Canon 5D MKII Error 02 - HELP!

So I was photographing a talent show last night and had a hundred photos on my CF card or so. My CF card is a 4GB card, and can handle hundreds of JPEGs per card.

In the middle of shooting I get an "Error 02" on the back screen, then a "sensor cleaning' display and then an error message that the card was not formatted by my camera and that I needed to format it. I assure everyone the card was formatted and had been accepting photos just fine.

I lost what I had been shooting by formatting the card right then and there. I kept shooting but twice more that evening I got the "card not formatted" error and had to lose my work. Thank heaven this was not a paid gig or I'd have been dead!

I have a wedding coming up in April and *MUST* find what's behind this error. I have the 1.07 firmware, which is the latest I think. Is ANYONE seeing this problem?

UPDATE: Just did a thread search, other Canon cameras have Error 02 with they have issues with the card. I have brand new CF cards, darn it, the 233x speed. Unless someone has a different experience, I think I can assume its either the brand of card or the speed...

Error 02 on the 5DII is sort of a mystery. I've had it happen once (didn't get the format message like you did), but I removed the battery, restarted the camera and was okay. It's possible that your CF card is the problem, but it could also be the camera. In the future I would recommend carrying multiple CF cards. If you get the error, pull that card out and don't do anything to it until you get home. You should be able to pull the images off once you have access to a computer. If you experience the problem with any regularity, it's probably a good idea to send it in to Canon for a check up.

That sounds like good advice - I don't HAVE to format the card. I was using a Ridata card, have you (or anyone) heard of that brand having a problem?

bacchanal wrote in post #7528599
Error 02 on the 5DII is sort of a mystery. I've had it happen once (didn't get the format message like you did), but I removed the battery, restarted the camera and was okay. It's possible that your CF card is the problem, but it could also be the camera. In the future I would recommend carrying multiple CF cards. If you get the error, pull that card out and don't do anything to it until you get home. You should be able to pull the images off once you have access to a computer. If you experience the problem with any regularity, it's probably a good idea to send it in to Canon for a check up.

I use a RIDATA 233X card in my 5D MKII with no problems so far. The best thing to do is send it to Canon, for a check up, the can check for errors and see whats up.

Canon's err02 indicates corrupted file(s) has been detected in your memory card. Thi error code applies to the whole range of Canon dSLRs.

The best thing for you to do at that point will be to stop using the same memory card. You should swap in another one if you are in the middle of a shooting.

Go back home and use your memory card recovery program to try to recover as much of the images as possible from the problem card.

If this happens more than once and with different memory cards, you should send the camera in for a check up as the problem might be with the camera and not the memory card.