04 Nov

Camera Repair: Canon 350D Error 99

Author: Natalie  |  Category: Cameras & Lenses, Photography Equipment, Technical & Repairs

What To Do When Your Beloved Camera Develops A Fault

My Canon 350D SLR broke the other week. I could take a few photos, but then it would put a black line across the top of my photos, suggest there was no battery power, and flash at me error 99.

With no ability to take further photos, I want to share with you my experience in repairing my camera and getting to the bottom of error 99, which it turns out is a common error!

canon-350d-error-99

What is Error 99?

Error 99 is a common error that basically means there is something wrong with one of the various processes involved in taking a photo. This could be:

  • no battery power
  • faulty writing to the memory card
  • the lens not being corrected
  • shutter problems

Error 99 points to a problem with a third party accessory. Therefore try the following fixes before thinking there is something more seriously wrong with the camera itself.

Quick Camera Fixes

Since error 99 is caused by abnormal operation, try the following fixes:

  • turning the camera on and off
  • changing memory cards
  • changing batteries
  • changing lenses
  • rubbing the gold contacts on the lens and camera body with a pencil eraser (explained well here)

If not of those work then I suggest taking your camera into a repair shop. As it turned out, my error 99 was pointing to a faulty shutter – supposedly they have a life span – and needed to be fixed by a technician.

Camera Repair Shops in London

Helpful London SLR Repair Shops

I’ve found Sendean Cameras in Soho and Fixation to be really helpful. They will look at your camera for free and will try to fix your camera ASAP i.e. in less than a week.

Other repair shops, although friendly and helpful, were charging to send the camera off to an authorised camera repair dealer.

Canon Repair Centre

If you want to go directly to Canon you must send your camera directly to the service centre. I’ve phoned them twice and am no nearer to knowing where to post it to. They will charge you £30 to investigate the problem and supposedly it can take 1 or 2 months to complete the repair.

Have you recently had your camera repaired? Did it go OK?

Please leave a comment.

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One Response to “Camera Repair: Canon 350D Error 99”

  1. ZES Says:
    February 12th, 2009 at 5:25 pm

    I got my Lomo LC-A repaired at Sendean last year. Lomos are great little things that just give amazing results, but anyone that’s ever used one will know they are shoddily made (hey, that’s their charm!) Mine had come loose at the front and was jammed up.

    Anyway I looked online for a camera repair place. I called a few places, some hadn’t even heard about Lomo so there was no way I was going to leave my precious little camera with them.

    I was recommended Sendean as they’re Lomo stockists, and spoke to a friendly girl who uses a Lomo herself. After a few minutes chatting about how great they are she asked me to bring it in so they could have a look. So on the Tube I went, and as soon as I got there I know I was in good hands.

    Phil, the technician, looked over my poor casulty of war and he said it’s very common. He said it was full of sand (guilty as charged) and some screws had come loose and jammed the mechanism. BUT, he could fix it up for me! It was going to be £79 for a complete fix, good as new. The girl at the front who I spoke to (I think her name’s Lauren, she’s married to Phil the tech) took my details and I kissed my Lomo goodbye.

    A few days later I got the call, my camera was done. So off I went again and picked it up. It looked amazing, and I also managed to get a coveted Holga Kit too. They also gave me a free case with it! It’s worked fine for a year now, and if it ever gets dropped in the sand again I’ll be back to Phil and Sendean.

    A little note: I found out the hard way that they’re not open at weekends!

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