# Error 30 Experiences? Have you seen this?



## jonathan7007 (Mar 8, 2013)

Just bought a second-hand (but one owner) 1DsMk3 and after arrival I tried is with a bunch of my lenses and pixel-peeped to see how it differed from my 5Dmk3. Liked the image at low ISO, which is exactly why I bought it. Oh, and for its great build quality and the long-life shutter.

I have had no other 1-series camera and the shutter on this body sounds sweet to my ears: more mechanical, more authoritative.

But yesterday on a real estate shoot with my 17mm TSE, tethered, I started getting these Error 30 messages on the screen. I believe it told me turn off and on again, too. The body never stopped working, and responded to the power cycle. Shooting tethered I was bringing up the images in Windows Explorer and right clicking to ask them open in ACR... just to check focus and the histogram. But I don't know how tethered operation might have caused -- or highlighted -- whatever is the root cause of the error. 

Canon tells me this error is a loose bag of possible shutter issues. I was using an Odin trigger in the shoe but the VA-center tech person said that wasn't likely to be the cause. Ditto tethering, although he asked if I had been in and out of LiveView, which of course I had! I am so bummed. I know these things happen but I *thought* I had purchased this at a reasonable cost and from an enthusiast, not a pro, which meant lower actuation count. No signs of hard use on the body. I believe my cost just went up by $400 (a guess, I admit)

Important shoot on the 16th and despite my CPS fast turn inside the repair operation at Irvine I would have to spend about $100 to go with the fastest shipping service available, and here in rural Hawaii, often, "next day" is not next day either going or coming.

So, given that I MUST have a second body at this important shoot (and that it will be tethered photography of regular folks -- with people and groups stepping in one after the other, I am tempted to wait to send it, explore the body's reaction to all my TSE lenses, try tethered again, to see if there is any recurrence... and still, I guess send it in and pay for whatever repair is necessary at that point. Grrr.

jonathan7007


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Mar 8, 2013)

Consider using Canon utilities to tether your camera, thats far superior to capturing it and then viewing it in a editor. You will be able to view the image live on your laptop, magnify to 5X, adjust all the camera settings, view a histogram, etc. Once its perfect, capture it.

This does burn thru batteries, so have a spare or use AC power if possible.


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## alexturton (Mar 9, 2013)

I had error 30 on my 7d once. From memory it's a generic error code more often than not to do with power. Mine turned out to be a loose screw shorting the camera which cost me £180 for canon to fix. 

Send it off for a service.


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## jonathan7007 (Mar 12, 2013)

Mt. Spokane, I *was* shooting the 1DsMk3 with EOS Utility feeding Live View to the laptop. A while back shooting in a commercial kitchen I had bed experiences with Lightroom (v3 at that point) dropping the connection a LOT to my then current 5DMk2. I am testing tonight for this weekend's shoot, so I posed a question in another thread to ask for a vote: tethering by LR4 vs. EOS Utility.

Tethering WITHOUT liveView might go OK, because the shutter is not held open. (I will have my 5DMk3 as a backup)

Alex, Error30 is definitely a shutter error, and the first thing Canon asked me the next day when I called is, "Were you using LiveView?" They know. In Europe they issued some kind of warning that one of the firmwars updates was to fix issues with LiveView. I just got this body used, and I would be surprised if the former owner ever used it tethered with Live View. I do interiors with a 17mm T&S and I need LiveView for that. I am bummed if I got this machine and it can't do my main task for which it was purchased -- without 200-300 dollars more and loss of the rig for ten days or more, even with CPS fast-turnaround. (Shutter replacement) Now at this $$ level I could have bought another 5DMk3. I wouldn't have this wonderful tank of a camera for low ISO, but...

Part of this is just annoyance that I lost the game of seeking/getting a benefit for buying used. Sorry -- just whining about the regular stream of outgoing $$.

Thanks for the input, both of you.

jonathan7007


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## NWPhil (Mar 13, 2013)

Unless was an issue already happening and the seller did not disclose it, then you really have a reason to be upset.
The model has been discontinued; so can't be bought new and have a full warranty - well, fat chance anyway.
So, what could have been done? Some deeper research about item to buy, as " problems/complains with X"
Ask questions - plenty of them, if your search did turn out a few issues.
Ask if was sent to CPS/authorized repair recently - if not, ask to be sent now, or if you can send it to Canon upon receiving it under a evaluation agreement.
It sucks, but I don't think you can blame the buyer or for that matter the process of buying used - was just bad luck I guess, but still sucks. 
On the brighter side, you now have a camera able to take 300k actuations


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## jonathan7007 (Mar 15, 2013)

Phil,
I think I said above that I don't think this [previous]owner ever used live view. It's so much a studio or location "set" function and he is a retired doctor who loved photography. I don't blame him and he asked me to keep him informed about what I learned bout the problem. All my senses and experience lead me to believe he did not sell me the camera knowing it is flawed.

And it might not be flawed.

In another thread I added my testing that showed the card that ws in the camera -- a Lexar 64Gig 400x UDMA7 -- was faulty, and I hope that the Error30 was brought on by screwed-up communication between the camera and laptop caused by the card. Swapping cards and lots of shooting with the body has NOT shown any problem since. And today I ran through FoCal testing with three lenses; target aiming calls for live view use. I was worried but again, NO problem so far.

So, if the card was all the problem I had (and Amazon is replacing the card) then hooray!

I really like this body. It feels and sounds great. The files are wonderful at lower ISO and with plenty of light, or more exactly, exposure.

Others with this body have communicated their good service records: few issues and lots of live view without ANY hiccup. I did do a lot of reading before deciding to buy a 5 to 6 year old model of Canon. It fits neatly into a kit that includes a 5DMk3.

I now have to decide -- if going out for a third body -- backup -- which I'd buy? I don't shoot sports so no 1DMk4. Not going to worry about it right now but that decision will be upon me soon, and this 1Ds is wonderful as long as the Error30 was a false alarm.

Thanks for you comments, Phil.

jonathan7007


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