The camera came back from the repair centre in Glasgow with the auto-focus problem resolved.
I gave it a quick try out in the house and all seemed well.
I had had to cancel work due to the problem and there was a small gap before my next booked gig, which was YOU ME AT SIX at their Aberdeen show.
I fired the camera up in readiness for the first support band and got the dreaded ERR99.
With some frantic power downs/ups and lens/battery/CF card swopping, I got around the problem, but had to leave the camera powered up or the problem returned after a short rest.
I did some extensive Googling on the subject, and waded my way through the usual forum threads and suggestions. I found an article on Canon's official site stating that there was a known problem relating to the mirror assembly, so delivered the camera back to AJ Johnstone in Glasgow, and made it clear that I would not be at all happy about being charged for a repair of a problem I didn't have before they touched it, and one that is documented on the Canon site quoting free repairs for affected cameras.
To their credit, AJ Johnstone got the camera back to me within a week and with no charge for the repair.
If you are a Canon user, you are very likely to see ERR99 at some point, and the best resource I was pointed to by a forum member was this one from Roger Cicala at Lens Rentals
It is a six page essay on the subject, based on Rogers' research on the subject and the experience of Lens Rentals who have seen this issue a lot. Thanks to Roger for a great article, which he plans to update as new information becomes available.
I'm hoping this is the last of my camera woes for a while.
I'll still never buy a brand new 1 series Canon ever again!
