This post was last modified: 2013-09-23, 19:22 by richparry.

I purchased the TP-Link Version 2.1 and installed the Dashboard “factory” firmware. I then began to play with Dashboard, just trying various controls to learn how to use it. Everything worked until my Canon 5D Mark II froze. No matter what I did, all I got was a Err 70 message, I thought the camera was “bricked”, nothing I would do would bring it back to life.

After spending a day searching the web and trying everything I could think of, I was ready to return the camera to Canon. Just before packing it up, I gave one more Internet search and found the link below which solved my problem.

I can’t prove it, but I agree with the author of the web page, Dashboard sent an illegal command to the camera and rather than rejecting the command, the camera froze. See the link for the entire article, the text which follows is an excerpt from the author.

From the web page author:
It turns out with the Canon SDK that you can tell the camera to do pretty much anything – whether it’s legal or not. For instance, you can tell it to choose an image quality mode that it doesn’t support (for example a legacy mode that was supported by cameras like the 10D but is not recognized by the 7D).

If this happens, the camera will happily accept the setting and store it in it’s internal memory. When you try to take a picture, it applies the settings from it’s internal memory, which (most likely) causes an internal exception and throws the Error 70.

http://www.reikan.co.uk/photography/blog/?p=1550

Rich in San Diego

This post was last modified: 2014-02-15, 17:46 by Gunther.

Yes, unfortunately this is true. The Canon will accept an illegal image format as you can read it here to: https://code.google.com/p/dslrdashboard/...tail?id=82
As Canon does not provide documentation for their models I don't know all the image settings that the various Canon models have. I only have a 650D and using that one for testing.

I think it's important to put the solution here just in case other Canon users experience the same problem:

• First, put the camera in one of the C1/C2/C3 modes
  
• Adjust as many of the settings back to default as possible (custom functions, image mode etc). I’m not sure this step is necessary, but it’s worth a try.
  
• Power the camera off
  
• Remove the lens, switch to CA mode and power the camera up again
  
• You should see a menu rather than “Err 70″ It will be a cut-down menu as you’re in CA mode without a lens, but it’s there nevertheless. If you can get to “Clear Camera Settings” then do this.
  

For all details see http://www.reikan.co.uk/photography/blog/?p=1550

I'm sure Zoltan will do anything in his power to prevent that situations, but it would be crucial if you write down exactly what you tried to do before the camera froze and which camera you are using.

UPDATE ON THIS POST.

Since I wrote this post, I have researched the issue and have sent the following email to Zoltan in the hopes he will fix the app.

====================

Zoltan,

In October of 2013 I installed DSLR Dashboard to control my Canon 5D Mark II. Within minutes I managed to BRICK the camera and spent many hours over several days trying to bring the camera back to life. I was about to return the camera to the Canon factory for repair when I came across a means to un-Brick the camera.

I wrote my experiences on the LRTImelapse forum warning people. Here is that post.
http://forum.lrtimelapse.com/Thread-warn...5d-mark-ii

A few months have passed and I decided to troubleshoot the problem, I have learned that I can consistently BRICK the camera by setting the format to either.
• JPEG S1 Fine
• JPEG S1 Standard

Selecting either of these settings immediately kills the camera resulting in a Err 70. The camera is no longer useable. It appears the command you send the camera for these settings is illegal.

I have spent a great deal of time on this and hope you find this information useful and will update the app. I also have a Canon 5D Mark III, but I am afraid to use it with this serious bug. I was able to bring the Mark II back to life, I am not sure I will be able to bring the Mark III back to life if I use the Dashboard, so for now, I will not use the Dashboard.

Rich
San Diego, CA

This post was last modified: 2013-12-26, 22:39 by saw0.

I just want to inform you:

You neither bricked nor killed your Camera.

If you did so, you couldn't use it anymore.

You more exactly had a temporarily disabled camera, but bricking is on another level.

Glad to hear I still works however.

This post was last modified: 2014-01-02, 19:37 by Marcos.

Hello,

Just to let you know that I also had the same horrible problem with my Canon eos 7D, two days ago. I use DSRLdashboard with a Samsung Galaxy S3. I was using it for the first time when I changed to JPEG capture. My 7D stopped working completely, showing "Err 70". I got mad thinking about sending it to Canon service as I couldn't find a way to bring it back to life! Happily, after googleing a little, I happened to find the miraculous solution in the above mentioned Rich's blog: http://www.reikan.co.uk/photography/blog/?p=1550. It worked perfect for me, but now I'm totally scared about using DSRLdashboard again.

Regards

Because I was also afraid to use DSLRDashboard, I didn't use it for 3 months. And I was scared to try it on my Canon 5DM3 for the same reason. I was able to bring my M2 back to life, but not sure if the "trick" would work on my M3. I'm still not sure.

Anyway, I have successfully connected to both the M2 and M3, but I'm staying away from the JPEG Small and Standard modes. I never used them, I was just playing around with the software to test it.

I emailed the author of DSLR Dashboard. He is aware of the problem, but he doesn't own a M2 or M3 so he can't test it or fix it, so we are stuck. Just stay away from the two JPEG formats I mentioned.

BTW, on the M2 I find when I hit LV (LiveView), the mirror opens immediately, but when I hit LV again to shut the mirror, it takes 10 seconds. Did you find that? The M3 doesn't have this delay.

Because I was also afraid to use DSLRDashboard, I didn't use it for 3 months. And I was scared to try it on my Canon 5DM3 for the same reason. I was able to bring my M2 back to life, but not sure if the "trick" would work on my M3. I'm still not sure.

Anyway, I have successfully connected to both the M2 and M3, but I'm staying away from the JPEG Small and Standard modes. I never used them, I was just playing around with the software to test it.

I emailed the author of DSLR Dashboard. He is aware of the problem, but he doesn't own a M2 or M3 so he can't test it or fix it, so we are stuck. Just stay away from the two JPEG formats I mentioned.

BTW, on the M2 I find when I hit LV (LiveView), the mirror opens immediately, but when I hit LV again to shut the mirror, it takes 10 seconds. Did you find that? The M3 doesn't have this delay.

Hello Rich, thank you very much for your new comment.
I also was just playing around when I switched to JPEG mode. In fact I never use JPEG in my timelapses. As per what you say, it seems that you are actually using DSLRdashboard with no problem (obviously staying away from JPEG). Can you please confirm this to me? You could help me face DSLRd again with no fears. I have a 7D and a 5D Mark II.
I will spend some time tomorrow with my gear. I will make your LV test and will let you know in a next post.
Many thanks again for your great help.
Marcos/Spain.

Let me join in and say that I've had no problems at all when using DDB yet on my Nikons and the Canon 6D, and I'm using it a lot.
But I only shoot RAW as well. Zoltan told me that he is working on that problem.

All information I have is that you can always recover with the trick mentioned above from the Err70, should it ocurr. Didn't hear of one single user that really "bricked" his cam - this is of course no guarantee but what I can tell from the experiences I've heard of yet.

This post was last modified: 2014-01-03, 20:11 by Marcos.

Let me join in and say that I've had no problems at all when using DDB yet on my Nikons and the Canon 6D, and I'm using it a lot.
But I only shoot RAW as well. Zoltan told me that he is working on that problem.

All information I have is that you can always recover with the trick mentioned above from the Err70, should it ocurr. Didn't hear of one single user that really "bricked" his cam - this is of course no guarantee but what I can tell from the experiences I've heard of yet.

Hello Gunther!
Thanks for your reassuring comment.
I have spent a couple hours today with DDB and my both Canon 7D and 5D2. I explain in next new message below.
Gunther, I wish to take this opportunity to thank you for your great LRT software. I have been using it since v1.94 in many of my projects. In my workshops and talks about timelapse I recommend your program as the best and most complete solution. I'm hoping to start using soon the 3.0 update.