1st day of school...camera crisis!!!

I sent my kiddos off to school today for their first day...sniff sniff! Oldest one in his first day of Middle School (new school...new city...new friends....yikes!) And my youngest in her first day of all day school (first grade!)

Okay...so a lot of 'firsts.' Wouldn't you believe it?!! My camera keeps giving me an err message! Ugh!! I managed to get a few good ones of the older two before it quite working. Then it would only work on manual and I am NOT good at shooting in manual! What a disappointment!

I need to to send my camera in (it's a rebel) to get it serviced but I cant' go very long without a camera. Especially with assignments due ect. Does anyone know how long something like that would take?

Anyone else sending their kids off for their first day today?

Oh NO!!! That's terrible! so sorry your camera broke. I would be in tears.

My little ones have been in school since the 25th of Aug.

Julie,

I've gotten an error message on my Rebel twice and both times I Googled it and fixed it myself. I got one a couple weeks ago, error 05, and all I had to do was take some alcohol and clean the little parts under the flash. The time before, I just had to take the lens off and clean it good. Don't panic yet! What error message did you get?

can you take first day "after school" pics? that'd be a good plan b .. it'd still be the 1st day in the same clothes, etc.

Good idea Carrie! Not sure if it'll be working yet by then.

Thanks for the info Lori! I have had several error messages over the past few months. The usually go away. ha! This one is not. It is saying err 99. I will google it and see what I can find out. Thanks so much!

That does stink, I was going to suggest reformating your card. if nothing else stop by a store and pick up a disposable so you have a back up.

do a quickie online search for appropriate manual settings for your lighting conditions.

on my nikon d80 a good manual setting for shade is ISO 400, f4.5, shutter speed 40,50,or 60. no flash.

take a 'model' {i often use a stuffed animal to test my settings} in the exact place you want to take their picture, and play with the settings until you're happy with one.

OH no...I hope you find out something without having to send it off. I have never had to send mine off, so I don't know how long that would take...but for me one day would be too long!

Julie,

That's the first error message I got and I'm pretty sure this is where I found the answer to my problem:
http://www.richardsnotes.org/archives/2005/04/29/50mm-lens-contact-points/

I hope your day gets better and that everything falls into place for your kids on the first day of school! Chin up!

oh that is awesome, Lori! It is amazing what you can find out there these days.

I know I had a p&s Sony awhile ago and sent it off to them to fix and they were FAST.

Julie..i bought a new P&S to take with me for quickie trips, etc and for the reason just to have a back up in case, esp for assignments.

Julie!

I'm a person that needs closure... how did things work out for you yesterday? Is your camera up and running?

{fingers crossed}

Hey Lori! Thanks for the link. Here is what happened yesterday...I googled it like you suggested and came up with a bunch of stuff which I read through. I tried all the suggestions (there were lots of different ideas. LOL) I tried a 'mock' session like Carrie suggested. I thought it was going well until after the fifth shot and then it came back. Then I couldn't get it to work at all. I didn't see your link posted until this morning (for some reason I thought I'd get an email if there was an update and of course it was a busy day!) Oddly enough, when I finished up a project at 11pm last night that needed to posted, it worked fine. So strange. I only took about 6 shots though so maybe if I kept going it would have went wonky again.

Anyhooo....I am off to read the link you sent which seemed extremely informative. It makes me nervous to take anything apart like that and clean it myself but I will try!

Thanks for askin'!

How maddening for you!

I was hesitant too, but was willing to try anything before spending a bunch of money to have it fixed. I don't remember exactly what I did but I know I took the battery out for a couple days and I think I cleaned those contact pieces like he said. Good luck to you, I hope you can get it working properly very soon!

That link was very helpful. According to 'Canon' in that post, if it still reads err 99 after removing everthing and trying without the card then it should be serviced.

Update #2

One of our participants in the long comment thread below (Tom) got this in a message from Canon USA. It may help some of you isolate the problem before you post a comment/question.

To isolate the cause of the issue, we suggest that you do the following:

1. Turn off the camera.
2. Remove the lens, battery, and CF card.
3. Allow the camera to sit without power for approximately 20 minutes.
4. Insert a fully charged battery, and turn on the camera.
5. Depress the shutter button as you would to take a picture.

Does the “ERR 99″ message appear? If it does, then the camera should be
serviced. If it does not, then please proceed to the next set of steps:


That makes me more nervous to take it apart and clean it myself. ahhhh!! LOL Oh well, I guess if thrash it, I can always put 'new camera' on my Christmas list!! Of course, I would never make it until then!

Hope you can get it to work again, Julie!
I sent my kids yesterday and today for staggered entrance. (I posted pictures on my blog. )
They all go tomorrow for the whole day.

So.....I didn't clean it but let it rest all day. Now it's working again??? So strange. I just don't want to be in the middle of a shoot for someone (even my own!) and have to pull out the battery for 20 min. or whatever. I think if it happens again, I might send it in. Thanks for all your help Lori!