Canon 5D Mark 3 Autofocus

[Yogesh A]

Dear all i had purchased 5dmkIII as upgrade over my 5D MKII . I simply love MKIII camera until yesterday when the camera simply stopped auto focusing. I have done all that i could think of .
1) removing the battery and recharging it to full.
2) removing the CF card it doesn't shoot even if the shoot without CF card is enabled.
3) checked the MF switch on the lens .
4) changed and tried at least 5-6 diff lenses.
5) cleared all custom functions.
6) set the camera again to default factory settings.

How ever it does the following.
1) can shoot in Manual Focus Mode .
2) Can shoot auto focus in Live View Mode
3) Can Shoot in Movie Mode.

It just simply doesn't shoot in any mode even the full auto mode . I am not sure if i did some wrong settings . please help me guys what to go . I am based at a place where there is no cannon authorized service center so it may take 3-4 weeks for me to send it and get it back from the canon center.
Please help me guys
regards and thanks

[Dr Croubie]

Sounds serious, unfortunately.
I sent my 7D off to get repaired about 3 times, for the dead pixels that they took 3 repairs to get out. The last time that it came back, the dead pixels were gone but then the camera wouldn't autfocus, at all (thankfully I was trying it out in my local shop, I borrowed a few of their lenses to test too).

After trying a lot of things in your list too, a 'restore to factory defaults' did the trick.

One thing you didn't write is cleaning the contacts on the lens mount. They shouldn't be corroded or dirty in a few months, but it's worth having at them with a cotton bud and IsoPropyl Alcohol anyway.

Otherwise, try taking the battery and CF cards out for 5 minutes, lens off, put the battery in, go straight to 'restore to factory defaults', then take the battery out for another 5 mins. Then put the battery in and the lens on and put it to Green Square mode, if there's no autofocus then, it must be borken and probably needs a repair (best sooner than later with warranties).

[Yogesh A]

Thanks . I did that already but then it is not working any how . Some one told me there would be a combination of switches to press to restore the camera hardware to factory settings . My Camera is just 10-12 days young have cliched just 500 odd test shots . Do you possibly know of any such combination of switches for 5d mark 3.
thanks

[Yogesh A]

dear all
does any one know how to do a full factory setting rest on canon 5d mark III. the menu based clear all camera settings did not work.
regards
Yogesh A

[HDNitehawk]

Sounds like you got a bad copy.

If you bought it from B&H they have a 30 day return policy.
If you only had it 10 or 12 days and your supplier has a similar return policy I would do an exchange. That way you are not without a camera for several weeks.

[jrw]

It may be a bit of a long shot but you could try updating the firmware version. Every now and then there are fixes for things that defy all logical explanations with the exception of buggy firmware or a bad piece of hardware specific to the particular mode of use. If that doesn't work then returning it would seem to be the only other alternative. It does focus in liveview which means the contacts work to drive the USM but the method of focusing is different in this mode. Does focus confirmation work in still modes when manual focusing?

In reply to your post I am not aware of a button combination to reset the camera.

[btaylor]

Sounds beyond a factory reset unfortunately. My advice would be to send it in to Canon for repair. You would like to think they'd replace it since it's so new but I wouldn't hold my breath.

If you do happen to find a solution please share it.

Good luck.

[Steph]

Hi,

Very unfortunate indeed. Pieces of electronics tend to fail when they are new (burn in) and are then very reliable. As your camera is new but only worked of a couple of weeks, I would bet on a broken component in the phase detection AF (reason why it works in live view). You'd better send it back for repair/exchange.

Cheers,
S.

[Yogesh A]

thanks guys
i tried the new firmware update to 1.1.3 but the camera is not responding . My dealer is not sure of any return policy and i am dreadful of repairs by the service stations they grossly mishandle the equipments lodged with them . I am comforting myself that i am covered under warranty but then i feel bit shaken coz this i my first bad exp with canon . I will finally lodge the camera with my dealer and hope for the best .
thanks
Ps : i can click pictures in manual focus mode but then i do not get any focus confirmation in this mode . I tried manual focus on my 5d Mark 2 it gives that focus confirmation beep and the points that attain focus turn red .