Canon 5D Mark II changes sttings when switching off and on.

[jenne1978]

Hi there,
My Canon 5D Mark II switches to jpeg setting and some other settings when I switch the camera on. I must have accidentally hit some kind of setting in the camera menu, but I can't find I yet.

[Sahil]

Maybe, because its a Canon
Just kidding.. I use a Nikon. I am sure some Canon user will help you with the issue soon.

[Glenn NK]

The only thing I can think of is that the internal battery is running down (not the rechargeable one).

When mine was new, I opened up the bottom, and took the battery out to look at it. I didn't realize that the date and time settings would be lost, and shot a whole weekend without any dates/times on the images.

A near dead battery might behave like a battery that was removed.

The problem right now is that I can't find where it is hidden. But I do remember removing it (I think).

I can't find anything in the manual either. Will go to my camera shop to find out.

Glenn

[victor]

Gents,

Look in the main battery compartment. Its on one side hidden in its own holder which pulls out. Just be careful with the Positive and Negative when replacing.

Regards

Victor

[DanK]

+1 Glenn. That is the first step. The manual should say where it is. On my camera (50D), it is in a little sliding compartment in the main battery compartment.

If that doesn't work, then you may have a problem such as a loose joint on a circuit board, bad non-volatile memory, or the like. If it happens every time you turn on the camera, Canon should be able to find it. If it is intermittent, well... My 50D has a problem like this infrequently (twice in the last 7 months), and sending it to Canon was a waste of time and money, because of course it did not fail when they had it. The second time, I asked them to tell me what it would cost me to replace the most likely board, but instead, they checked it and sent it back without any repair, saying that it was fine. At least the second time, they gave me the non-repair on a courtesy (free) basis.

Good luck.

Dan

[Poaceae]

I would call Canon Tech Support. They have knowledgeable people and the call is free.

[jenne1978]

I found the back-up battery, but it is full. I can tell because if it were empty the date and time is lost, and this is not the case.
The switching of settings happened after I accidentally tripped some switches when I carried the camera on my back, letting it hang on its strap.

...called tech support. I tripped the left dial to custom user settings and overlooked it... (It is a second hand camera so I was not yet aware of the custom settings of the previous user)

Thanks for the help guys!

[Glenn NK]

Jenne:

The fact that the date/time settings remain indicated that it wasn't the battery's fault.

I would suggest that you reset all the previous owner's settings.

Just in case you find that the battery does fail, today I ventured to my camera dealer, and we found the date/time battery for the 5DII.

At the bottom left corner of the body, the word "OPEN" appears. Remove both rubber plugs that cover the external connections to the camera - there is a very small Phillips screw which when removed, permits the little cover (where it says OPEN) to be removed, revealing the battery.

It's definitely not where the main battery is - it's on the other end of the body.
Glenn