Hi Everyone! I am new here and fairly new to digital Canon bodies. I just bought a used 5D (the original one) from a trusted user and it seems either it broke in transit or I accidentally touched something that made it barely showing signs of life. I hope someone can help me determine if it can be brought back to life. Symptoms: 1. first turn on, single message on the main display "NO CF card" 2. loaded CF card, attached lens (28-135), turned on. Top menu - all tiny buttons work, even the top display illumination button. In the viewfinder, I see the usual text and symbols at the bottom of the VF window. Shutter does not fire. There is no focusing - lens appears dead. Lens is in AF and shooting Mode is green (auto). 3. removed battery, charged to 100% (was 50%), removed CF card and lens, cleaned contacts, and then assembled it all together again. This time same symptoms but the top display illumination button does nothing and no longer there is anything showing up in the VF window. The Menu button does nothing - main screen is totally black. Is it safe to assume that the came is DOA?
So the screen seems to work hence the no-cf card warning. With all these DSLRs you can generally not take a photo without a card inserted and without achieving focus on a AF lens. So make sure you first insert and format the CF card, which it looks like you did. (It is possible but not likely there is a format issue with the card.) To verify the camera can take a photo you should be able to switch the lens to manual focus and the camera will shoot regardless of if focus lock is achieved. You may have a lens issue where the motor is not working all the time, sometimes if the lens is going bad playing with the M/AF switch may help if cleaning the contacts did not fix the issue. Also while I am thinking of it, its probably a good idea to do a factory reset on the camera to clear custom settings. 3. This symptom almost sounds like the mirror lockup is enabled and is waiting for a second press of the shutter to release the mirror. (Page 97) You may want to verify this feature is disabled to verify the camera functions normally. Your user manual: https://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/6/0900000316/01/EOS5DIM-EN.pdf
Thank you for the advice johnsey. Since the main LCD will not wake up now under any circumstances, I can't access the Menu and so I can't reset the camera or look for settings, as far as I know. Also, oddly, it seems to get worse every time I try to revive it. Now there are zero signs of life. No reaction from any buttons, just nothing at all. I mean, if you insert a well charged battery, the Menu should be accessible even w/out a CF card and lens, right?
New question is it a canon brand battery? I know some people report issues getting 3 party batteries to work so that could be an issue. But yes that does seem like it could be toast, can you see through the viewfinder again after the most recent battery removal? That was very odd and implied you had the camera in a mode where the mirror was being held up by the battery power. It seems like it should be returned, it would not make sense that it started acting up just now for you, this camera was probably having issues before if it is indeed toast. I'm still trying to think of any reason why else it would be acting so weird.
Yep, original Canon battery and charger. I even charged it that 1 extra hour that the manual recommends. That brought back the top LCD but not the main LCD monitor. No other changes for the better, VF still dark as well. Shipping it back, I guess it is destined to become the original owner's paperweight. Thank you again for your help.
