Pride before a fall!

[Looking Up]

Well after getting a mention in the picture of the week I was feeling pretty happy with myself . So I set up to take some images of NGC 7479 and lo and behold my Canon 40D would not take any frames showing error 99 , after new firmware, batteries in / out / in /out, CF cards reformatted etc I think I have come to the end of the road! But on the off chance anyone has any bright ideas, I'm willing to try anything (within reason!).

This will of course allow me to broach the subject of a "proper" camera with my wife!!! Every cloud has a silver lining ! It just might take a while.......

Spencer

[CJBooth]

Error 99 can result from dirt on the contacts which are responsible for communicating with the lens (not sure how that works with astro stuff). Try cleaning them carefully with a cotton bud.

[Photosbykev]

Error 99 is the Generic Canon message for you have an error but we don't know what.

Typically this would be dirty contacts between the lens and camera body but if you have the body on a scope it probably isn't relevant.

There is a 2nd battery hiding inside the battery compartment on most Canon bodies, that is the battery backup for the on board settings it may need replacing?

[Looking Up]

Hi Guys, Thanks for the sugestions, I did clean the lens contacts with a bit of isopropyl, I'm not using a normal lens just the scope and I didn't hold out much hope of it making a difference and it didn't! I've had the little coin cell out of the camera and put it back it seems to have enough current to retain the camera settings, so I can't see it being that. I think it may be the shutter, perhaps long exposures have damaged it in some way!

Spencer

[Looking Up]

Well, I have got it working again but only in live view mode, it has to be on all through the session( tested inside on my living room carpet!) I think the shutter is on it's way out! Still if it can limp on until Chirtmas......

[garethmob]

how many pictures has it taken looking up? (what number does the picture say)

i was looking at a few cameras that had this fault on ebay as 99 does seem to be the generic ----we dont know whats wrong but somthing is ----error

[gajjer]

Oooooh. Definitely sounds as if its on the way out to me. Wink. Definitely need to buy a new camera. It would be awful not to have a working camera over Xmas. I've heard dodgy Lithium Ion batteries can explode and make a nasty mess of the Xmas tree.

No, safest thing to do is get a new camera.

HTH!!

[Looking Up]

I don't know how many pictures it's taken but it can't be more then 10k, not a good show for an expensive camera! I do agree with gajjer, it's too dangerous to use beyond Xmas!!!

Spencer