Frozen Camera

Hi there ,

I have recently found my camera jamming up when I was ready to shoot. An 99 Error appeared each time when this happen and a sound which I can only identify as the shutter coming back to it's staring position after taking out the battery. The mirror totally refused to operate. I have recently come to the conclusion that this problem is ambient temperature related. In both cases where I got the error the camera was in an outdoor environment with minus Celsius conditions (sorry I know only metrics ^^) ,

In the first case, I ran to the Canon Service center and left it there to be analyzed, the next morning I got the call, "the camera was showing me jam ups and was working normally".
I took it back , no charges.

Today was even colder minus 8 9 celsius, and the camera worked in my house, but after going outside and after a few shots the mirror jammed up again 99 error again.

To me it seems that the inner workings of the camera are freezing up and so not working. Either that or some lubricant that may be needed to let the camera work smoothly in normal instances are becoming more viscose due to very low temps and so are not letting the moving parts move properly. I guess what I wish to ask you is , have any of you experienced any of these symptoms before in extreme cold outdoor conditions? And what solutions were found to prevent it in the future other than of course staying indoors...

I find it hard to believe that this can happen , minus 10 Degrees Celsius barrier is not too ridiculous for a Canon High end DSLR camera, in my humble opinion.

Your thoughts and experiences please

Thank you kindly

Ralph Honsbeek

According the Canon Specs, the 5d Series operating Temp. is 0 - 40C and the 1d Series 0 - 38C. You are operating the camera outside of the specs. This will effect the battery and apparently the shutter.

Ralph Honsbeek said:

minus 10 Degrees Celsius barrier is not too ridiculous for a Canon High end DSLR camera, in my humble opinion.

Your thoughts and experiences please

Click to expand...

Hello Ralph

I have the 5D and spent sometime on Rannoch Moor (Glencoe, Scotland) last January in low temperatures, I can't remember exactly how low, I think about minus 12C when we were out on the moor, had been much lower overnight so hard to say exactly how cold, suffice it to say - very cold. My camera worked just fine, I made sure to charge the battery after every shoot, kept it in the bag when we went inside for a couple of hours to come up to room temperature. I'm not aware of Canon's operating temperature info, I can only say that mine worked just fine..... Sorry to hear you're having this trouble.

What camera model? What lens?

I'm no camera repair tech, but I've seen "Err 99" more commonly associated with a data error, such as can sometimes happen when a lens does not communicate properly with the body. I can guarantee that cold is NOT the issue.

Hi, Ralph,

Ralph Honsbeek said:

Hi there ,

I have recently found my camera jamming up when I was ready to shoot.

Click to expand...

Is this on any particular camera model?

Error 99

We had that problem on a 20d and took it to Canon with the lenses we use on it. They calibrated the lenses to the body and we were fine.

The error 99 is a catch all error as I have read on the boards....

i am using my 1dm3 error persisted with any lens mounted

Calibrated?

Did Canon calibrate the lenses to the body?

yes for some, but ... i believe the body is fhe problem
EVERYTIME I go out in the cold it stops working after a while, when I get back inside my house and where it's warm , it starts working again... How can anyone explain this .
Which part inside the camera is malfuctioning ?