I was to shoot a football playoff game tonight. I powered up my camera, pressed the shutter button and error 99 pop up and the shutter locked up until I powered the camera down. I could not get the camera to work. I left the batt. out for 30 minutes. Put it back in and again error 99. The batt showed 90% charged. I came home and put the batt on my charger for 2 mins. I them installed it back in my camera and now it is working. I guess my question is has this happened to anyone els and do I need to ship it to canon to test?
I have a MkIII and have had an error 99 twice in a month. The first time it happened was a family trip to the circus. The second was a portrait session. Both times I was never able to get it working. I paid for shipping to Canon the first time. They paid shipping (both ways) the second time since it was for the same problem. I've had it back after the second "fix" for about a month now. I haven't had any more problems but it does concern me. I'd send yours in just to get it fixed and you're not left hanging in the middle of a gig.
I had this happen to me with two different Mark III's. This was back in the early days of the Mark III and the only solution is to get the camera fixed. Although an error 99 is generic, it usually indicates a shutter problem.
I called Canon tech. support and they said If it happens again to call them back and they will send me a shipping label to send it in. N warrenty is good thru Jan.2009.
My second Mark III i got in June, 2007 had this problem, took the battery out, camera worked again, but didn't solve the problem, and the err99 even came up during a wedding, and finally returned it.....
In general err99 could be caused by anything, it's a general err code by Canon's words, but for Mark III most like the SM problem before the SM fix.
Try to clean all the contacts of the lens and body, if the err 99 still happens, send it in...
I had err99, sent it to canon and they said the camera was fine. they said It probably was a communication error with the lens. Check your lens contacts to see if they have any oil or such on them before you send it in. I cleaned all the contacts of my lens, wiped them off and the error did not reoccur.
Dan
I get an err99 on both my bodies maybe twice a year. It's a pain in the *** but I've got spare batteries and those plus getting the lens off and on again usually solves the problem. If it's persistent, contact Canon, otherwise: don't worry.
When I called in the first thing the tech asked, "Are you using a vendors lens". He said usually the 99 error occurs on the Mark 3 with when using a non Canon lens. I was using a Canon 300. I did change lens and put on a Tamron, but still had the error. I even had the error without any lens attached. I also had 2 different brand cards in and it didn't matter which card I used, same error. I got home had the same error. I stuck my battery in the charger for about 2 minutes, then back in the camera. It worked and continue working all day Saturday. Now I will never trust my Mark 3 again.
