Err 99 and the 30D and Canon

Recently my 30D started to go Err99 and sound like it was flipping the mirror sporadically. This was on top of focusing and shutter button problems I was having. Happened with multiple Canon Lenses, with and without grip, with multiple CF cards.

Bit the bullet, spent $65 to send it to Canon, they wanted $198 to diagnose and repair the body, and $128 to diagnose and repair the lens (85 f1.8 was the worst focusing).

Acted up on 5/11

Sent it off on 5/15

Got it back on 5/29, working perfectly (arrived on 5/27, couldn't pick up earlier).

There wasn't much definitive in the work order, but it looked like some electrical components were replaced, and the autofocus was adjusted.

All this with only 33k actuations, and 1 yr 2.5 months of ownership. Bummer, but I'm shooting again. Will be investigating a backup soon.

99's suck. They are the Canon equivalent of a General Protection Fault (of old Windows 95 days), i.e. the bucket a fault goes into if the camera didn't know what caused it.

My 20D used to 99 every now and then, i thought it was dirty lens termimals (it did it on some lenses more than others) turned out the AF board, replaced that and all is good in the land of 20D. Fixed an intermittent back focus issue too (the real reason the camera was in for repair).

I've got the same problem on my 30D now - on mine, the shutter won't open.