5D MK III? $3,500 mistake

Shooting Canon digital since 2003 and finally took the FF plunge on the 5D MK III / 24-105 f/4L kit from B&H for $3,499 (including Sandisk 16GB UDMA card and extra battery). Deal sounded too good to be true and it was.

After only 85 shots on the MK III the camera croaked. Menus still visible and most controls work. But no shutter release or autofocus anymore. Cannot even take a shot in manual focus mode. Tried 4 different batteries (3 Canon, 1 aftermarket), four different CF and SD cards (none Eye-Fi), and same problem.

No error message code displayed (seen lots of Error 80 threads online), but the $3,500 Canon camera no longer talks to five different Canon lenses: 24-105 f/4L, 70-200 f/4L IS, 70-200 f/2.9L IS II, 50 f/1.4 USM, 85 f/1.8 USM. Zip. Nada. Absolutely no way to activate the shutter or autofocus, even after resetting all the menus settings, thinking something must have got bumped in software.

Thankfully, I kept the 7D, which has performed flawlessly for nearly 3 years. FWIW, the 85 shots taken were beautiful. For a shutter rated at 150,000 clicks, my odometer didn't get to 100.

Pop Photo Camera of the Year? No way.