Just Bought Digital Rebel - Took 1 Picture and It Died

Subject says it all. I took one lousy picture and on the second shot
the camera locked up and gives me an "err 99" code. It resets with
the power switch but immediately locks up again when I try to take a
picture.

I have never owned a Canon before, but I am hoping this is a rare
event. I would have expected reliability similar to Nikon's.

I suspect the shutter mechanism has failed because the error occurs
even with the lens removed and when I set it to the CCD Cleaning Mode,
the mirror flips up but the shutter stays closed. The camera can read
and write to the compact flash card since I can review my picture and
format cards in the camera.

Anybody else had an experience like this??

 

Is your battery charged all the way? Are the contacts free of dust and
debris?

In any case, if it persists I'm sure Canon technical support will be
more helpful than this newsgroup.

 

Sounds like you got a defective unit. Take it back to the shop.

 

I am sorry to hear that. That can be very frustrating. Spending that much
money and not having it work is painful. BTW, my Digital Rebel just showed
up two minutes ago from newegg. We'll see how my experience goes. I am
going to open my box, charge the battery, and hopefully, things will go
well.

Good luck and let us know how you get it resolved.

Jeff

 

Perhaps you shouldn't have started with a self-portrait.... Grin.

 

According to user's Manuel, where error 99 appears, remove and reinstall the
battery. Have you tried that? If it works let me know. Good Luck. I too
have a rebel digital. My first digital, and my first Canon. I find it a
lot more complicated than the Minoltas I've used in the past.

Bill

 

Remove and replace lens examining contacts. Remove battery & charge up. Make
sure all contacts are clean.

-paul

 

Ooooooh! You know how to hurt!!! LOL

 

Funny experience:

When I was in college I took my girlfriend to see a photographer friend
to get a good picture of her. He had just gotten a new, and rather
expensive 4x5 camera and was very proud of it, and anxious to use it.
He took ONE picture of her, and it never worked again. It was a good
picture, but it was the last one. The dealer replaced the camera, but
we got a good laugh about that one. The relationship with the girl
ended soon after.

 

Watch Canon like a hawk. My 300d is 1 week old, and so far so good.
Except I have a (small) 32MB cf card (Unity Digital) that consistently
gives cf errors. My 128MB Sandisk CF didn't have any problems yet.
Someone told me to stick with Sandisk. My local store only has
Kingston memory, and would like to know what people's experiences are
with Kinston cf memory. I know the name is familiar but that doesn't
mean a damn thing anymore these days. Sony for instance has a *ton*
of crap on the market.

About Canon. My previous camera was a Canon Powershot S10. It
started to give me errors about the zoom lens 1 month before the
warranty expired. Canon fixed it for free. When I dropped it off at
the Canon office, I took out everything, including the time-battery,
thinking, no loose pieces means I won't lose anything. They fixed the
zoom lens alright, put a whole new one on. But then there was a
problem with the battery. Everytime I changed the battery I had to
reset the clock. I thought, the time-battery was empty, so I left it
for a few months. Replaced it, and *still* had to reset the clock
everytime I changed the battery. Darn! Canon had fixed the zoom
lens, but broken the battery backed up time function!

So, watch Canon like a hawk. Hope that when you get an error, it'll
be a consistent one, and not an intermittent one that is hard to
prove.
But what else is a $ sensitive prosumer to do? Nikon, Canon's only
serious competition to the 300D, is *not really* in the same league,
because it costs 100's more.

I hope your camera can be replaced without any hassle, or else, go
over it with a fine toothcomb when your camera comes back fixed.

Regards,

Homer



~Mike