Whats wrong with my 7d

KOHR

Well-known member
So... I just got my Canon 7d in the mail (brand new) about 2 days ago. When I first attempted to playback the first video I did on the camera, I noticed that the playback on the camera hung up, even though the audio continued to play. I figured this wasn't that big of an issue and continued shooting. Today, I loaded a bunch of the test footage onto my computer for the first time and lo and behold, there is a much more serious problem. When I view the video files, several of them have jagged frames (like the one posted below). What could be wrong with my 7d? I'm assuming Canon will fix this for free. Is it possibly an SD card issue?? Any advice would be great!

Screenshot2010-06-10at70921AM.png


Figured I'd mention this as well. Some of my pictures also come out a little screwy. When scrolling through my recently taken pictures on-camera, some pictures say "cannot be previewed" with no explanation. When I uploaded these pictures, they also came up with some distortion and glitchiness... Heres an example:

Screenshot2010-06-10at32340PM.png


I just went back in the on-camera playback and checked something. The frames that are dropped/glitchy (as seen two emails back in the attached still from the MOV file) are at the exact same time as when the 7d originally locks up on the visual elements of the video files during on-camera playback. In other words, the two issues I am experiencing with my 7d are actually 1 issue. The camera is locking up during playback due to whatever is causing the video files to eventually look broken up/glitchy after uploading. That means that the error is being caused at the moment of original recording/capture. Therefore its safe to assume that either I have a serious issue (i.e. defective canon 7d) or a somewhat smaller issue of a defective Sandisk compact flash card. It should be mentioned that this error doesn't happen every single time I record or take pictures, but sporadically across the span of many videos and pictures. This concerns me because I basically cannot have any trust that what I am shooting is actually being properly and safely captured by the camera.

Update: Just to answer the popular questions upfront...heres the technology I'm working with across the board...
Camera: Canon 7d (literally brand spankin' new)
CF card: Sandisk 16GB Extreme UDMA 60MB/s Compact Flash Card
Computer: Imac i7 Quad-Core with 16gb of RAM
Uploading with: Canon's EOS Utility
Encoding program: Final Cut's Compressor
Where the problem can originally be seen: Directly on the original .mov file imported through Canon's EOS utility (before I've touched it with anything or any program). Also, the on-camera playback of recently shot videos tends to hang up alot. Could this have something to do with it? This occurs on several of the videos, even when the card is completely empty.

What could be going wrong here except for the camera itself??
 
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what card are you using? How full is it? Did you format first?

Does it play fine on your computer?
 
I'm using the Sandisk 16GB Extreme UDMA 60MB/s Compact Flash Card SDCFX-016G-P61. (link:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002PLBP56/ref=oss_product)

Its the one reccomended to you when you buy the camera off amazon, so I doubt its a CF card issue. Also, I'm uploading to an imac i7 quad-core with 16gb of RAM...so I highly doubt its the computer screwing it up. The distortion you see above can be seen on both the ProRes422 encoded files as well as the original MOV files taken straight out of the camera. On the camera, when I attempt to playback, sometimes it appears to drop frames. I'm completely lost about what to do about this.
 
I don't currently have another CF card-- but I am hoping that is the issue! I really don't want to have to send my Canon 7d right back to them to fix it for a month while I'm stranded without a camera (just sold my Nikon d90 for this so I'll be completely lost without it). I've been emailing Canon since last night when I found the issue... they just assumed it was a third-party issue... either computer speed or CF speed related. I'm hoping its a defective CF card (because its definitely not computer related)...
 
Typical tests...

1. Format the CF Card
2. Try another CF Card
3. Try the CF card on another camera
4. Reset cameras settings back to factory default.
 
Typical tests...

1. Format the CF Card
2. Try another CF Card
3. Try the CF card on another camera
4. Reset cameras settings back to factory default.

I didn't think of reformating the CF card. Maybe that will help... I have thought of just trying other cards or testing the card in a different camera, unfortunately none of the things needed for those kinds of tests are available to me (because I just sold off the rest of my camera equipment). I will attempt to find a way though. If and when I find out whats wrong and how to fix it, I will post the solution in this thread to help anyone else who runs across this same problem!
 
Well, I'm assuming that Canon would have to fix this, correct? Seeing as how I only bought the item a couple of days ago and I haven't broken warranty in any way shape or form.
 
if it's that new, don't even bother returning it to Canon- let your retailer do it. Ask for an RMA from the store you bought it at and get a replacement. Most reputable stores have a return period- especially if it's an authorized Canon dealer.
 
It is brand new, but its from an online retailer through Amazon. I checked with Canon and they'll replace/repair for up to a year from original purchase date for defected items. I'm not sure how easy it will be to do a replacement through the online retailer. Thanks for the idea though!

Update: Just sent a message to the online electronics retailer that sent me the (supposedly) defective Canon 7d. It might be the card thats causing the issue, but the fact that the pictures are also coming out with the color banding makes me think that the camera itself is actually the issue. I needed to invest in some more CF cards anyway, so I went ahead and bought another Sandisk 16gb Extreme III CF card that should arrive in the next week so I can run that test on the camera. We shall see!
 
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