Err99 with Canon EOS

[benji]

Hi, my EOS 350D is experiencing this glitch at the moment. If I shoot at full aperture, it all works fine, but a
as soon as I stop down the lens, the shutter does trigger when I press it, but no image is captured, the screen located within the viewfinder goes black, and I get Err99 on the screen placed at the back of the body. (and I've also noticed the DOF preview button does not work either).

This is not a problem caused by one lens in particular. the same happens with any of my lenses.

Whichever shooting mode I use, the problem also remains.

I've tried cleaning the connections between the body and the back of the lens, to no avail.

I know the dreaded Err99 is an umbrella term that is used by Canon to name quite a number of different problems. But which one in my case?

Does my problem sound familiar to any of you, and how did you solve the problem?

Thanks for your help!
Benji

[Malcolm_Stewart]

Have you cleaned the lens contacts in the camera, and on your lenses? Rubber pencil eraser is supposed to work OK. (Has your gear been subject to fumes? Paint, thinners or other chemicals? Just a guess!) Also - contacts in the battery compartment?

It might also be worth removing the battery for an hour or two - could be worth thoroughly charging it. The symptoms suggest that the aperture motor isn't closing the aperture correctly, and this is being detected by the camera prior to shutter firing - could be due to a high resistance in the path between camera and lens. It happens to me if I try using certain old Sigma lenses (not-re-chippable, unfortunately), which worked perfectly fine on my film Eos 3.

[benji]

Hi Malcolm, thanks for the input.
Yes I have cleaned the contacts on both the body and the back of the lens, with a pencil eraser, and also have made sure the batteries are fully charged (both batteries in fact, as I always have the battery grip fitted on it, so both batteries being charged should be doubly safe in theory. I also tried to use the kit without the grip, and just the one battery fitted within the actual camera body, the problem still remains).

So. I'm really puzzled!

(edit: I only use Canon lenses -designed for digital as well- as I have no other third party lens in my canon kit.
Also, I must add: the problem started to occur after I did a shoot using the "burst" shutter function one afternoon -which I must say I hardly ever have used before on this camera. Now, whether this is related or not, I don't know, as it shouldn't in theory, really)

[Malcolm_Stewart]

I assume you've tried without using the battery grip? I've got vague memories from years ago that these sometimes gave problems.
Otherwise, I guess it's time to talk to Canon or an authorised repair centre.

[Malcolm_Stewart]

Just a thought. There's another battery (lithium button cell type) in your camera for memorising data whilst the main battery is being charged - you may need a small screwdriver to access it, and I'm not sure where it is in the 350D. I wonder if this needs renewing?

[benji]

I assume you've tried without using the battery grip? I've got vague memories from years ago that these sometimes gave problems.

Yes Malcolm, I've tried that too. No luck!
(the BG is a proper Canon branded one too, not third party. And I've nearly always had it fitted to the camera, took thousands of shots with it, so I know it's not really faulty. Anyway, the problem remains with or without the BG)

[benji]

There's another battery (lithium button cell type) in your camera for memorising data whilst the main battery is being charged - you may need a small screwdriver to access it, and I'm not sure where it is in the 350D. I wonder if this needs renewing?

That's a good point, and well worth investigating (before I start spending some cash in expensive repairs).
This camera has roundabout 22,000 shutter actuations (I know, I've owned it from new, and have never reset the actuation counter). Would that add up with the lithium battery shelf-life? What do you reckon? (It might just do).

I'll investigate tomorrow.

Thanks for the replies so far. Appreciate that.

[Done_rundleCams]

Hi Benji,

A friend of mine was having Err99 issues, albeit with
a 50, and I realised he only the original firmware and we updated
the firmware and, viola, no more Err99issues That might
do the trick for you??

Cheers,

jack

[alanworland]

Even if the camera has got the latest firmware it may be worth writing it in fresh?

[benji]

Hi Benji,

A friend of mine was having Err99 issues, albeit with
a 50, and I realised he only the original firmware and we updated
the firmware and, viola, no more Err99issues That might
do the trick for you??

Cheers,

jack

Thanks Jack, but I do have the latest firmware on my camera.

I still haven't had time to investigate the lithium cell option.

Another question for everybody:
Could a faulty CF card play havoc?

(I'm asking this as I'm not at home, don't have the camera with me at mo', otherwise I'd check it right away with a different card inserted)

[benji]

Another question for everybody:
Could a faulty CF card play havoc?

Actually, to answer my own post, I can't see how that would affect the problem that seems to be linked with the stopping down of the aperture.
(in other words, you may ignore my question lol!)

[ermintrude]

Er... I know this should be blindingly obvious but when you say "stop down the lens", you do mean on the camera dont you? Cos obviously in older lenses with in-lens control having *the lens* set to any aperture other than stepped right down will conflict with the camera's aperture control and refuse to shoot.

[El_Sid]

Cos obviously in older lenses with in-lens control having *the lens* set to any aperture other than stepped right down will conflict with the camera's aperture control and refuse to shoot.

Canon EF lenses can only be stopped down via the camera as they have no aperture ring...

[ermintrude]

Cos obviously in older lenses with in-lens control having *the lens* set to any aperture other than stepped right down will conflict with the camera's aperture control and refuse to shoot.

Canon EF lenses can only be stopped down via the camera as they have no aperture ring...

Yeah I thought it was a long shot but the OP said nothing about the type of lens, just 'all lenses'. So I just wondered on the off chance it/they was/are older (non-EF mount) lens/es.

[El_Sid]

Manual lenses are unlikely to generate this kind of Err99 response as they don't engage with the camera's body contacts. With later film and all digital EOS models the camera defaults to an aperture value of 0.0 which is recognised as a valid reading and allows the use of non-electronic lenses and lens accessories in 'stop down' mode. The only caveat is that the metering only works in the Av and M modes and it's possible that trying to use stop down in other modes might cause an error though - if I remember I'll check it out later.

One thing that I do know will cause Err99 with non-electronic lenses is using them with an EF compatible teleconverter. I found this out the hard way... In this case the camera recognises the presence of the converter and when it doesn't get a response from the attached lens it throws a wobbler...

[Matt_Hunt]

Hi

IIRC, the drill I've seen on the web and which seems to work quite well is:

Remove main and small battery and memory card for around 20 minutes.

1. Insert both batteries, fire shutter. If you have an Err99 code then its PROBABLY a repair job

2. If its OK, insert memory card and try again, this should put the memory card as the guilty party or in the clear.

Before shipping it back for repair (sigh), you've already cleaned the lens contacts so try raising the mirror manually and obivously be careful and see if the shutter 'looks' OK, some people have found the shutter has a misalinged blade or dirt on it and that a VERY careful nudge with a paint brush or a careful jet of air from a blower can help. Given the aperture problem, this fix seems unlikely to work, but Err99 does not always seem to be directly linked to a particular event in a logical way.

There are lots of pages but have a look on Richard's Notes web page.

rgds

Matt