20D Shutter freaking out

[rocky_strong1]

Hello,

 

So I was out on a shoot and my battery died. So I through in two pack that were already dead to see if it would

work. Now I know this was a bad idea but I wanted this shoot. Anyways it was fine, powered up and was focusing.

When the mountain biker dropped off the edge and I fired a burst it continued to just open and close, and err 99

came up. So I popped out the batteries as I would normally do and it stop then I shoved it back in and it

continued to open and close the shutter but now nothing shows up on the top lcd. The other thing is that I don't

even have to have th camera on for it to do this. It can be switched to off and still opens and close the

shutter. When I switch the power switch it seem to stop a second and then continue on its way.

 

Any suggestions?

[jwalk]

Hate to say it but this happened to me about 3 months ago, exactly the same as you described it. The shutter is shot/kaput/on the blink. It cost me 300 dollars for a new one. I think its worth it and now I have 100,000 more cycles to go. Its almost like getting a new camera.....almost. Sorry for the bad news but its time to send it in to Canon service.

[pjmeade]

The repetative firing of the shutter as soon as the battery goes in is a sign of a dead shutter. It's exactly what mine did. Replacement was quick and not very expensive.

[rocky_strong1]

Thanks for the great news. I was worried I would have to buy a new camera. But I guess i was bad as well because I had my eye on that beautiful 5D Mark II

[alan_myers]

Hi,

 

Do one thing before sending your camera in for repair.

 

It's possible that when power got low some weird instructions happened in the processor. So, try fully

"rebooting" the camera before assuming the shutter needs replacement, although it sounds like that will be the case.

 

Here's how to reboot the camera:

 

Remove the main battery.

 

Remove the small, silver memory battery.

 

Leave them out for at least a half hour, maybe a full hour to be sure.

 

Put them back in and power it up and run your tests again.

 

Also, the small, silver memory battery might need replacement. These normally last 5 years, but who knows. They

only cost about $1.50 at the grocery store near me.

 

It doesn't sound like this will, but I'd do a reboot with most modern camera that malfunction, just to be sure,

before sending it in for repair. It often clears "glitches". The other thing I'd always do is make sure the

latest available firmware is installed in the camera. Both these cost nothing (or very little if you replace the

button battery), so I figure why not see if it might clear the problem.

 

One downside to doing a reboot is that all your menu settings and custom functions will reset to factory

defaults. That can't be helped.