I have been having a minor problem with my brand new less than a month old XSi camera. The battery does not always work as it should. I have been trying to use it here at home, and out shooting the fireworks show last night. http://www.prestophoto.com/photos/gallery/27220
Sometimes when I turn the camera on, it does not turn on at all. (The battery has been charged!) I have only seen the battery indicator at less than full one time. I have found by fiddling with it if I take the battery out then immediately put the battery back in then it will work fine. After doing that it seems to be fine for quite several hours. If I leave the camera turned off for a few hours then turn it back on, it may or may not work.

I have talked to my local camera store about this, although when I talked to them it was before I figured out if I took the battery out then put it back in it would then work. The first time I talked to them they had another new battery so they switched the battery with me, but I am still having problems after that.
They told me to keep track of the problem, but if it persists we may need to send it back to Canon

My daughter and grandson are arriving in town Monday to be with us for a week, so I will not send it in before they go back home.

Any of you good people have any ideas? Should I go to a Canon specific forum and say something there? If so which forum would be best?


Boy do I hate the idea of having to send in my camera already!

I'm sorry you're having trouble. Can you return it and get a new one?

I'm sorry you're having trouble. Can you return it and get a new one?

I do not know, but I can always ask the owner of the camera store where I purchased it. He was suggesting the return for warranty routine.

He ought to take it back, return it to his supplier as DOA and start you out with a new one. That's just good customer service. Tell him your cyber friend said so.

Good morning Charles. I agree with Sunny. Sounds like your camera does, in fact, have a defect that was (probably) there when it was shipped to the camera store. THEY should send it back and give you another, and I would certainly suggest that to them. After all, that's why you purchased it locally rather than from an online source. Sorry for this battery glitch - especially with your daughter coming to town. Hopefully you can swap out the camera for a new one before she arrives. At least you have had time to experiment with settings, etc. so you will be ahead of the curve when you open the new one! Good luck.

Sunny and Linda,

Thank you for your great ideas. I will indeed suggest I get a new camera. The store is no longer open on Saturday's so i will have to wait until Monday to go talk to the owner. I have been doing business with this store since I was a teenager, so they know me well.
Anymore this store is not able to get cameras in to have in stock. He could order 6 but usually only gets 2. Before the days of Best Buy, Circuit City and the internet, this store was #5 in the Canon district in sales of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio. That included large cities like Indianapolis. Those days he did have several Canon cameras in stock for people to hold in their hands. Whenever I walk in to the store now, he only has ONE Canon camera for people to look at; a Canon XT, and that camera belongs to his wife (she works at the store also). He also owns a Canon 40D which people can look at, but he does not keep it in the display case.
He never has any XSi's in stock, so I won't be able to take in my camera and walk out with a different camera.

It sounds like either a bad contact in the battery compartment or a short in the wiring, possibly even a cold solder(one with an air pocket in the solder joint which can cause intermittent problems). Both definitely a camera defect and a warranty issue.

Linda,

I agree it must be a bad contact or bad wiring in the camera. Today every time I have turned it on, it is working fine. I keep hoping it will act up 'one more time'. I am going to see if the camera store will order me a new camera letting me keep the current one until the new one comes in. I did have problems even the first week. That was when the camera center switched batteries with me, so they know there is a problem even from the beginning. I hope he does not say I have to turn it in for warranty repair and be without a camera for 2-6 weeks.

Good luck Chas. If you do have to deal with Canon they have pretty good Customer Service and a quick return time on repairs. Hope you can get a new one instead of having to wait to send for repair with family in town.

Thank you kim, I do appreciate your good wishes. I have always heard good reports about Canon and their warranty service. The timing sucks with my daughter/grandson coming to town. And to think I have only had the camera 3 weeks so far..... sigh ....