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I have a IR wireless shutter and a Canon 70D.

I set the correct Drive Mode in the camera and the remote works, but only sometimes. If I am very far away (20 feet/6 meters from the camera) it works most of the times but if I'm only a few feet or a few inches from it pointing directly to the camera's sensor I have to press it like 20 times for it to take the picture.

I have just replaced the battery and I see the IR working every time if I use the camera sensor to view it. Can it be that the remote is that bad? It's not a Canon remote, but since it's a very simple technology I doubt that would make any difference (anyway, it works from far!).

Any ideas? Thanks.

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You need to point it at the IR receiver, not at your sensor. Your lens is probably blocking it, when you're close and pointed at the lens (sensor.)

I think yours is in a slightly difference place, but see here:

enter image description here

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  • I'm pointing at the sensor, actually if I make the remote and the sensor touch, it works half of the times. If I'm at 20ft from the camera it works every time (or most of them). I'm testing with a small lens. – Diego Jancic Oct 29 '15 at 17:02
  • IME, Receiver is typically used when referring to IR, and sensor when speaking of the thing that captures images. Which do you mean? I'm talking about the former. If that doesn't work, I have no idea. – icor103 Oct 29 '15 at 17:04
  • Yes, sorry for the confusion. I'm pointing at the receiver. In my camera is a 4mm beige circle located in the right grip as your picture shows :). I'm thinking that either the remote or the receiver just doesn't work well, that cannot be normal. – Diego Jancic Oct 29 '15 at 17:11
  • @DiegoJancic I hope someone else can give you a better answer. :) – icor103 Oct 29 '15 at 17:13
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    @DiegoJancic a 4mm beige circle is more likely to be a focus assist beam, not an IR receiver. The IR receiver on the 70D, from images, looks like it's on the fat part of the grip, directly below the shutter button. It's about the same sort of size, but is black rather than beige or white – laurencemadill Oct 29 '15 at 17:44
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The sensor for the IR shutter signal on the 70D is that dot on the front of the grip, below the shutter button (see page 20 of the user manual).

highlighted screencap of remote sensor placement from 70D manual

You must point the remote at that dot, so these types of IR remotes rarely work well from behind the camera, but work much better from in front of the camera.

In addition, it's much like a television remote, since it works on IR. If you are outdoors in bright sunlight, the signal can easily be overpowered, and without bounce surfaces around for the "master" signal to get to the sensor, reliability and range can become compromised. This type of triggering system works best when used indoors in studio-like conditions.

You may also want to check the health of the battery in your remote (just like a TV remote, a weak battery will put out a weaker signal).

If you are going to be using a shutter remote outdoors in sunny weather a large amount of the time, you may want to look into getting a radio triggering system instead--many low-cost manual flash triggers can do double duty as both flash triggers and shutter remotes. They come with two units: one you use as a transmitter and the other as a receiver. You take the receiver and hook it up to the cable release port, and then you use the transmitter as your in-hand remote.

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  • Thank you. That's good to know. Unfortunately it still doesn't work very well, sometimes I put in front of the receiver and have to press 10 times, sometimes I put it directly in front of the lens and it works too. I'm talking about half an inch in front. I think the remote just doesn't work well. – Diego Jancic Oct 29 '15 at 20:47
  • BTW, battery is new :-/ – Diego Jancic Oct 29 '15 at 20:47
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The IR Receiver on the Canon EOS 70D looks like it is on the grip, and in ordinary use when holding the camera, you'd cover it more or less with your middle finger, based on the assumption that if you're holding the camera, you wouldn't be using the IR feature with a remote.

If you're holding the camera and covering it up, then it's not likely to work. As per my comment on the other answer, a 4mm beige circle is more likely to be a focus assist beam, not an IR receiver. The IR receiver on the 70D, from images, looks like it's on the fat part of the grip, directly below the shutter button. It's about the same sort of size, but is black rather than beige or white. Note that the photo in @icor103's answer is not of the EOS 70D.

I would imagine that the reason it's not working at close range is that you're holding the camera with your right hand and the grip, and your hand is covering the actual IR receiver.

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  • Thank you. That's good to know. Unfortunately it still doesn't work very well, sometimes I put in front of the receiver and have to press 10 times, sometimes I put it directly in front of the lens and it works too. I'm talking about half an inch in front. I think the remote just doesn't work well. – Diego Jancic Oct 29 '15 at 20:47
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If you don't plan on using it from great distances you may have luck with putting a strip or two of 'invisible' tape over the remote. It can reduce the distance a fair amount but it helps to diffuse the beam a little bit. If you have a Roscolux filter sample book you may wish to try a #114 or #115, it works well with an old IR transmitter I have. I've used diffusion filters to limit the range on remotes when several receivers are responding when some shouldn't.

Hope you figure it out.

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