What Jessie Did Next...

...being the inane ramblings of a mundane Yorkshire bird.

So, with not many days to go before holidaytime, right now isn’t the best time for my SLR to go pop.

Jon had it over the weekend for Clarence, and pointed out to me on Sunday that the Sigma 28-200 we use for general gig pics was occasionally having problems focusing and giving ‘error 99’ – general error meaning that a reboot is required, something I last saw using an older reverse-engineered Sigma lens. So naturally I blamed it on the Sigma and he switched to another lens.

I got the 10D back tonight, and since it was sunny popped into the garden to take some photos. All fine on the Canon 75-300 lens for a short space of time then it began failing to autofocus, going from one extreme to the other and back again. If I knocked it into manual focus it was fine – just seemed to be the autofocus (although to be honest it wasn’t making a good effort at working out lighting either, not popping the flash when it needs to). A trawl of the Canon forums suggests that there’s a general ‘issue’ with autofocus not getting quite right on the 10D, but nothing on this scale.

It seems I have a few options:

  1. Get this one fixed, something which won’t happen in time for the holidays and which has an unknown cost element.
  2. Buy a new 30D, something I was loathed to do given that the 40D is strongly rumoured to be coming out in September and that’s what I’ve been waiting for.
  3. Buy a 400D which will have the 10MP stuff and the DIGICiii processor, but which I’m not keen on (I borrowed Col’s last weekend and although it takes nice pics, it doesn’t ‘feel’ right to me, probably because there are less controls – I miss the back dial).
  4. Buy a refurb 10D from the Canon outlet which will probably be less than getting it fixed, and I’ll have it within a few days.
  5. I don’t take a camera on holiday – absolutely unthinkable!

Right now, option 4 is looking favourite, and if I don’t get success on that by mid next week I’ll go into a Jessops and buy a 30D – Nicky can get the 40D when that comes out. I hadn’t exactly budgeted for a 600 quid outlay right now however.

How sodding annoying.

3 Comments

  1. Ah. I had this problem with an old D30 – not focusing well in poor light. My 20D does not have these problems (it had some other ones!)

  2. have you tried downloading some new firmware for it off canon site or done facotry restore on it?

  3. What I’ve done so far:
    – Factory restore
    – Mirror blow
    – Firmware’s already the latest (2.0.1)
    – Cleaned lens motor contacts on body
    – Tried different lenses (5 in total)
    – Focusing gate cleaned
    – Batteries all fully charged
    – Button cell replaced

    All seems a bit crap. When the motor *does* run (from extreme to extreme) the body seems to have a problem driving it – it’s slower than it was, grinding slowly as though it’s underpowered.

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