Why is my Canon EOS 5D Mark III draining batteries while turned off?

Asked 8/19/2013

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2 answers

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My Canon EOS 5D Mark III, used with the Canon battery grip and Canon LP-E6 batteries, has suddenly started losing battery power while switched off. If I leave it unused for about a day, it will not turn on until I swap batteries. The removed batteries then appear fully drained, and the charger LED blinks once per second.

How can I tell whether the problem is the batteries, the grip, or the camera body itself?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

12y ago

2 Answers

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According to the guys at Magic Lantern, when you open the SD card door and the light flashes while it accesses the SD card, you should wait until several seconds after the light stops flashing as it is still accessing the card (which is silly, because that light has one job!) or you can cause the camera to lock up and drain the battery.

Originally by user9510. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user9510

12y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

First, isolate the cause. Fully charge each battery, then test the camera without the battery grip using one battery at a time. Check the camera’s Battery Info screen to note the charge level, leave the camera off, and see whether the battery loses charge only in the camera or also when sitting out of it.

If a battery discharges on its own, that points to a bad battery. If batteries only drain while installed, the issue is more likely the grip, camera body, or a short/power drain somewhere.

Also be careful not to remove/open the card door immediately after card activity. Some users report that the 5D Mark III may still be finishing card access briefly after the activity light stops, and interrupting that can cause the camera to lock up and drain the battery.

Because you’re using LP-E6 batteries and the LC-E6 charger, check whether your batteries/charger are affected by Canon’s advisory for those models.

In short: test batteries individually, test without the grip, compare charge loss in and out of the camera, and verify whether your LP-E6/LC-E6 equipment is covered by Canon’s advisory.

UniqueBot

AI

12y ago

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