C100: OMG! I took the lens off with the c100 still on

Michael Thames

Michael Thames

Carbonite Member
I'm in San Francisco shooting. I was outside shooting and decided to change the lens I took off the lens with the Camera still on!!!! I was warned about the dire consequences of not turning off the camera before changing the lens. Sure enough after realizing my mistake and uttering many profanities I turned the camera on and the screen was blank just black. My whole world came to an end!

I I decided to re check it about 20 minutes later and all is well. Perhaps the fact that I had the ND filter set two stops saved it?

all's well that ends well. Is this true about turning off the camera before removing a lens?
 
I "hot swap" (leave the camera on while changing lens) probably about 10-20 times per shoot, times 130 shoots per year, so 2000 times per year. C100 Mark I, C100 Mark II, C300 Mark II. No issues.

If my camera got damaged by doing it, it'd probably still be worth it for all the time I've saved on set and the shots that I didn't miss due to waiting for the camera to turn back on.
 
Yea, the guy I bought the C100 from told me never to do that. So I lived in total fear of doing this. Funny enough in the panic I left the lens cap on and didn't know it so that's why the screen was black when I turned it back on a series of events that made me believe the world had come to an end. So great to know this isn't a problem.
 
I once read the reason for turning off the camera before changing lenses is to minimize the chance of dust getting on the sensor. When the camera is powered on the sensor has a charge on it and can act as a dust magnet. Turning off the power removes the charge on the sensor.
 
nutmegger said:
I once read the reason for turning off the camera before changing lenses is to minimize the chance of dust getting on the sensor. When the camera is powered on the sensor has a charge on it and can act as a dust magnet. Turning off the power removes the charge on the sensor.
Click to expand...

^
This.

Although it's unlikely dust would get on the actual sensor itself, because it's under the OLPF and ND, you could still end up having it pulled in unnecessarily where it doesn't belong. I believe the C500 and maybe the 300 PL had a lens swap button so that you could 'safely' change lenses without powering the entire camera down via the power switch.
 
Pretty piss poor that in this day an age you have crap quality gear and a joke you cant hotswap lenses that you could do 15 years ago..... This should not be happening Canon!!!

Makes me think a lot of these camera producers programme such issues into the products on purpose!

#obsulesence
 
the EF mount does supply power through the contacts on the mount.

there were a few instances with the initial Canon C300 release 4 years ago with certain older Zeiss lenses blowing fuses on the C300 when lenses were hot swapped.

We have heard of any C100 or C300 fuses being blown in the past couple of years.
 
lovecameras said:
Pretty piss poor that in this day an age you have crap quality gear and a joke you cant hotswap lenses that you could do 15 years ago..... This should not be happening Canon!!!

Makes me think a lot of these camera producers programme such issues into the products on purpose!

#obsulesence
Click to expand...

There are LOTS of issues I have with the C series cameras, but 'not being able to hot-swap' a lens isn't even on the list. I've NEVER, in my almost 20 years of shooting professionally, 'hot-swapped' a lens on any of my Betacam's or VariCam's, which are far from "crap gear". I've never 'hot-swapped' a lens on any camera, video or still. Is it really THAT big of a deal?
 
Run&Gun said:
Is it really THAT big of a deal?
Click to expand...
For me it can mean the difference between capturing a closeup of the vows at a wedding or missing it when I change from a 24-105 to a 70-200 lens mid-ceremony as things are quickly moving; they're not going to wait an extra 20 seconds for me to turn my camera on and off. That, and having to stop recording to turn the camera off means more syncing work for the editor, as most editors like the cameras to remain rolling for the duration of a multi-cam shoot. It's a big deal.

Especially on the Mark I cameras which took a lot longer to turn on; the Mark II cameras are about twice as fast on boot-up time.

I haven't noticed dust issues on my cameras (perhaps FL humidity helps with that, though I shoot out of state pretty often as well). If or when I do have dust, I'd simply blow it out with a blower. Worst case I spend a bit of money to get it professionally cleaned. No big deal.
 
You know what is a big deal? ....definitely don't keep your guitar picks or any extra snacks in there. It just rolls all around inside and hits the sensor....makes a big mess.

Thats my biggest complaint...you can't keep any snacks in there....at least not easily.
 
Actually, I AM experimenting with putting custom filters INSIDE my C100's (both original and MK 2s)...no issues yet.

And what Terry said is correct. There were a few horror stories when the original C300 was released of shorting out the camera when hot swapping lenses. Canon fixed the problem, and there have never been any confirmed stories of problems with hot swapping lenses on the C100. I do it all the time.
 
I notice that the C100 manual specifically says to shut the camera off before swapping lenses.

EOS DSLR manuals do not (at least the 70D manual doesn't).

Guessing there's some reason for that. Ninety nine times out of a hundred it's going to be fine, but I always try to shut mine off.
 
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