er99 for my 50mm mk I

I was backing up The Wife as a second shooter on a wedding this past weekend when my beloved EF 50mm 1.8 mk I started coughing up the dreaded er99. I know it's an old, humble lens, but I fell in love with it when I picked it up a year or so back and it taught me the value and joy of shooting with primes. I switched lenses and finished out the wedding, but had a sick feeling in my gut the whole time. Afterwards, I went through all the standard cleaning processes and tried it on both my camera and The Wife's 50D. No dice. This makes me sad.

I don't *want* to buy another, but I don't see many options. The 1.4 and 1.2 aren't options, because I shoot infrared at times, and those produce hot spots.

I´ve gotten err99 with the mk2 on my 1D2, but the problem has disappeared now. Hope you find a way to salvage yours!

You could try to narrow down what's wrong with it. For example, will it work wide open at f/1.8 but not stopped down? If so, then maybe the aperture is shot. Will it work in manual focus?

Anyway, you can sometimes find the mark 1 pretty cheap if you search eBay for older film camera bodies like the EOS 650. Some of them are sold with the 50mm lens still attached for less than you'd pay for the 50mm lens when listed by itself. Regardless, you should be able to replace it for less than $200. I sold an excellent copy with the correct ES-65II lens hood for $199 about two months ago.

I dunno. I was shooting at 2.8 in AV when it started fritzing up. I swapped out my 28-135 to get the camera working again, and then when I put the mk I back on it took two shots before going blooey again. I tried shutter priority and full manual before giving up and grabbing The Wife's 50mm mk II. We've got an old film Rebel at home I'll test it on as well when I get a chance.

The little thing worked like a gem. I caught The Wife sneaking it out of my camera bag on more than one occasion. I'm sure I'll replace it eventually, but I'm still going to miss it.

Okay, so I tested the mk I on the film Rebel and it worked fine. Transferred it back to my XTi and it's working fine in all modes, all apertures, with nary a er99 in sight. Argh! I love having my mk I back among the working lenses, but sheesh, do I now have to fret about it abandoning me at any given moment?