Camera problems

I took a photo and stuff appears around the very edge of the photo that I didn’t see in the viewfinder. Why?

Only top of the line EOS cameras (all 1 series cameras and the EOS 3) have 100% viewfinder coverage. All other EOS cameras have lesser amounts of coverage - typically 92% or 90%. So it’s possible that things at the very periphery of the picture may not be visible in your camera’s viewfinder.

Canon do this because 100% viewfinders require larger, heavier and costlier pentaprisms or mirrors. Normally it’s not a big problem, though. Photo labs tend to crop images slightly when printing and slide mounts tend to cover the edges of slide film.

My camera says it can go from f/1 to f/91. Why won’t it?

The aperture range of any camera/lens combination is determined entirely by the optical properties of the lens and not the camera.

The aperture range of a camera is very wide so that the camera can be used with a wide range of lenses. But if you’ve got a lens that has a maximum aperture of f/3.5 then that’s the maximum aperture you’re going to get. Trying to set the camera to f/1.8 will do no good at all.

The same goes for the minimum aperture setting. Most EF-compatible lenses have a minimum aperture setting of f/22 or f/32 (though this value is not printed on the outside of the lens) and can’t go to f/64 or anything like that.

There are black specks in my viewfinder! I got fingerprints on the mirror! What can I do?

First of all, remember that dust in the viewfinder and fingerprints on the mirror do not affect picture quality in any way. When any SLR takes a photograph the mirror is flipped up out of the way and light passes through the lens and strikes the film directly. Viewfinder dust is merely an irritant when you use your camera. In theory heavy marks on the mirror could affect accurate metering and autofocussing, but it probably won’t make a difference unless the contamination is really severe.

Second, all the internal components of the camera are extremely fragile. Mirror coatings and viewfinder screens in particular are extremely delicate and very easily scratched. If you’re a beginner you’re probably best off taking your camera to a repair shop and having a professional clean it - it probably won’t cost much at all, if anything. Don’t use solvents, since the finder screens are made of etched plastic. Viewfinder specks are frequently caused by dust particles on the top side (ie: inside surface) of the viewfinder screen. Since most EOS cameras have viewfinder screens that aren’t meant to be user-removable you have to be extremely careful when messing around with them.

In short, don’t worry about it unless it really bothers you. Being overly fastidious about camera condition is a great way to waste a lot of time, but doesn’t help actual photography at all. Keep your lens glass clean, though!

My camera’s back flexes slightly when I squeeze it. Is this a problem?

Nope. Many low to midrange EOS film cameras have a bit of creaking flex to their backs. It doesn’t feel particularly reassuring but isn’t a sign of pending failure or low quality or anything else really. Nothing to worry about.

My lens is slightly wobbly when attached to the camera. Is this normal?

A very slight amount of play between the lens and the camera body is normal, yes. When the lens is locked into position you often will be able to rotate it in either direction by a tiny amount, particularly on less expensive EOS cameras. You should not, however, be able to rock it back and forth - the lens barrel mount and the camera body mount should remain precisely parallel. But a minute amount of rotational lens play is really not important.

The camera is turned off and yet the screen on the top is still on. Why?

This is normal with EOS film cameras. If you’ve got film loaded into the camera then the top-deck LCD panel will display the current frame count even when the camera is off so you don’t have to turn the camera on just to see how much film is left. This is why Canon called the “off” position on the command dial “L” for “lock” for many years - the camera is still technically powered on, just in a low-power mode.

This does of course consume battery power. But don’t worry about it unless you’re planning on leaving your camera in storage for some prolonged period of time - months or years. Consider digital wristwatches - they display stuff on their screens on an even tinier battery for very long periods of time too.

Why does my camera click faintly when I tilt it?

A few EOS cameras, notably the EOS A2E/5 and the 10D, contain a position sensor that detects whether the camera is being held normally (landscape orientation) or vertically (portrait). This sensor is used by different things depending on the camera - the ECF system (the A2E/5 has ECF which works only in landscape mode), the evaluative metering system (to determine whether there’s bright sky at the top of the frame) and capture orientation (for digital cameras). The position sensor can make a faint clicking sound when you tilt the camera.

Why does my camera wind for so long when I first load a roll of film?

Your camera is probably a consumer-level (or Rebel series) film camera which uses a “safety prewind” system for loading film. This type of camera unspools the entire film from the canister when you first put it into the camera. As you shoot photos the film is then spooled back into the canister. When you reach the end of the roll the short length of film remaining is wound back into the canister, and you’re done.

This is advantageous since if you open the camera back inadvertently you will be exposing (and ruining) all the unused film. You might lose a frame or two, but the bulk of your photos will have been spooled back into the canister and are safely out of harm’s way. Not only that, but the camera’s LCD will always display the exact number of frames remaining on the roll - you don’t have to think and remember if you have a 24 exposure or 36 exposure roll in the camera and calculate the remaining shots from there.

All other EOS film cameras wind the traditional way - they spool the film out, shot by shot, and then rewind the film back into the canister when you’re done. This difference in film-spooling methods can be a problem if you want to exchange a partially shot roll of film between a consumer EOS camera and any other model.

My camera won’t load a roll of film. What can I do?

There are a few things you can consider.

• Is the cartridge correctly seated in the camera? If you’re using 35mm film, did you pull the tongue of film out so that the tip lines up with the film-load mark (usually bright orange) on the inside of the camera body? If you fail to do this then the camera’s motor will probably wind for a few seconds and then the film canister icon on the camera’s top deck LCD will start blinking.
• Is the battery good? If the battery is low then the camera will not load correctly. The usual symptom of this problem is a blinking battery symbol on the camera’s top deck LCD.
• Is the camera locked up in some way? For example, if you keep the popup flash on a camera (if it has one) from opening - by pressing it down when it tries to open - then the battery symbol may flash on the camera. The camera may then not respond to any controls until you turn it off and then back on.
• Is the interior of the camera clean and free of dirt? Most EOS cameras use infrared diodes to determine film position. If the small clear plastic window to the upper right corner of the shutter is covered up then the film won’t load.
• Is the camera loading the film and then immediately rewinding it all the way back into the camera, wasting the roll? If so, you probably have a consumer series (1000/Rebel) camera from which the film was extracted before being properly rewound. To correct this problem close the camera up empty (ie: make sure there is no roll of film inside) and then fire the shutter. When you open up the camera and reload a fresh roll of film it should work fine.
• Do you have a digital EOS camera which does not take film?

Which EOS models are vulnerable to the problem of blank photos caused by a sticky (oily) shutter?

EOS film cameras made from the late 1980s to early 1990s are vulnerable - the 600 series, EOS 10/10s, 100/Elan, 1000/early Rebels, etc. All of these cameras have an internal foam rubber shutter bumper which deteriorates with time, turning into a black shiny glue-like oil which gums up the shutter blades. A stuck shutter will often result in blank or wildly underexposed photos being taken. In my experience the problem is exacerbated by high temperatures.

Unfortunately most of these oily shutters show up long after the warranty period has expired, so Canon will not replace the shutter for free. You have to clean the shutter yourself (see my brief article on the topic) or have it replaced at your expense.

Which EOS models are vulnerable to broken command or mode dials?

The EOS A2/A2E/5 are the models best known for this problem. The Elan/100 is also susceptible.

These film cameras have a design flaw in the main (top deck left) mode dial. The dial has a small central lock button which you must press down before turning the dial. Unfortunately the dial’s detent mechanism is held in place with two tiny plastic pins which are easily broken. If they break then the top dial simply freewheels and can’t be used for adjusting anything. Quite often the dial becomes stiffer to turn with age, increasing the pressure on the small pins.

Some people claim that this breakage problem is user error and that people must always remember to press the lock button down before turning the dial. While pressing the lock button before turning is important it also seems not to be the entire issue, as many users who claim to press the lock button religiously before turning the dial also experience breakage problems.

If your camera dial broke under warranty Canon will have replaced the entire top deck assembly which includes a new dial with allegedly slightly thicker pins. Many users report that the new dials break too, unfortunately. You can fix the problem yourself by replacing the pins with tiny screws if you’re extremely mechanically adept or you can pay Horizon Electronics, a popular repair shop, to do it for you. See also Jim Strutz’s EOSDoc article on the subject.

The built-in flash on my EOS 5/A2/A2E won’t pop up. What’s wrong?

This is a fairly common problem. The camera’s hotshoe has two small microswitches which detect the presence of a flash unit - or anything else - in the shoe. If either of these switches are depressed then the internal flash unit will not pop up. Unfortunately these switches can easily get stuck.

For more information on fixing this problem, which usually involves a couple minutes of work with a small Philips-head screwdriver, have a look at this Photo.net post by Todd Fredrick.

What’s this about the EOS 3 having exposure problems?

Some early models of the EOS 3 had a firmware (internal computer program) bug which lead to the camera underexposing images by about 2/3 of a stop. Later models have revised firmware which fixes the problem. If you suspect your camera might be misbehaving in this fashion you can simply take your camera to Canon who can reprogram the camera without opening it up.

While this problem was real it should be noted that most EOS 3s don’t suffer from this problem. So by all means have your camera checked out if you notice real exposure problems on narrow-latitude films such as slide or infrared film, but don’t worry about it unduly otherwise.

Why does my camera lock up when I push the shutter release button?

If your camera locks up (ie: does not respond to any controls) after you press the shutter button then have a look at the following:

• Is the battery OK? Try using a different battery that’s known to be good.
• Is the battery slightly the wrong size? All camera batteries should be precisely the same length, but sometimes there are tiny discrepancies between one make and another, particularly when it comes to 2CR5 batteries. Try a different brand of battery.
• On some cameras, notably the EOS Elan II/IIE/EOS 50/55, the battery compartment is slightly too long to accommodate typical 2CR5 batteries, which results in poor electrical contact. Try folding a piece of thin cardboard in half and jamming it underneath the battery door cover and see if the camera works again.
• Try cleaning the contacts on both the camera and battery. Use the tip of a clean pencil eraser and rub the metal contacts very lightly, being careful not to get crumbs of eraser into the works.
• Try cleaning the connections on the camera’s lens mount and the contacts on the camera lens itself. Again, be really careful - the contacts are quite delicate.
• Are you using a third party lens? Many older Sigma lenses will lock up newer cameras, particularly those introduced post the Elan 7/EOS 30/33/7. Try a different lens, particularly a Canon-built EF lens, and see what happens. If it turns out it’s your Sigma lens you should contact Sigma and ask them if it’s possible to reprogram or rechip the lens for compatibility. Some lenses can be modified to work with new cameras and some cannot.
• Has the film jammed if you’re using a film camera? Try pressing the midroll rewind button. If you need to extract film, do so in total darkness if you want to recover any images which may already be on it.
• Does the shutter have oily patches on it? Earlier EOS cameras - the 600 series and the 10/10s and 100/Elan - have a known problem of a tar-like material forming on the shutter blades. This stuff gums up the shutter, causing the camera to lock up when you try to take a photo. Failing all that you may need to take your camera to a repair shop.

My camera displays “bC” or “Err 99” when I try to take a picture. What does this mean?

BC is an error condition in EOS film cameras, and means one of two things. It either means “battery check,” so try putting in a fresh battery, or it’s a general error condition of some type. If the battery is fine, have a look at the previous section for things to check, especially dirty lens contacts or lens compatibility problems with Sigma lenses. Error 99 is essentially the same error condition as BC, only on EOS digital cameras. The EOS D30 also had error codes 09 and 10, which are similar.

My camera displays “00” as the aperture setting. What does this mean?

A 00 aperture reading means that the camera can’t communicate with the lens electronics and so is operating in stop-down metering mode. There are a number of common reasons why this might appear.

• There is no lens installed on the camera.
• There’s a lens on the camera but it isn’t mounted properly.
• The lens on the camera has no internal electronics, such as the case of an old manual-focus lens which has been adapted to an EOS camera by means of an adapter ring.
• The contacts on either the lens or camera or both are dirty or defective. Try cleaning the lens and camera contacts gently and carefully.
• The lens electronics are shot.
• The lens is an older third party lens (eg: an older Sigma) which is not compatible with your camera. Try an EF lens made by Canon and see if the problem persists.
• The camera’s electronics are shot.

Why does my camera’s date printing feature not work?

Is date printing turned off? If the date back LCD display shows “----” then no date information will be printed. Try pushing the MODE button on the camera back, if it has one, until it displays the date.

If the date back doesn’t respond at all then you may need to replace the battery. Most EOS film cameras with date capabilities use a tiny lithium CR2025 button cell to power the date back - they usually don’t use the camera’s main 2CR5 battery. (the 10QD being one exception)
Or you could do without - surely your photos look nicer without the date stamped all over the corner?