I've had my Mark III since late last year and a few times now an 'Error 99' has come up during the shoot. The first time it happened I freaked out but now we just pull the battery out and let it chill for a minute and then it's up and running. If were in a hurry we'll pull out my backup 5D and shoot with that.

Yesterday I encountered a new one. The top dial that controls the shutter speed among other things basically shut down. It wouldn't change anything? I did the whole pull the battery, let it chill routine...nothing. We had the subjects there so we had to finish with the 5D again. Sucks but thank God for a back up.

After the shoot we tried it again and it was magically back? Has anyone else run into this before?

One thing to mention. It happened right after I changed the focus point to an alternate position than I would normally use. Probably didn't have anything to do with it but it did happen right after that.

Thanks, Jeff.

This happened to me once, although not with the Mark III. I called Canon and they told me that this is their generic error message and they couldn't tell me the problem over the phone but to definitely send it in. I did, they fixed it and it never happened again. Incidentally, they also said it could be the lens and told me to clean the contacts on the lens with an eraser.

I dont shoot canon but on my D2X I did have similar probs (Err) and it was the lens contacts. It sounds kinda the same.

I gave birth to triplets the first time that happened.

Cheers
Mike

I've had a similar thing happen with my MKII. I did the same as you - removed the batteries, restarted it and all was fine. Yup... Had triplets for sure the first time... Now I know what to do if it happens it doesn't freak me out as much. I guess I should send it to Canon for a health check. Will look at the lens contacts now too...

Cheers!

Aaron

Yeah. We checked the lens contacts and that was probably why it worked on my backup camera and then was fine right after the shoot.

NOTE: I've heard of the eraser method before but someone told me that wasn't good for the camera or somthing..can't remember?

Thanks for the responses. Unfortuantely, the Error 99 still worries me. I think I'll be sending it in to Canon for a check up.

Jeff.

Jeff,
The contacts are gold plated. Over time using an eraser can wear the gold off. Probably the best way is simply a gentle rub with a clean, dry lint free cloth or tissue. I've read somewhere also that alcohol based cleaners can cause some sort of chemical reaction with the gold plating.

I have however cleaned the contacts on my battery with either an eraser or alcohol when I thought there was a problem. Theose aren't gold plated so it won't harm those contacts.

Mark............

A few weeks ago I was shooting fitness lifestyles and one my 1Ds MKIII gave me the same error. I removed the lens and the battery to no avail. Sent it in and they replaced the "DC/DC" what ever that is.

I really don't like it when a camera with 10K frames under it's belt goes out.

I finished the job which was another 7 days of shooting with no back up while that camera was in surgery.

I have since added one 5D as another back up. I have used 5Ds relentlessly since they came out and trust them as a good backup.

I remember the Hassy days . . . 3 bodies . . . one in transit and for the shop to be fixing . . . one to shoot with and one as a back up.


BTW the repaired camera seems to handle differently since it's "trauma" . . . it seems to occationaly shoot even when you just lightly press the shutter release and the manual focus select is a bit different . . still love these bodies though.

Hasn't happened to my 1DsIII yet but I have had similar issues with my older 1DII bodies. I occasionally will get a readout of "00" for the aperture and the camera will fire but the exposure is about 1 second long and nothing is recorded. I have to unmount the lens and remount, then all is well. I've chalked that up to a lens contact issue.
I have also gotten the dead control dial thing. It simply stops working and nothing I do will resurrect it. The rest of the camera functions fine, but I cannot make changes with the main dial. Then it magically fixes itself at some later point. Like you said, that's what backups are for.
Frankly, with the amount of electronic juju going on inside these things, I constantly marvel that any of this stuff works at all.

Dig that...I feel the same way.

I'm happy to have my 5D as a back up, I just wish I could afford to have two MarkIII's on hand. Going from 21mp to 13mp isn't all that fun.

Then again, it's better than pulling out my iPhone to finish a shoot. Don't think I could mount a pocket wizard on that...yet?

Thanks for the replies.

Peace.

"Going from 21mp to 13mp isn't all that fun."

Dayum! I just finally upgraded from 1D MKII to a 1Ds MKII and am STOKED on the image qulaity improvement. 21mp must be something else....

Sean

My 1Ds Mark 1 did that from time to time. It was a contact problem with the lens.

knock on wood, no problems with my 1ds mk3

Scott Shepard Photography