Tag: firmware

Canon EOS 5D MkII

My second chance at reviving a DSLR from 2008, the Canon EOS 5D MkII. Will I have a little more success with this one?

I’ve been approached by an old colleague who used to be a syndicated sports photographer, he had a number of items he wanted to “get rid off” as they were just taking up space in his new house. “Would you be interested?” You betcha, so as a result I’m now the owner of a complete Bowens lighting system, two Canon EOS 1D MkIV cameras and a Canon EOS 5D MkII camera.

Lighting
Lighting
Cameras
Lights, cameras – now need some action!

My days of fussing and farting about with lighting rigs has now long passed, so I know a youngster starting out in the world who is a very talented young fellah, I have donated this equipment to him and he will certainly have a use for this lighting setup. He has been approached and accepted the offer, I think he is quite happy with his new acquisition, here’s hoping his talents continue to flourish.

However the cameras are mine as no one wants this old stuff anymore 😂

This post focuses on the repair of the Canon 5D MKII, the repair of the EOS 1D MKIVs can be found here: Canon EOS 1D MkIV There is also a link to my first attempt at a Canon EOS 5D Mk2 and here is the actual assessment of that camera and the issues experienced with it Canon EOS 5D MK2 assessment and repair, I failed with this repair due to it having sensor issues, so sold it on at a small profit, i’m hopeful that this new attempt at the 5D will bring better results.

The Canon EOS 5D MkII

Let’s hope this camera acquisition comes with a better outcome. Whereas the other two 1D cameras i received in this package have required me to to purchase a new battery and charger, I do already have a number of LP-E6 batteries and a charger in my possession, so there is no initial outlay required to test this camera. We are off to a good start here and should be easily able to diagnose any issues fairly quickly.

Anyway, before we assess the camera, here is a little bit about the Canon EOS 5D MkII.

The Canon EOS 5D Mark II is a 21.0 effective megapixel full-frame CMOS digital single-lens reflex camera made by Canon, the first Canon EOS camera to have video recording capabilities. It succeeds the EOS 5D and was announced on 17 September 2008.

On 2 March 2012, Canon announced the camera’s successor, the Canon EOS 5D Mark III. On 24 December 2012, Canon Japan moved the camera to their “Old Products” list, effectively discontinuing the camera.

The Canon EOS 5D Mark II is a full-frame camera and requires Canon EF-mount lenses. It is not compatible with EF-S lenses (which are for APS-C crop sensors).

Features:

  • 21.0 megapixels (5,616 × 3,744 pixels), compared to 12.8 megapixels (4,368 × 2,912 pixels).
  • DIGIC 4 image processor, compared to DIGIC II.
  • 100 to 6400 ISO (expandable to L (50), H1 (12800), H2 (25600)), compared to 100 to 1600 (expandable to L (50), H (3200)).
  • 3.9 frames per second continuous shooting (78 JPEG or 13 Raw in a single burst), compared to 3 frame/s (60 JPEG or 17 Raw).
  • Small Raw modes: sRAW1 mode (10 megapixel/3861 × 2574 pixels), sRAW2 mode (5.2 megapixel/2784 × 1856 pixels).
  • 98% viewfinder coverage with 0.71× magnification, compared to 96% coverage.
  • Larger 3.0-inch (76 mm) LCD with 920,000 pixels, compared to 2.5-inch (64 mm).
  • 1800 mAh LP-E6 battery, compared to 1390 mAh BP-511A.

New features

  • Movie recording full HD at 1920 × 1080 and SDTV at 640 × 480 resolution.
  • Monaural microphone for audio during video recording, speaker for playback and microphone jack for external stereo microphone
  • Live preview with ExpSim LV “exposure simulation” live preview (full exposure preview control utilizing ExpSim LV, a first for video in a DSLR)
  • Live preview with contrast-detect autofocus
  • HDMI video output for live preview or playing clips and images on an external monitor via Type C MiniHDMI port
  • Dust reduction system to perform automatic sensor cleaning
  • Battery management software

Key Lifespan Factors:

  • Shutter Rating: 150,000, though this is considered conservative by users.
  • Real-world usage: Many cameras show failure rates increasing closer to the 100,000–150,000 range, but many exceed it significantly.
  • Longevity: Some, though rare, individual cameras have recorded over 2 million shots.
  • Repairability: The shutter mechanism can be replaced if it fails, which may extend the camera’s life further.
  • Component failure: Other parts, such as the power board or rubber grips, may fail before the shutter. 

Common Issues:

  • Rubber grips: Rubber grips can become loose over time.
  • Button/Dial functionality: Buttons and dials may wear out over long periods of use.
  • Sensor maintenance: Regular sensor cleaning is needed to maintain performance. 

The 5D Mark II is the first camera in the EOS line to provide video recording functions. Still photography during video recording is possible, but the camera suspends recording video until the final still frame is captured.

The lithium-ion battery for the 5D Mark II (LP-E6) has an 1800 mAh capacity. Each battery contains a microchip with a unique identifier for reporting charge status and battery health for display on the camera. The 5D Mark II’s “Battery Info” screen can track battery health and shooting history for up to six LP-E6 batteries.

The camera has native ISO values of 100 multiplied by a power of 2; other ISO values are obtained by a digital exposure push (ISO values that are multiples of 125) or digital exposure pull (ISO values that are multiples of 160). The digital exposure push ISO is 1/3 stop greater than the native ISO, and a digital exposure pull ISO is 1/3 stop less than the native ISO. The digital exposure push ISO settings produce more noise than the native settings with a reduced dynamic range, and the digital exposure pull ISO settings produce less noise than the native settings.

Wikipedia

Assessment:

The camera has arrived and here are my first thoughts. But first some pictures.

Canon Eos 5D MkII

Just holding the camera and looking around it, you can see it has been well used over the last eighteen years. There are chips and scuffs, but nothing excessive, and certainly no “hard” dents that would indicate it has been dropped at anytime. The top LCD panel has a scuff on it, but this doesn’t stop any information being read.

Scuff on top screen
Scuffing on pentaprism
Scuffing on battery housing
Scuffing on base under lens mount
Battery contacts clean
Rubber cover missing on base

The battery contacts are clean and there is just a small rubber cover missing on a connection that is on the base of the camera. All switches and buttons appear to operate as intended, everything is there and the exterior appears to be used, but in a good condition.

The lens barrel appears to be clean, the mirror and focus screen have a little dust and dirt on them however this is an easy clean. The shutter is closed underneath the mirror ensuring the sensor stays isolated from the outside world. I won’t be able to check how this is until I have a battery installed.

Lens barrel a bit dusty
Some dust on the focus screen

Batteries. As I have stated above I do have compatible batteries for this camera. This camera has a battery management system installed that communicates with the original “Canon” batteries that report back on their charge status amongst other information. However my batteries are not Canon originals and are in fact third party ones that don’t have the ability to communicate as original batteries would. That said, they are more than capable and usable. I just know that the very second I put the battery in and turn the camera on, it will show some kind of battery communication error on the rear screen. It’s ok though as we can opt to ignore that warning, click ok, and just get on with things, with no issues to the general operation of the camera.

As expected
No issues

Let’s do a little digging around. I’ve downloaded a little program that appears to be quite popular, to try and find exactly how many times the camera shutter has been activated in its lifetime, (still photo count – not including video). Here is that count.

243,487 shutter activations…wow!

I guessed the count would be high as it was the previous camera of a syndicated sports photographer, I just wasn’t quite expecting this high. But who am I to complain when I have received this camera for free. if you read the camera specs in the paragraphs above, the expected lifespan of the shutter is around 150,000 actuations, however the photographic community tends to question this figure. Some cameras have gone into the millions with shutter counts, however this one will plod on with me on much lower figures, if I get it working. I don’t know its service history, it’s a rugged built heavy use camera, that will go on for years if looked after properly. And that’s what I intend to do with it.

Another piece of information that can be obtained from the piece of software above is the firmware version. The current installed version is 2.0.7 and that was installed sometime in 2010. The latest and last version is 2.1.2 that was released in 2012. I will attempt to update this cameras version of firmware to the final updated one.

I think I’ve had a good assessment with this camera, I know what needs looking at so let’s get on with giving it a little TLC to ensure it will go on working for a few thousand more shutter actuations, I’ve got to try and get this camera to the 1/4 million mark at least!

Repair:

The first thing I want to do, is to look into why, when you input a date into the camera, the information disappears as soon as the camera is turned off and turned on again? This is a simple issue, easily located and soon rectified. These cameras normally have an additional battery buried somewhere in the camera that acts like a cmos battery in a computer. It simply supplies a small charge that maintains dates and program settings when the camera is an a sleep mode, instantly reinstating the correct information when the camera is switched on again.

And this camera is no different.

A single coin cell CR1616 battery is what does the job in this camera, its life span is usually around five years. So let’s check this one out as I suspect it has failed. It is located on the bottom of the camera on the opposite side of the main battery chamber, below two rubber accessory panels.

Coin battery access
Remove one screw, the coin holder can then be removed
The coin cell holder

The CR1616 battery is a 3v lithium coin cell. Using a multimeter I was able to confirm that this one was well and truly depleted as it was only holding a charge of 99.3mV. The new battery cell was holding a much more acceptable charge of 3.3V.

Old and new battery voltages

With the new coin battery in place, I’ll reset the date values and test that the battery is doing its job, by powering the unit up and down a few times.

That appears to have worked

As you can see in the picture above, I’ve managed to update the settings, and when the unit is shut down and restarted the information remains. Hence the new clock/cmos battery is working fine.

Next let’s try to update the firmware to the latest release. This small video below shows how easy this task can be. This particular file in the video is for an earlier, older update, however the principle is exactly the same for all camera updates with Canon.

Updating firmware on a Canon Eos5D MkII

Following the recommendations in the video above I have downloaded the latest firmware update file and extracted its content to the freshly formatted CF card for the camera.

It’s thinking about it….

The whole process was followed exactly as laid down in the instruction video, and it went as expected. The update was successful.

Firmware update, before and after

The camera is now correctly updated to the most recent firmware. I can now progress to doing some final checks in the lens barrel area prior to moving on and checking the functionality of the camera with a lens in place.

The mirror bumper felt is in good condition and does not need replacement. I have blown out the barrel and inspected the sensor and that is clean and needs no attention.

Final touch is that I have printed off a cover for the hotshoe flash holder.

Printed hotshoe cover

Time to get the battery installed in the camera, along with a formatted CF card, and I’ve also put a stock 28-80 EF lens on the front to test. And here are some of those pictures taken to test, just around my garden.

Rhododendron
Venus fly trap
Back porch
Garden ornament
The wife’s solar houses
A dying magnolia

And I am so damned impressed. It’s only a basic lens but the tonal quality, sharpness and colour has really shone through. The camera has worked perfectly, I’ve used it in auto mode, shutter priority and aperture priority and all works fine. When I use the video mode, all is fine but the basic lens when you telescope, can be heard throughout the video, not really an issue just an observation, hence why people invest in the higher end optics. For testing purposes though, this lens has performed perfectly. I’d be more than happy to venture out for a picture session with this setup.

Every setting on this camera has been tested and it has passed with flying colours. My job here is done.

Result:

A far better result than my last attempt on this specific type of camera. This time around the sensor has performed perfectly and remains in good order, hopefully for quite a time yet. It would be good to see it go through the 250,000 exposures count, and seeing that it’s only about 6,600 exposures away I don’t foresee it being a hard to achieve target. I’m going to get some good use out of this camera, I’m currently looking at taking it to a local nature reserve to see what can be photographed. I’m quite looking forward to that.

The finished camera in all its loveliness

A final polish and this project can now be put to bed. Onto the next one.

Many thanks for passing by, it’s always very much appreciated.

Kodak printomatic digital instant camera

I’ve just purchased three of these cameras for a total of £24:98GBP. All non working of course but when healthy they normally command a price around £35:00GBP each. Here is what the listing said for each one:

Camera one:

Camera one

Kodak Printomatic Digital Instant Print Camera

Camera does not print 

Can be repaired or used for parts 

EBay

Camera two:

Camera two

Camera is in good cosmetic condition.

Camera doesn’t charge. Battery charging light flashes but it doesn’t hold battery.

It hasn’t been tested further.

EBay

Camera three:

Camera three

Please look at the photos carefully, as they make up the majority of the description. 

It has two faults 

The springs on the back are broken, meaning the rear metal plate is bent , and it often doesn’t push photo paper through correctly.

The shutter button is also depressed.

EBay

This third one might be a longer term repair as I’ve never known a quick fix for a depressed button, that requires a psychiatrist… (That’s me just trying to be humorous, I’ll grab my coat and leave now 😂🤦‍♂️)

To be honest the issue with the third camera seems to be a regular problem based around the design of this camera. Too much pressure on the button normally results in the switch inside detaching from the main board, it’s poorly positioned at an angle and usually not soldered in place too well. The springs should be an easy fix.

I’ve brought these cameras from three different sellers. if I’m lucky I’ll be able to get all three up and running, worst case scenario is that I use one for spares and have two good working examples.

Anyway I’ll just have to wait for their arrival to assess them all, and decide what repairs are required. In the meantime here’s a little bit about these cameras that are again very similar to the Polaroid “Snap” camera range, that also use zink paper. And seeing what is quoted below, the Polaroid “Snap” and this Kodak Printomatic are in all aspects one and the same camera.

Well, since Kodak doesn’t really make its own consumer cameras anymore, the Printomatic is actually being produced by a company called C+A Global, which is just licensing the Kodak name and branding. C+A also licenses Polaroid, and was behind the two-year-old Snap. Both cameras were designed by Silicon Valley firm Ammunition Group, which confirmed to The Verge that the Printomatic is basically the same camera as the Snap, though simplified and rebadged. (The cherry on top of this corporate synergy sundae is that C+A also works with Zink.)

Released 2017

The PRINTOMATIC camera instantly and automatically prints high-quality, full color photos with point-and-shoot ease. It uses KODAK ZINK Photo Paper, so no ink cartridges or toners are needed. The photo prints are durable, water resistant, and adhesive backed for extra fun. The camera’s speed allows you to shoot a new photo while printing the previous shot. The KODAK PRINTOMATIC is fast, fun, and easy to use.

Features

  • 5MP image sensor
  • Prints automatically when image is captured
  • Vibrant 2″ x 3″ photo prints are durable, water resistant, and adhesive backed
  • Built-in flash
  • Optical viewfinder
  • microSD™ card slot

Kodak Ltd & The Verge

The reviews all vary, from very good to downright diabolical, I’m not really surprised since Kodak “Hoared” out its brand name to the lowest bidder many years ago. Am I bitter? A little, as I used to work for Kodak in the days when they were a world leader, the mistakes they made, the decisions and leadership were absolutely awful. And the fact that their demise has lowered my pension pot by about 40% due to their financial mismanagement is another axe that I regularly grind. Yes I am bitter, and since I’ve recently repaired and reviewed their competitors cameras I thought I’d give these a try. Will I be impressed or disappointed? Who knows but I do have an inkling on which way this may swing. But for what I’ve paid for three cameras I’m not really that fussed, it’s just pocket money.

Assessment:

Camera one:

Apparently doesn’t print. Well I’ve put a couple of sheets of Zink paper inside and two pictures were produced. The sd card slot is fine, the charging port is in good condition. Transport is working perfectly. It certainly does print. Just needs a bit of a clean. To be totally honest there is nothing wrong with this camera and for an outlay of £8:00GBP in total I have a working bargain. Kerching – a rare EBay win.

Printer works, camera works
Charges fine
Looking nice after a light clean – no marking

Nothing more to do on this one. So on to camera two.

Camera two:

It’s a bit grubby cosmetically but nothing that a light clean wouldn’t sort. This particular one cost £8:99GBP all in. It was dead on arrival so I’ve checked that the charging port was ok, and then put it straight on charge.

On charge

I’ve also given it a light clean whilst charging and the overall appearance has greatly improved. I must just be patient and wait and see if the unit does take a charge, or the original fault appears.

Initial red indication
Now a rapid flashing white indication

Whilst on charge the originally mentioned fault appears. The charging light was showing a steady red, it is now a rapidly flashing white light with the occasional steady red indication for all of a few seconds and then it’s back to the rapid white indication and it then all repeats. I’ll leave it for a while to see if there is an improvement, the battery just might be so dead that the inbuilt battery management system may just well be refusing to cooperate.the on/off button on the front doesn’t work as well, this might be also related to the battery issue.

Camera three:

Looking very nice and cosmetically very clean.

Nice camera

This one cost £7:99GBP all in. This one is reported to have two issues, a damaged paper pressure pad and a button stuck in the depressed position.

Paper pressure pad is bent and missing two springs
Exposure button stuck in, white light flashing as a result

But first I’ve put it on charge to see that it charges, I’m pleased to report that everything is alright in that aspect, and I’m pleased to say it charged fully with the correct lights illuminated. The white light on the top by the exposure button is flashing as a result of the button being stuck in the depressed position, I believe.

Camera has charged fine

This one will need the paper pressure pad repairing as well as the button that is stuck in the depressed position.

Repair:

Camera one:

See above. No repair required. Just a light clean and some TLC. Why did they sell it as damaged? Who knows just what goes on, in the mind of an EBay seller.

Camera two:

This will need to be opened to get near the battery. We may well be able to get the battery to accept a small charge and this may be just enough to fool the battery management system in the camera to take over and continue charging.

Cover off and the confusing lights

Cover off I’ve checked the battery readings and it’s reading a healthy 6.5v and as it’s a 7.5v rated battery I believe this to be healthy, it holds a steady charge the battery is fine. Looking at the led lights they are capable of two indications, red or white and that’s it. I believe the charging light flashes when it’s charged as it cannot possibly show a green light as there isn’t one. This is confusing as normally a flashing white/red light normally indicates that the battery needs charging. Everything that is happening goes against what the producer has published regarding the led indications. But I am convinced the battery is good despite it not turning on. Hold on, I think I’ve found out the problem here…..

Cable disconnected
Cable now connected

On off button ribbon connector was not in place

It appears that someone has been here before me or that the on/off button ribbon connector has disconnected itself over time. Either way it’s not where it should be. I’ve put the connector back in place and secured it. I now have power and control of the camera.

All lights working, transport whirring away let’s put some paper in to give it a try.

Printing
Dirty print roller

Well it prints ok, all pictures appear to have a “blue tint” to them, however there are big tramlines across the print as you can see, this indicates a dirty roller. What I’m going to do here is peel half the backing of a sheet of Zink paper as the back is adhesive allowing you to stick photos on whatever takes your fancy. By running a half sheet of exposed adhesive, upside down through the camera with the adhesive being the trailing edge, it should allow any debris and dirt to be collected on its way through. I will do this three or four times and even though I will no doubt get error lights appear I can just reset the camera with no further issues.

Zink adhesive exposed

And that worked. The tramlines have gone.

Tramlines on bottom left picture as a reference. All other pictures now clear.

I’ve also tried the black and white mode as you can see above. I’m very confident, in fact I am positive this camera is now working as it should. I have also put an sd card in the base and all pictures are being recorded as expected. A quick clean and we now have a perfectly good working example of this camera. Let’s move on to camera three.

Camera three:

We have to open up the camera to get to the issue with the button.

The paper pressure pad needs to be dismantled, straightened up and two compatible springs need to be found to keep the required pressure in place on the paper pad. I’ve dismantled the pressure pad and straightened it out, just needs a couple of springs to complete, I’ll sort these out later.

Bent up
Straightened out
Back in place just awaiting new springs

On opening the camera it was as clear as day that the depressed button was as I first thought, the three solder points below it had come loose, no longer making contact.

The working switch
The faulty switch that looks like it’s smiling

It’s plain to see in the pictures above that the button that is damaged has all three points of contact broken. these need re soldering to strengthen them. You can see this issue in the microscope pictures I took below.

Top: Before, Bottom: after

The switch has been tested and it clicks and operates as expected, this is a known weak point with these cameras and a design fault as well, although the manufacturer would probably deny this. It’s a given fact that the manufacturer wants to sell as many as these units cheaply to the throw away consumer, you only have to look at the main board below to see this…

Says it all really….

It really saddens me to see the levels the Kodak name has sunk to, these units are just replicas of the Polaroid touch/snap range, but even at this stage in the repair the Polaroid versions are far superior. Quality control and the cheap design of these Kodak units is borderline awful.

This unit is proving to be a right pain in the ass. The original fault with the exposure button has been repaired and the paper pressure pad is all but repaired, but it seems that being hidden by these two faults is a totally different issue. I have had this camera completely dismantled and have also separated the printer from the motherboard, but this issue of the permanently flashing white light still exists, so the fault is definitely only being carried on the motherboard.

Motherboard under microscope
Lens ribbon cable insecure
Motherboard separated from printer unit

I’ve checked the motherboard thoroughly using my microscope and there is nothing glaringly obvious at fault. I have checked for shorts on the board of which there are none. The only issue I found was that the lens ribbon cable was sitting off centre, however I corrected this but the flashing light issue still remains.

There are two faults that are connected with this flashing white light. One is that the light occurs whilst printing, this is not the case with this unit as it even occurs as stated with the printer disconnected. The other possibility is that it flashes when doing a firmware update, I have attempted to update with the latest firmware and the only difference is that I cannot turn the lights or camera off at all, I have to crash it by removing the battery.

It’s looking as if this could be the issue. The previous owner has probably bricked the unit by interrupting a firmware update and it has corrupted the system. I’m going to have one more attempt at updating the camera with a clean unused sd card to see if there is any possibility of recovery. If this cannot be done then this unit will become a spares unit that to be honest I’d rather not have as I don’t really want to purchase any more of these cameras. But you never know, someone may want one repairing.

Result:

Well in the wise old words of Meatloaf, I guess “Two out of three ain’t bad”. The grey one is bricked, as after numerous attempts of updating the firmware it just isn’t having it. It is just a brick. However there are numerous spare parts that can be used including a good battery, lens mechanism and a number of other pieces. I just didn’t want that though as i don’t really see myself going out of the way to obtain another one, they are as cheap and nasty as you could possibly find. The Polaroid versions are of a far better quality in my opinion, and they are hardly high class.

2 out of 3 ain’t bad

The positive here is that 3 cameras, quite obviously built for the throwaway generation have been saved from landfill and can be used again. What I’m going to do with the two I have is probably put them both back on to eBay to recover my out goings. If not, I will pass them onto our local hospice to sell on.

Been an interesting fix, but I’m not venturing back to these Kodak models anytime soon.

Thanks for passing by. Always appreciated.