First, take a deep breath or two, count to ten and realize that
this problem can be figured out and fixed. My guess is that you
have a charger problem.
Now, to bring some rational thought into the process. You need to
determine if the batteries have enough capacity to hold a
meaningful charge. Sometimes, especially with rechargable
batteries, they loose their ability to accept the recharging
electrical current and thus have no electrons to send back out to
the electrical device that they are intended to power. This is a
function of what is going on chemically inside the battery and can
relate to shelf life, storage conditions, and other factors.
The first thing that I would do would be to take the camera to a
Canon dealer (or if you know someone with a 1D) and see if they
would try a fully-charged battery in your camera. Then look at the
battery indicator and try out your camera. If the camera works
fine, it may be the battery or the charger. Also, the camera may
have some type of internal electrical short that really discharges
the batteries quickly. If so, this is not a huge problem and can
be fixed, but I still lean toward the charger as the culprit.
The EOS 1D uses a Canon NP-E3 1650mAh, 12V Ni-MH rechargeable
battery @19.8 WH (according to Phil's review). This means that an
average new fully-charged (100% capacity) battery could illuminate
a 12 Volt, 20 Watt bulb (19.8 W actually), while maintaining an
output voltage of no less than 12 Volts for one hour. If you can
take the batteries to a shop like "Interstate Batteries," they can
probably test the batteries under load. Alternately, you could
hook up a 12 V 20W bulb across the output terminals of the battery
and measure the voltage while lighting the bulb for about 15
seconds. The light bulb should be brightly illuminated and the
voltage should stay above 12 Volts.
Try these things and post your results. I'm an electrical
engineer, and I'll be glad to help you figure this out as best I
can. Remember, you camera takes good pictures and you are please
with it! This minor bump in the road can and will be overcome.
Steve Bryant
The Canon guy @ 1-800-OK-CANON told me to hook the charger back up
and refresh both batteries...I didn't initially realize that it
took that long to completely refresh and that the charger refreshes
them one at a time...
He said if that doesn't do the trick to ship the camera, batteries,
and charger with warranty card and bill of sale to Canon's east
coast domicile in Jamesburg, NJ. --- 5-8 business days to get it
diagnosed and fixed...
Really blows my mind...in the 1000s and 1000s of shots I've made
since mid-March with this incredible picture-taking machine, I've
had only one ERR99 --- whatever that is --- then reset the camera
and all was well. Never been dropped, abused in any way...baby'd
the thing like it was my very own infant kid!
Guess it goes to show you if you're gonna try to make $$$ shooting
pictures you need a back up...maybe a 10D is in the future, who
knows...can't afford another 1D, that's for sure...really couldn't
afford my initial 1D, but with my attempting to start a sports
photo biz, a 10D or D60 wouldn't have cut the mustard for the bulk
of the stuff I shoot...
Just hope this dilemma will be resolved quickly and nothing else is
lurking in the future...all I've got now is an A2E and a Nikon
FM...but I'm gonna wait 'til the 1D gets going again...digital has
spoiled me over the last couple of months...
This is an incredible rig and nothing is perfect...life ain't
perfect...but it's a ***** when you spend over $4000 for a camera
along with its whistles and bells and flashes and extra battery and
all that jazz and the camera body goes KAPUEE in a mere two
months...
Can any of you long-term 1D folks out there give me any input into
whether I'll be dealing with repairs, etc. on a relatively routine
basis? Talked to a local daily newspaper Nikon D1 shooter and he
told me a couple of their bodies cameras have been shipped back and
forth to the Nikon repair gurus numerous times...
Is the 5-8 day Canon repair time frame to be believed? Hope
so...needed my 1D this afternoon to shoot some motorcross --- a
first time for me --- but I'll have to wait a couple of Saturdays
it looks like!
Panic-strickened EOS Grunt...
