help! Mark III mirror not flipping! argh!!

On sunday during a shoot, right on the first picture my Mark III refused to shoot. It was totally messed up! The mirror wouldn't flip up. Not for a picture, not for mirror lockup, not for live view, not for sensor cleaning.

When it would try to lift the mirror it would mess up and then kinda 'reboot' and go through the same procedure as if I had just turned it on. "sensor cleaning" Wouldn't work no matter what. 3 hours later after pressing the shutter release a million times, it suddenly started working again.

It happened a few days earlier too... same thing but it suddenly started working again perfectly and lasted through the entire shoot without a hitch. Got home and it was still working. After sitting for a couple days, sunday comes around, and the same problem, it wouldn't flip the mirror up again!!! (this was the sunday I was talking about above)

Every time it tried to lift the mirror, the LCd screen would read something like, "cannot take picture. turn off power, remove lens, remove battery and try again. Err 99"


anyone else have this? It's bloody scary. I don't wanna be shooting a wedding and have it die in the middle of an important shot. I bought this because I was hoping it would be more reliable... but in fact my 30D and 20D have never left me totally dry like the Mark III just did.

send it to Canon.

blonde wrote in post #4005880
send it to Canon.

yeah, I'd love to if canon didn't take a month to return stuff to me, and if I didn't have a bunch of shoots I need it for within the month. Just wondering if I'm doing something strange that could cause that. I just need it to last until the end of october then it's off to canon for sure.

my point is that even though it will take Canon a month to fix, it is still better than taking it to a shoot and have it fail on you in the middle of it. it doesn't sound like you are doing anything strange or wrong btw...

I just got my camera back from Canon for the same issue. They adjusted the mirror magnet and "other electrical" items. They returned it in less than a week. Good luck.

Based on your equiptment profile you could join CPS and get faster service. Maybe this would be a good time to test out a 40D?

Send it back lloyd. This will prevent you from having a headache.

first shot? I've heard that more than a few mirrors got stuck on their first actuation.

Send it to canon or plead with your shop to take it as a return and let them deal with it.

Cathpah wrote in post #4008700
first shot? I've heard that more than a few mirrors got stuck on their first actuation.

Send it to canon or plead with your shop to take it as a return and let them deal with it.

sorry, I meant to say that it got stuck on the first shot of that day. It's been through about 10,000 smooth sailing shots since I got it until this came up.

JBillings wrote in post #4007019
I just got my camera back from Canon for the same issue. They adjusted the mirror magnet and "other electrical" items. They returned it in less than a week. Good luck.

hmm, exact same problem? And this was on your mark III too? I could only wish it only took 1 week turnaround. It takes the idiots up in canada one week to open the freaking box and enter the problem into their systems.

I am borrowing another 30D in the meantime, so I will have 4 bodies. I just really prefer to have the mark III with me on my shoots. As of now it's working so I'm gonna use it but always have a backup warmed up and ready at a moments notice.

So is yours working flawlessly now?

picturecrazy wrote in post #4008867
hmm, exact same problem? And this was on your mark III too? I could only wish it only took 1 week turnaround. It takes the idiots up in canada one week to open the freaking box and enter the problem into their systems.

I am borrowing another 30D in the meantime, so I will have 4 bodies. I just really prefer to have the mark III with me on my shoots. As of now it's working so I'm gonna use it but always have a backup warmed up and ready at a moments notice.

So is yours working flawlessly now?

working again? keep those fingers crossed!

I would be a little perturbed about the situation, you have more patience than I. I'm the kind of person that if I noticed something going awry with my equipment, I would be awake forever pondering it, having a hard time falling asleep, and then when I finally do, I would be subconsciously thinking about it still, and twitching/mumbling in my sleep. thus agitating or confusing the wife....

Cannot imagine it will keep working, it will get worse and worse, best to get it sorted now, things like this tend to get left and left and before you know it warranty is out

Get it looked at straight away. If Photography is your livelihood, can you really afford the bad rep, and embarrasment to have your main body fail in the middle of an extremely important shoot?

I know i couldn't!

The stress and fear alone is probably worth having it sent back just to put your mind at rest, in the knowledge that something is being done about it.

Sorry to hear about the unfortunate circumstance.

hope things work out well.

Well, the thing is, I have two other bodies and can borrow another so even if it does decide to go in the middle of a ceremony, I'll hardly miss a beat. I've dealt with numerous equipment failures during the worst times so it doesn't even scare me. Which is why I think I'll just use it for these last three weddings and if it dies, then I'll send it in. If it survives the three, I'll send it in afterwards anyways.

I was just wondering if there was something obvious I was missing. Like I just about sent my 20D because the hotshoe was so loose and the 580ex felt like it would fall off... then someone here told he how to fix it myself in under a minute.