Canon 1000D Hello there, I'm in China at the Beijing games. my 1000D is giving me a error message 99. can't take picture. I have turn it off and on, take the battery out but the problem still come back after 4 or 5 snaps. please help. I have change lenses and clear the head but not winning. Thanx

Hi,
I have the same problem with my 1 month old EOS 1000D.
I tried cleaning the lens contacts, but the problem was not solved.

ERR 99 is a generic error. I think this is a common message for a lot of malfunctions.

Try the following steps.

1. Remove the lens and try some clicks.
If you still have the problem then it may not be the fault with lens or contacts.<go for step -2>
If u still have, you have to get it repaired by professionals.

2. Remove the memmory card and try some clicks..(without Card)
Hopefuly u will find it working...
Format your Memmory card & reinstate.

For me the 2nd option worked...(for now !!)

I found this on the web. Maybe it will help. I have the same problem + left my camera in to be serviced.

Regards Ann


I have been experiencing sporatic error 99 messages for the past two months with my kit lens and my EF 75-300 f4-5.6 III. I have taken just over 7,000 exposures with my camera in 10 months. Last week was
my long awaited photo expedition to the San Juan Islands of Washington
State. Half way through the trip my Rebel refused to take any pictures.
I tried the obvious things but the error 99 message would not go away. It was consistantly making that partial , incomplete shutter trip noise.
I was actually relieved that it finally broke in the last two months of my
warranty so the repair would be covered. I salvaged the rest of the trip
with my Minolta D7 and got some amazing IR shots that I probably wouldn't
have otherwise. When I got back I called Canon and talked to Gary at 1-(800)828-4040. He asked me to try a few things before I sent the camera in. He said:
1. Carefully clean the 8 gold color lens contact pins on the camera body
lens mount with a pencil eraser. Do this while holding the camera so that
any eraser dust will not fall into the camera.

2. Take out both batteries. Yes, there are 2. I had forgotten about the
smaller Date/Time battery. Also remove the CF memory card.

3. With the batteries removed, turn the camera switch on for 3-5 minutes.
He said that this clears the memory.

4. Turn the camera off and put the batteries and CF card back in.

5. Re-attach the lens and turn it back on.

I did all of this and my camera works fine now. I had to re-enter the date
and time and re-select parameter 2 but my Rebel is now working again
and I'm much relieved that it was something that simple all along. Gary
was very courteous and knowlegable and waited patiently on the phone
while I went though his procedure. He said that I could send the camera
in for service if the problem came back. I just thought I would share this experience in case it might help someone else with an error 99 problem.