After many years of reliable service, my trusty ol' EOS 650 has recently developed some unusual problems. Mostly I've only used the automatic programming mode and have never experienced so much as a hiccup. However, I just started a photography class and have been experimenting with the other modes, i.e. manual override, shutter/aperature priority, and depth of field AE.

The first thing I noticed after using the manual mode is that six shots on a 24 exposure roll of film had about one half of the picture blacked out (on the top side only).

Then I started using the other modes mentioned above with even more disastrous results. Immediately after using the depth of field mode, I got a battery check (bc) signal, which I did, but the battery seemed to be OK. However, the film advanced and that particular frame was lost. On the next roll of film, I lost 8 out of the 24 exposures due to this "bc" problem.

So the question is, does anyone know what's going on here and how to fix it? Someone suggested that it might be some sort of software problem, which could be a rather lengthy and costly process to repair. Any other ideas or am I stuck with a big headache?

Don

-- Don Meier (donmeier@compuserve.com), March 04, 2001

Answers

Don: the first thing I would do is to replace the battery. You state that you checked it and "it seemed to be OK". Replace it anyway. Were you using a flash when the top half of the pictures were blacked out? Jeff

-- jeff mungar (jmungar@home.com), March 04, 2001.

Don: Echoing earlier advice to replace the battery. I had a 650 that did great things until the battery got the least bit low. The camera would then be possessed. The best exorcism was a new battery. -- Doc Bubba

-- Scott Sherman (ssherman@pepperdine.edu), March 04, 2001.

Thanks guys,

If you don't mind, I'll respond to both of you here. Actually, I guess that I didn't mention it specifically, but I did replace the battery and it still continued to have difficulties. FWIW, it was an old battery that I've probably had for at least a couple of years, but the expiration date said that it was good till 2007. And when I did the battery check, it showed three bars indicating that it was apparently full strength.

Also, Jeff, I wasn't using the flash when the top half of the pictures got blacked out. I was only experimenting with panning some moving cars in the manual mode in broad daylight.

I'm going to have both rolls of film developed tomorrow (Mon) and I'm very curious to see what happened. Will report back then, but please don't hesitate to send any other suggestions or questions. I really am attached to this camera since it's been around the world with me a few times (literally!) and would very much like to get it up and running again as painlessly as possible.

Don

-- Don Meier (donmeier@compuserve.com), March 04, 2001.

I know it's been a while since these posts, but I recently began using a 650 provided by my work and had the same problems. Works great (except for light leak which is troubling) when shooting in program mode but when shooting manual or otherwise I have the same problem with half a frame exposed and half black. Have you gotten any other answers to your problems? Thanks Lorraine

-- Lorraine Mize (editor@nccoast.com), August 08, 2001.

As a matter of fact, my problems also occurred initially when I started using some of the modes other than the regular program mode. In the end, I had to send it off for repair of the circuitry and the shutter. It cost me about $140 and it's working fine now.

Good luck with yours, but I'm assuming that you're going to have to bite the bullet for repairs or spring for another body.

Don

-- Don Meier (donmeier@compuserve.com), August 08, 2001.