EOS 10 D Going Back to Canon--Again

Canon had my camera for over 6 weeks this summer, and it is going back for the same reason. Once again I'm getting frequent unexplained ERR 99s. Doesn't matter what lens, battery, or CF card I'm using. It started slowly and is now happening about once every ten shots. Doesn't seem to happen when using the built in flash--in fact I must use the internal flash after powering off and back on, or else the ERR 99 shows up with every picture taken. Changing the camera position from portrait to landscape seems to increase the frequency of occurrence of the ERR 99 code.

Also, my hot shoe seems to not be working consistently. The camera knows there is an external flash (lightning bolt show up in the view finder and the shutter speed sets to 1/60) and the auto focus assist beam fires. The flash just won't fire when the picture is taken.

I still love Canon and their products. Every once in a while even Mercedes and BMW will produce a lemon--I just had bad luck with this camera. I just wish Canon would just replace the camera instead of repairing it. Last time I had these symptoms they replaced the shutter element, but I'm not convinced that is the only problem. I guess I'll find out next week after they get it on the work bench. I just hope they can get it back to me before the holidays--I have several jobs coming up, and would prefer to shoot digital instead of film.

Wow. Sorry to hear that. I share your pain. I have a 100-400L IS that spent several weeks back and forth (three trips total) to CFS west coast before finally being fixed properly. They can be a little challenging and frustrating to work with especially when you get your item back seemingly with nothing done to it and the same problems exist. Your camera seems hexed or something. I'd push hard for a replacement. Did you purchase it with a credit card that offers help in this area? You may consider that as CFS will resist replacing anything and they go kicking and screaming. In fact, they tol me that I'd have to go to my dealer for replacement. I would have headed to American Express first had I had to go any further as the thrid time sent down to CFS was going to be the last. Good luck!

I'm not impressed with Canon service.

I've had multiple items go back multiple times.

And trying to find out what they actually did to fix the problem is next to impossible.

It appers they just run items through their typical repair scenario, and if it works OK for them they send it back. If you have a specific problem it tends to be ignored.

-Pete

If you're working with CFS Irvine, talk to Steve. He finally helped me get my 100-400 fixed when I was a gnat's hair away from going to American Express.

You did not state which external flash unit you use.

Is it possible that you've used studio strobes or some other non-Canon solution?

That could explain a few things.

---Bob Gross---

My flash is a Quantaray QTB-7500A. Works on my Rebel, and worked well with my 10D until last week. Voltage on the Flash is about 5.0, well below Canon's limit of 6.0v. I'm thinking of putting up with the camera until after the holidays--just can't trust Canon Service when they say 15 work days.

First of all my deepest sympathies about your troubles with 10D. And I apologize in advance in case I am sticking my nose into something I don't know what I am talking about, considering I have neither a 10D nor this particular flash...

As I understand it, QTB-7500A takes an interchangeable "dedication module," much like some Sunpak and other flashes that I'm familiar with. Since you mention it works fine with EOS Rebel (film body, right?), I assume yours has dedication module "QDA-CAF" for Canon EOS A-TTL cameras.

That being the case, although I know the TTL contact pattern on the hot shoe matchs, I don't think this flash is even supposed to work with 10D. Certainly not in the E-TTL mode (which I know you know because I read your comment to my post in another thread). And not necessarily even in the manual or flash-based auto mode, as the (potentially) incompatible signals via the TTL contacts may confuse either the flash or the camera or maybe both.

(This was the case with my Sunpak PZ4000AF and G3/Digital Rebel combination, which I detailed in that other thread.)

This is only a suggestion, but I wonder what would happen if you:

1. (If this could be arranged) mount a Canon "EX" series flash on this 10D to see if you still have any flash-related problems. You might find that your external flash troubles may only be with the (incompatible) Quantaray flash.

2. If you tape off the 4 TTL contacts on the Quantaray flash and mount it on the 10D, thus blocking the non-essential signals for the manual and auto-mode flash operations, would the flash now fire consistently unlike before? (I would test this in camera's manual mode, rather than the Basic modes, just to keep things simple. This means you need to manually set both aperture and shutter speed (at or longer than 1/200 sec. for a proper flash sync.)

With the combination of a healthy 10D and such a flash (with the TTL contacts taped off), I would expect the flash to function normally in manual and auto mode. (That is, without any bells and whisles such as flash ready light and exposure confirmation displayed on the camera side.)

It does sound like there is something else going on with your 10D beside the flash issue though. So it would be hard to draw any definitive conclusions from this test if the flash still didn't work with this setup. But it just might shed some more light -- no pan intended, really.)

Again, just a suggestion for a little do-it-yourself troubleshooting, if you are in a mood for it.

Regards,

Tried the trick of taping of the four contacts--Camera won't even recognize the flash at that point and still won't fire.

Worked with the camera and flash yesterday and actually had it working for a while--then it stopped. It is the inconsistency in the camera that is killing me--sometimes it works and sometimes it won't. I'm going to do as you suggest and try it with an EX flash and elleminate the flash itself as the root of my other problems.

Sorry to hear it's still not working. By the way have you tried resetting the camera? (I should have mentioned this in my previous post, but forgot.) It's another long shot, but I think you would want to reset the camera after a weird malfunction like this, in order to clear out any strange stuff that may be persisting in camera's memory. Powering off and even taking the battery out might not be enough.

I think you can reset the camera using one of the items available in the menu (forgot what it's called). Is there a better way/procedure to completely reset 10D? (Anyone?)

I think it's good that you are planning to test your 10D with an EX flash. If nothing else, at least this will make it easier to explain to Canon Service what the problems are, and how they could replicate the (intermittent) flash problems.

Good luck!

Regards,

Canon had my 10D for over 3 months after I started getting the infamous Err 99, so I share your pain.

Just curious to know if you have tried the firmware 2.0 update, which according to the official notes doesn't have anything to do with this problem. I'm always a little skeptical though, and can imagine Canon simply slipping a couple of fixes into this update - particularly for irregular or embarassing problems.

Cheers,

Scott

Holy crap!!! my error 99 did not start happening until i hooked up my novatron light kit, and canon remote trigger.

i actually believe it was the trigger, cause i had to fidget with it a few times to get it to unlock..

could this have caused my error 99 and now permenant focus issues!!!???

The ONLY times I have had camera errors (and they are rare) with my 10D (shutting down for no reason, refusing to power up unless I remove and reinstall the battery, setting aperture at 0, and not displaying images on the LCD after shutter release) I was using the RS-80N3 remote cord.

I have never had a problem when not using the cord.