I'm having occasional problems with my 5D2, same thing.

I'm almost positive its the CF card. Take out the card, reseat it, and its good to go again. I've got my camera set for being able to shoot only with the card in place. Next time it happens, I'm going to change the setting before I reseat the card... see what happens with that.


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## siabod (May 9, 2013)

Some months have passed but I purchased my 5D Mk111 in March 2013 and have experienced the same problem as the original poster, takes a few shots then freezes as though it does not recognize the lens, focus away from the subject (takes 3 - 6 attempts) then works for a short while.


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