" bc " Warning EOS 1N

[simon sparks]

I was given 6 EOS 1N's in 1996 as a thankyou for our photography and

also for spending the best part of £70.000 on medium format

equipment.All but one of the cameras over the years have been either

given away or sold. The EOS 1n I kept for myself has been in my

wardrobe ever since that day, boxed as new never used and never had a

film inserted.

My question is this. After inserting a BRAND NEW battery and making

sure everything lit up and worked as it should, I decided to press

the shutter button to take a quick " Pretend " shot, as you do. The

shutter button would not press and the display just says flashing "

bc "

After inserting another BRAND NEW battery, it still says the same

thing with the same problem.

Can anybody shine any light on the problem please.

many thanks

Simon

[edomazlicky]

This can happen if your lens has problems. Is it a third-party lens (not made by Canon)? Do you have another lens you can try (preferably a Canon)? You might also try it without any lens at all to see if the shutter will fire. In this way you can narrow it down to a camera or lens problem.

[simon sparks]

Sorry, I forgot to say what lens I was using. it was a canon 85mm f1.2L. The problem is still there even without a lens attached. The shutter button just will not press and the display goes from showing me my chosen settings to just flashing the " bc " sign.

[don_baccus]

My 1N stopped working with the same symptom after some years of hard use.

 

It turned out to be the ummm whatever flips up the mirror :) Little motor thingy or something like that.

 

The local camera repair shop (which does warranty work for Canon and Nikon here in Portland, OR) fixed it for me for $180. They charge $180 for clean, lube and adjust and of course did a CLA as part of the repair so in essence they fixed it for free ('cause it badly needed a CLA!)

[simon sparks]

As long as I can get it repaired, I suppose I dont mind.

[chuck_dowling]

Something electrical is malfunctioning, dragging the battery down, and causing the BC warning. Many times, this is caused my a malfunctioning lens or lens contacts, but you say it happens even without the lens, so it's internal to the camera. Time for repair, get an estimate first.

[george_gilbert]

I've found that, on two occassions over the past six years, that some oxidation. or maybe even figger oils, have contaminated some of the multiple contacts in the camera. Everytime I take out my camera after a period of non-use, I use a microfiber cloth (or a clean t-shirt in a pinch) to vigorously clean all of these contacts starting with:

 

The two battery contacts in the swing-door battery compartment.

 

The five contacts on the base of the battery compartment.

 

The row of twelve contacts at the interface between the battery holder and the camera.

 

The eight contacts on the camera where it interfaces with the lens.

The lens contacts.

 

The seven contacts in the film canister holder.

 

The eight contacts in the camera where the film back makes contact.

 

The six pin contacts on the film back.

 

And finally the two contacts on the battery itself.

 

I don't know if all of these contacts make a difference, but this 10 or 15 minute job might save you a trip to the repair shop.

[carl smith]

I had this happen with my EOS 3 2 years ago. Lens or no lens, and after completely cleaning all contacts it gave me a bc error and wouldn't close the shutter. I'd have to open the back of the camera for the shutter to close and it also wouldn't fire at different speeds.

 

Fortunately it was still under warranty so I shot it off to Canon in NJ and it was back in a week with a whole new shutter assembly. Been great ever since.

 

Unfortunately when something goes wrong with an EOS "bc" is a common error, and it is quite vague.

[simon sparks]

Thanks everybody, I will get it sent off for an estimate, and hopefully it will be sent back as new. Thnaks for advising me.

[rendy_setiadjie]

This was happened to my new EOS 3 last year. After I sent the camera to Canon Service Center Singapore, the problem came from the PCB connector of the body which contact to the lens pin. Beside "bc" that you mentioned, this affect also to working of AF.

 

hope this gives u an explanation..

[ktoth]

I noticed this error twice and both times it was battery related. One time I used the "Juice" rechargeable Li's, and apperantly they short out the camera (according to the manufacturer, as I found out later) and now I've been using a Duracell battery for a few months and all of a sudden it has given me the same error message.

The 1n sure is fussy about its batteries!

[IanRivlin]

I just put a new (rechargeable) 2CR5 battery in my EOS1n. The current battery (no pun intended) was a non rechargeable 2CR5 (T-Power 1500mah).

The rechargeable battery was showing 6.73 volts, the T-Power one was giving 6.55v (and was working perfectly).

After putting in the new rechargeable battery,  I got the dreaded BC light when I tried to fire the shutter. I was about to give up on it,  when for some reason,  I found myself pressing on the plate that has the srew in it (the one to tighten up the battery compartment). It started working.....  After a few hard presses, I no longer needed to keep pressure on the plate. I'm starting to wonder if it was a poor connection but I can't understand why it didn't do the BC thing with the ordinary non rechargeable battery. All the contacts looks clean as a whistle.  Possibly some internal wire with a poor solder connection, a micro crack maybe?? Again, I don't know why this happened immediately on changing to the rechargeable battery. The point is, before you start disassembling your EOS and tapping the mirror magnets, pay close attention to the battery compartment,  the cleanliness, the position of the battery etc, etc. These cameras are wonderful but the battery situation can occasionally be their Achilles Heel. Should we use rechargeable batteries??? 2CR5 are wickedly expensive, for what they are. If you can get a charger and a rechargeable battery that work well,  you'll be very happy. I have an EOS 7 as my backup Canon EOS. They aren't made to quite the same standards of the EOS 1n but they do take two CR123 batteries  (which are much cheaper than the 2CR5) The EOS 7 is lighter (plastic) but very fully featured. Don't let anyone tell you the 50e and other similar models are the same as the EOS7, they're sufficiently different to make a hunt for an EOS 7 worthwhile. 

Canons are fun cameras. I like them. I suspect Nikons might be intrinsically tougher and more reliable (I use Nikon F5 and F100, F2As etc also). Canon tend to have faster AF, look better and usually have more features. I guess,  use the one that feels and operates best...

 

 

[IanRivlin]

PS,

I had a partially depleted battery in my EOS1n. it wouldn't operate with Non-EF  lenses, it wouldn't operate the motor drive unless the shutter was pressed TWICE.

This seems a quirk of the EOS1n. If it starts playing up,  don't press the battery check (BC) button, CHANGE THE BATTERY!! These cameras are superb but they are fussy with battery voltage and contacts. 

 

 

 

 

I just put a new (rechargeable) 2CR5 battery in my EOS1n. The current battery (no pun intended) was a non rechargeable 2CR5 (T-Power 1500mah).

The rechargeable battery was showing 6.73 volts, the T-Power one was giving 6.55v (and was working perfectly).

After putting in the new rechargeable battery,  I got the dreaded BC light when I tried to fire the shutter. I was about to give up on it,  when for some reason,  I found myself pressing on the plate that has the srew in it (the one to tighten up the battery compartment). It started working.....  After a few hard presses, I no longer needed to keep pressure on the plate. I'm starting to wonder if it was a poor connection but I can't understand why it didn't do the BC thing with the ordinary non rechargeable battery. All the contacts looks clean as a whistle.  Possibly some internal wire with a poor solder connection, a micro crack maybe?? Again, I don't know why this happened immediately on changing to the rechargeable battery. The point is, before you start disassembling your EOS and tapping the mirror magnets, pay close attention to the battery compartment,  the cleanliness, the position of the battery etc, etc. These cameras are wonderful but the battery situation can occasionally be their Achilles Heel. Should we use rechargeable batteries??? 2CR5 are wickedly expensive, for what they are. If you can get a charger and a rechargeable battery that work well,  you'll be very happy. I have an EOS 7 as my backup Canon EOS. They aren't made to quite the same standards of the EOS 1n but they do take two CR123 batteries  (which are much cheaper than the 2CR5) The EOS 7 is lighter (plastic) but very fully featured. Don't let anyone tell you the 50e and other similar models are the same as the EOS7, they're sufficiently different to make a hunt for an EOS 7 worthwhile. 

Canons are fun cameras. I like them. I suspect Nikons might be intrinsically tougher and more reliable (I use Nikon F5 and F100, F2As etc also). Canon tend to have faster AF, look better and usually have more features. I guess,  use the one that feels and operates best...

 

 

[dave_mockford]

On 12/29/2022 at 10:12 PM, IanRivlin said:

I just put a new (rechargeable) 2CR5 battery in my EOS1n. The current battery (no pun intended) was a non rechargeable 2CR5 (T-Power 1500mah).

The rechargeable battery was showing 6.73 volts, the T-Power one was giving 6.55v (and was working perfectly).

After putting in the new rechargeable battery,  I got the dreaded BC light when I tried to fire the shutter. I was about to give up on it,  when for some reason,  I found myself pressing on the plate that has the srew in it (the one to tighten up the battery compartment). It started working.....  After a few hard presses, I no longer needed to keep pressure on the plate. I'm starting to wonder if it was a poor connection but I can't understand why it didn't do the BC thing with the ordinary non rechargeable battery. All the contacts looks clean as a whistle.  Possibly some internal wire with a poor solder connection, a micro crack maybe?? Again, I don't know why this happened immediately on changing to the rechargeable battery. The point is, before you start disassembling your EOS and tapping the mirror magnets, pay close attention to the battery compartment,  the cleanliness, the position of the battery etc, etc. These cameras are wonderful but the battery situation can occasionally be their Achilles Heel. Should we use rechargeable batteries??? 2CR5 are wickedly expensive, for what they are. If you can get a charger and a rechargeable battery that work well,  you'll be very happy. I have an EOS 7 as my backup Canon EOS. They aren't made to quite the same standards of the EOS 1n but they do take two CR123 batteries  (which are much cheaper than the 2CR5) The EOS 7 is lighter (plastic) but very fully featured. Don't let anyone tell you the 50e and other similar models are the same as the EOS7, they're sufficiently different to make a hunt for an EOS 7 worthwhile.

 

 

It could be the size of the rechargable 2CR5 battery is a shade smaller than the original I have found this to be the case with rechargable AA batteries depending on the maker.  I have to say I always keep a couple of 2CR5s which I rotate around the cameras that use them and my EOS1 has the PB-E1 with loads of AA batteries (rechargable of course). As for the EOS 7 (or 30 as we know it in the UK) it's an OK camera but I prefer the EOS 50 even though they are virtually identical.

Happy New Year - Dave

[glen_h]

Battery contacts are always funny.  They can be clean (looking) but no current goes through.

They can be ugly, with corrosion, and still work.

 

Reminds me, some time ago, I got a good deal on some 223 packs.

They are actually two 123 cells in a (hard to open) plastic package.

I did manage to get some out, and use with 123 needing cameras.

 

The 2CR5 seem to be two cells that might be CR5, packaged together.

I didn't know about rechargeables for either 123 or CR5.