EOS 3 - bc error, autofocus issues

Hi,

I am getting a bc error while shooting with eos-3 . This is an used camera that I bought several years ago from keh . I thought the problem was with the 2CR5battery and changed it . Will there be a problem if the battery is stored for a long time in the camera without usage or left outside the body for a long time?

I get bc 3 error and sometimes it shows low battery . It happened with canon eos 400 mm f5.5 usm lens . I also use the canon ef 1.4 extender. I had similar problem with another lens.

 

I also noticed that I had problem when shooting against bright light or against sunlight. I press the shutter release button, it opens and remains in position , and viewfinder remains dark.

 

The shutter opens, gets stuck and does not return to normal . After switching off the camera , and changing battery , shutter closes but shot is ruined.

 

I had similar situation with long lens too and I tried with different battery and I had same problem shooting against sun. I then switched off camera and then tried by switching from autofocus to manual focus and it worked normally.

 

what could be the problem?

Try cleaning all the electrical contacts on the camera mount, lenses, battery, and battery compartment. I would use a contact cleaner on a q-tip to do this (very carefully). If this does not fix the problem, then isolate the problem to the specific camera body or lens. At this point you have to decide if the equipment is worth the cost of fixing.

 

Batteries should be stored outside the camera in order to eliminate the risk of leakage.

Edited March 14, 2021 by Ken Katz

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Hi,

I am getting a bc error while shooting with eos-3 . This is an used camera that I bought several years ago from keh . I thought the problem was with the 2CR5battery and changed it . Will there be a problem if the battery is stored for a long time in the camera without usage or left outside the body for a long time?

I get bc 3 error and sometimes it shows low battery . It happened with canon eos 400 mm f5.5 usm lens . I also use the canon ef 1.4 extender. I had similar problem with another lens.

 

I also noticed that I had problem when shooting against bright light or against sunlight. I press the shutter release button, it opens and remains in position , and viewfinder remains dark.

 

The shutter opens, gets stuck and does not return to normal . After switching off the camera , and changing battery , shutter closes but shot is ruined.

 

I had similar situation with long lens too and I tried with different battery and I had same problem shooting against sun. I then switched off camera and then tried by switching from autofocus to manual focus and it worked normally.

 

what could be the problem?

"I am getting a bc error while shooting with eos-3 . This is an used camera that I bought several years ago from keh ."

 

I have an EOS-3 camera that was in storage for a total of 6 years. The battery was still in it when I got it out of storage, but lucky for me it didn't leak !. I knew the battery was gone, because the top LCD was completely blank. So I replaced the battery and everything seemed to work fine after that.

 

It sounds to me like you might have some dirty, or corroded electrical contacts. You might try cleaning the contacts where the battery meets the camera. Other than that, I would say the camera needs a CLA. Sometimes these cameras fall apart due to non-use. That's why it's good to take them out and shoot around once in a while just to keep the grease flowing.

Thanks for your reply. Is 6.13 volt too low for 2cr5 battery ? I checked with a digital multimeter.

I would also guess that the contacts need to be cleaned, vigorously. I recently bought an EOS 10D (just for nostalgic reasons) and the battery indicator showed that the batteries were low, even after I charged both of them. After I scraped the surfaces of the contacts with an Exacto razor blade both in the camera and the vertical grip, it showed a full charge and hasn't shown a false reading since.