Canon Customer Support Experience...

The other day I got a troubling "Error 20" message on my 5D Mark II out of no-where. Nothing happened to cause this, no trauma, no new memory cards/lenses etc. See my previous post for my conversation with my camera....

So... update.

It's working fine now (of course) but I am worried about this happening again on a job, instead of just taking test shots for a photography workshop I was hosting last weekend. It was a little embarrassing giving lessons to a group without a camera. I need a second body, but I have been holding out for the 1D mark IV.

After calling 2 different numbers for Canon, the third gets me to the right person. My favorite quote regarding the problem:

Canon Guy #3: "Well Mr. Morgan, error 20 could be a few different things. It could be a bad memory card, it could be a mirror problem, a dirty connection between the lens sensors and the camera and it might be the card reader in the camera".

Jesse: "Why not give each problem their own error message, perhaps error 20, 21, 22, 23 etc? That way you know for sure what the problem is."

Canon Guy #3: "Well, ughhh, I... ughhh, that would be a good idea, yeah."

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The error message has not come back, even thought I am doing test shots using the same lens, card and shooting conditions as before. There is nothing worse than an intermittent problem....

Is it insane to ponder a switch to Nikon at this point? In the handouts to my class, one of the points I make is once you decide to go with a manufacturer, you are then forever married to the system, and that you lose everything in the divorce. I am considering filing papers...

Not Happy... ERROR 20!!!

ERROR 20, "Shooting is not possible. Turn power switch off and on again or re-install the battery"

Well, this is quite simple really... I will just turn off the power, then turn it on, and I will even re-install the battery, this should fix ol'error 20, no prob-lemo.

ERROR 20, "Shooting is not possible. Turn power switch off and on again or re-install the battery"

OK, so maybe I didn't turn it off and on properly, I don't know how, it's pretty straight forward really. Or maybe I didn't take that ol'battery out enough. Try this one more time...

ERROR 20, "Shooting is not possible. Turn power switch off and on again or re-install the battery"

Errrrrrrr........

ERROR 20, "Shooting is not possible. Turn power switch off and on again or re-install the battery"

COME ON!

ERROR 20, "Shooting is not possible. Turn power switch off and on again or re-install the battery"

...................

ERROR 20, "Shooting is not possible. Turn power switch off and on again or re-install the battery"

WHY??!?! I have done nothing but treat you with care and respect Canon 5D Mark II. Why do you do this to me!???!

ERROR 20, "Shooting is not possible. Turn power switch off and on again or re-install the battery"

I'm going to bed.