If I was an investigative journalist (as opposed to just being a curious writer) I would go deeper into this story. Search google for the term “Error 99″ and you get about 41,000 hits. The top ranking page is Richard’s Notes, which is a blog containing a vast archive of photography related articles. Richard’s Error 99 page was my starting point when a few months ago I suddenly started getting Error 99′s on my EOS 20D. It was exclusively with my 17-85 EF-S lens, and only within the zoom range of 17 to about 40mm. I read Richard’s page over a number of days (scroll and you’ll see why it took days) and discovered that the issue was both wide ranging and attributable to a vast possible number of causes. Great! I started of course with the most common, and the ones possible to attempt yourself without voiding any warranties. Basically, that amounts to resetting the camera, and cleaning the lens and camera contacts. Unfortunately for me that didn’t help. In the end, I realised the camera had to go in for repair. Luckily it was under an extended warranty, and so back to Canon it went.
The fact that it took me over 9 weeks to get my camera back from them is not the topic here (however it’s worth a post of its own that one, when I get a reply to my complaint letter), but rather that I got the camera back with no report of what they had done with it, and what was in fact wrong with it. Reading other “Error 99″ people’s experiences with Canon service centers around the world, you begin to get a feeling that this problem is even more wide ranging than anyone realises, and that Canon is not being straight up about it. The Rebel camera for example seems to be rather prone to the issue, and even 1DS’s were reported encountering the error. However it seems clear it’s primarily affecting the cheaper end of the market.
In the Canon 20D manual, it says this about Error 99s: “An error other than the above has occurred. Remove and re-install the battery. This error may occur if you use a non-Canon lens and the camera or lens does not operate properly.” Clearly, a lot of these errors are being reported by people using non-Canon lenses. It is an electrical issue with the contacts, or in a broader sense, it’s a communication error between the camera and the lens. But I have only ever had Canon lenses on my 20D, and it was not affecting any of my other Canon lenses. Hmm..
It’s a weird problem, and I suppose as consumers we cannot expect complicated electronic items to always function perfectly. It would be nice, but mass consumerism doesn’t really encourage perfection in electronics now does it. But my concern is just how widespread this problem is. Richard’s Notes page is 291 pages long if you go to print it. It is the longest single web page I have ever encountered in my 12 years on the Internet. What does that say about the problem?
And what does Canon say about the issue? I attempted to search for Error 99 on Canon’s vast network of websites, and my search returned not a single hit on the query “Error 99″. Now I am known as being very good at finding information on the net, but this search turned up a blank, both in their corporate site and their consumer products. That’s not to say there’s nothing written about it though. Searching for information can be notoriously difficult with such huge corporations. Their sites are just so massive it’s not funny. But nonetheless. I get a feeling that Canon is being less than upfront about this issue, and of course that should be no surprise to anyone. Since when have multi-national corporations been known for bringing problems to the light of day? The fear of major recalls would be enough to keep a whole company quiet.
Maybe I’m chasing ghosts here. I don’t know. But I’m not impressed by Canon’s lack of information on the subject and I’m deeply concerned by the apparent breadth of the problem. Any good investigative journalists out there want to run with it?
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Canon Lens are one of the best lenses you can get specially the L version of EF lenses;’-
Ihave a 400D with Canon Lens. After 3 years I had the problem of ER99. It looks like it has to do with temperature or moisture because I only have problems outside or in a cold area. Cleaning contacts or removing the battery won’t help.
Hi.
I bought one of the first Canon 300D’s, got a couple of years out of it then along came error 99. I had extended warranty so sent it back. It took months to come back….no explanation…..Then on the third shot….error 99 again. Back to Canon. Couple more months….back to me (I had a new camera by now) Tested it after a week or so….lo and behold error 99 was back. Sent it away again….got it back (now been out of action for about 8 months) On the rare occasion I use it now, it seems to be OK.
I gave Canon the benefit of the doubt,(it was getting on…3 years!) and let my daughter get a 1000D, she’s had it for 2 months.
It now throws up error 99. GGGRRRRRRRrrrrrrr…..
We’re taking it back to the shop where we bought it, and will attempt to get our money back. Then NO MORE CANON SLR’s for us!(I have had a Canon SLR of some sort for the last 40 years)
The fact that we have only had 2 digital SLR’s in the family, and both of them are affected with this problem says to me that it is very widespread (or we are just very unlucky!)
Phil
yes i have the same message – error 99. hmmmm wot to do about it?
Hi,
I’ve also the problem error 99 .and the message says that make off and take out the battery.what shall i do eventhough I keep the order .
Geoff In your reply to Richard the link no longer works. Do you have a copy of that info?
Thanks for your info. I have been trying to use a sigma 105mm lens on my Canon 400D and error 99 occurs most of the time. I have had a few images taken successfully but it was just luck. A great lens on my old CanonEos 3, but no go on the digi SLR! At least I now know why!
Try look into the lens instead, it might not be the body issue.
Richard, thanks for that. I’ve hardly changed K2 at all, just the banner really and throwing a few modules around. But yeah, it looks nice doesn’t it.
About my post: I don’t think it’s a vast worldwide conspiracy, but I do suspect it’s a bigger problem than everyone realises. And I don’t hold Canon to a different standard. I think all multinationals would react in exactly the same way if they had a problem that was bigger than they wanted to let on about.
I suppose I’m mostly surprised that I can’t find anything on any Canon website. That said, I did find a post on another blog (http://digitalexplorer.vox.com/library/post/err-99-woes.html), that was a copy of an email Canon sent to some guy. It was quite informative.
I don’t want to jump down their throat or anything, I suppose I’ve just been so highly inconvenienced by having my camera away for nine weeks that I’m a bit sour at Canon right now.
Geoff: First, this is a nice site, you’ve used K2 in a nice way. Second, I agree that Canon’s not been very forthcoming about error 99 but how many times has Microsoft ever admitted that they have virus and malware problems? Does Apple readily admit that some iPods have funky batteries? I’m not defending Canon here but we ought not hold them to a different standard than other companies who, attempt message control by downplaying these problems.
Canon sells millions of DSLR cameras. MILLIONS of them. I’m guessing that the ones that have problems are a relatively small percentage of the whole because not every Canon-related discussion board or blog comment thread is full of people yelling about this. Flickr, for instance, with over 100,000 active Canon DSLR users rarely shows any sign of this problem.
So, it’s a problem, for sure, but I doubt it’s a vast worldwide conspiracy. However, I hope you find out more and when you do, post at my site and here.