Canon 7D: RAW+JPEG reverting to just JPEG?

[ktuli]

Any 7D owners out there run into this problem?

Normally, I shoot RAW+JPEG (honestly, I don't know why I still have the +JPEG, I never use them)... but for my wife, I have one of the Custom modes set to JPEG only (for what she is shooting, she doesn't want to process RAW files).

Several times now, I've picked up the camera, but it in M mode, and started shooting, but for whatever reason, it only shoots JPEG.

This happened again tonight, and I'm pretty upset about it because I was getting some of the best shots I've ever gotten with my Canon MP-E65 lens. Yeah - the JPEGs might turn out ok, but I am really annoyed that I don't have the extra flexibility of the RAWs.

Has anyone run into or heard about this issue? Is there a fix out there? Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks!

- Bill

[Donald]

Now that is an odd one. I certainly have never heard of it.

Maybe stupid questions Bill, but once you had put it into M and before you started shooting, did you look at what the menu was saying the setting was? Was it on RAW & JPEG, but still only produced JPEGs? Did this happen immediately after it had previously been on the the JPEG only custom setting?

[ktuli]

Donald,

Not a stupid question at all. The answer is, since this is not the first time this is happened to me, I stupidly DO NOT look at that setting before I start shooting (though I will probably do so after how irritating this was yesterday).

When I finally did notice it, the camera does display that it is in JPEG only mode (does not show RAW).

This did happen after a switch from the custom setting to M, but then again, that happens all the time, so it isn't a consistent thing.

Retracing my steps last night, I remembered that I also put in a memory card that was full (or very near to it) and formatted it prior to starting shooting. I am now wondering if that might be a triggering event.... that the camera determined it didn't have enough space for RAW+JPEG but would have enough space for a few more JPEGs and decided to switch (sounds like a bad feature, but...). I will see about trying some tests this weekend to see if I can reproduce the problem with these conditions.

Thanks for the added insight/questions.

- Bill

[ktuli]

Ok - I finally tested my full card theory, and that is indeed what causes this behavior. I was able to repeatedly cause this to happen by inserting a full memory card into the camera. It seems the camera reverts to JPEG only to try and fix a couple more photos on the card, but when space becomes available, it does not revert back to RAW + JPEG.

This is a tricky area because they probably intentionally programmed it this way to allow you to still get a couple more images on the card, but I also feel like it is something that causes an unexpected change to the camera settings. I wonder what Canon support would say about it.

- Bill

[Geoff F]

Incidentally, Bill, I always shot Raw + small Jpeg because I reviewed (and deleted a lot) my newly downloaded images using an old version of ACDSee which wouldn't recognise the Raw files.

But since going to ACR which works just as well but also handles Raw, I have turned off the Jpeg option. And removed ACDSee as I don't need it now.

[koolkat]

As impressive as the 7D is, it would be nice if there was a menu function that you could set when you had 5 or 10 or 15 "files" left to record. A special flashing item in the viewfinder would be ideal to alert you. In my shooting I've only shot RAW, (versus RAW + JPEG) and when a card is full...only at that time are you aware of it & yes I've been surprised when it happens.

[TobyMac]

Good to know about this problem as a 7D owner