20D went "cuckoo" on the plane

[meteoric]

I had a flight to San Francisco yesterday... and prior before reaching

the airport, I managed to snap several photos using my 20D. When I

first set my "aperture priority" to f8... everything was fine... then

when I started changing my aperture, I noticed that the display panel

showed "00" at the aperture column, instead of 8.0, 5.6, etc.

 

I decided to switch to other mode, and all displays were intact except

for the aperture column, which is always "00". I removed the battery

and reinserted it back, it remained the same.

 

Once the flight descended on the ground, I turned on my 20D and the

aperture showed up this time.

 

Do anyone have this problem before? Is this normal? It striked me

awhile, well perhaps, the altitude messed up 20D aperture display, but

I can't be totally sure.

[tommyinca]

EOS reports 00 aperture when it did not find a lens. You seems to have lens contact problem. Try cleaning the lens contact with some lightly damp alcohol swap. Eraser works too but it does wear out some of the gold plate on the contact. Humidity changes may have more to do with altitude change on this one.

[franklin_polk]

An aperture value of "00", at least on my camera, means that the camera thinks that no lens is connected. Where you still able to get aperture stop down and AF while this was going on? I would just think that maybe, somehow, the internal connections to the lens in the camera body got disrupted somehow, maybe while you were carrying it on the plane? However, if it works now, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[grinder]

I really doubt the altitude had any thing to do with it. The aircraft may have been at 26000 feet AGL but you and everything inside the cabin felt like you where between 5000,8000 feet. and never above 10000. If there was some wierd cabin pressure problem you and all the others would have noticed more than the camera and bags would have came down from above and the pilot would rapid desend below 10000.

 

Good luck it sounds like the above suggestions about contacts is on the money let us know. ,Grinder

[steve_dunn2]

<p>I used my 20D on a flight to Europe last summer and had no problems. As others have pointed out, 00 usually means the body can't communicate with the lens; your contacts may be dirty.</p>

[skipd]

Try removing not only the large battery, but also the small disc battery that maintains memory. Keep them both out for a few minutes and then put the batteries back in and try out the camera. Removing both batteries is like rebooting a computer.

[etan_lightstone]

Well its possible I suppose if the mount of the lens you used has a bit of loseness. The cabin pressure might drop a little compared to what the pressure was inside the camera body.

 

Therefore, the air inside the camera would attempt to escape... and put a slight amount of pressure on the lens... maybe if it hand't been mounted properly on the body.. it would be enough to push it off the electrical contacts.. I bet if you were to take the lens off and stick it back on again while in flight it would be fine again.

[etan_lightstone]

And just for the record.. I have taken my Canon 300D on many flights, and taken plenty of pictures in the air.. with no probs.

[meteoric]

I will probably try to clean the lense contact when I have time tomorrrow.... I was taking photos earlier today, and the "00" problem happened again. Once I turned off and turned back on, it was fine.

 

Thanks guys. At least I can rest assure it's not something really serious.

[mark u]

Which lens were you using? Certain lenses are prone to aperture 0.0 and lockup - it can be a sign that the IS system could be causing trouble and might need replacement, perhaps in conjunction with the mount and the electromagnetic diaphragm unit. The lenses most affected are the Canon 70-200 f2.8 L IS, 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 L IS, and more rarely the 300 f/4 L IS.

[andrew robertson]

Do you have the newest firmware?