Nationality: American

Career span: 50 years

Favourite medium: medium-format black and white film photography

Famous for:
1) black and white landscape photos, especially of the American West (e.g. Yosemite)
2) testing Polaroid’s film technology (where he was a long-time consultant)
3) developing “zone exposure” to get maximum tonal range from black-and-white film: it involved using a light meter to obtain a film negative with silver densities corresponding to a high number of distinct shades of white, grey, and black

His Passions and Inspirations:
1) Nature and Conservation of nature (through National Parks)
2) promoting photography as an art form distinct from accepted art forms of the day
3) promoting fundamentals of photography, such as precision, sharp focus
4) Teaching “pure” photography – i.e. not making photographs look like paintings or etchings

Other points of interest:
1) originally trained as a concert pianist
2) co-founded “Group f/64″ with E. Weston and I. Cunningham to help establish photography as a legitimate art form, distinct from other accepted art forms such as painting and sculpture
3) co-founded the department of photography at the Museum of Modern Art
4) Career in photography likely influenced by the tendency of advertisers in the 1920’s to use photographs rather than hand drawings under the belief that photographs were more persuasive. The mood of the 20’s and 30’s was towards realism in photography, which likely came about as a result of the depression and the want for direct communication.

There it was.  

Surely this wasn’t happening to me.  I had spent a fortune on my Canon 5D Mark II, and now there was a chance I’d have to take it back.  Maybe it’s just a blip, I thought to myself.  I turned my camera off and on. 

   Error 20
   Shooting is not possible.  Turn the power switch to <OFF> and
   <ON> again or re-install the battery.

The message was displayed crisply on my viewfinder in black and white.  Oh no!  I read the message more clearly this time.  Maybe I need to wait a bit.  I turned my camera off, waited 30 seconds, and held my breath as I turned it back on. 

Whew!  The camera was its old self again. It functioned as normal.

…Time passed…

At the Montreal Guitar Show, backpacks were restricted, so I deposited my large camera bag in the trunk of my car and put my trusted 5D Mark II in my purse.  I had to sacrifice taking my flash into the show, but with such high ISO capabilities, I wasn’t worried.  Lee Bowie (of the Lee Bowie Band) asked me to snap some shots of him by a colourful, 10-story glass wall.  I took out my 5D Mark II and set the ISO to 5000, continuous-mode shooting, and went to it. 

   Error 20
   Shooting is not possible.  Turn the power switch to <OFF> and
   <ON> again or re-install the battery.

Not again!  I shut down the camera, waited 1 second, turned it back on, only to find Error 20 peering back at me from the viewfinder.  Oh no!  Next, I left it off for 10 seconds, and that seemed to refresh the camera.  I took some more photos, again in continuous mode with the hopes that one shot would turn out where both Lee and my hand was still enough to get a crisp image.

   Error 20
   Shooting is not possible.  Turn the power switch to <OFF> and
   <ON> again or re-install the battery.

Geez!  It kept happening.  Back in the Montreal Guitar Show electric guitar room, I shot some more photos, and there it was again.  In fact, it got so bad that no matter how long I left the camera off, I could not successfully capture an image.

That’s it, I thought.  I have to take the camera back.  Only 3 months old, and I got a lemon.  Too late to exchange outright, but at least it’s under warranty. 

Later that same day, I turned it on to show a friend that it was dead, and it was fine!  Whew!  Maybe I can work around the Error long enough to shoot the Ottawa Bluesfest, starting in 4 days.  I had a full pass to the Bluesfest, and was planning to get up close to some famous artists like Jeff Beck, KISS, and Blues Legend, Hubert Sumlin.

When I got back to Ottawa from Montreal, I called the store from which I’d purchased the camera: Henry’s.  They put their Canon expert on the line, who said he’d never heard of any Error 20 problems before.  He suggested I call Canon for more precise help. 

In the meantime, I searched the Internet.  I looked for Canon 5D Mark II Error 20.  It was all over.  I carefully read the top 20 hits, and found only one solution that seemed to solve the issue: return the camera. 

Sigh.  I called Canon, hoping against hope that they could provide a list of things to try.  Bluesfest lasts 12 days.  A few weeks after that, I have a vacation planned.  The support rep from Canon asked if I had tried different lenses (Yep), different memory cards (nope), and recommended I switch out the memory card.

Yay – hope is a wonderful thing!  I swapped out my Sandisk Ultra II 2GB for my Sandisk extreme III 4GB.  I also switched to my spare battery, and changed the lens from the kit (24-105mm, f/4) to my longer lens (70-200mm, f/4), and happily saw Jeff Beck open for Ottawa’s 2009 Bluesfest. 

   Error 20
   Shooting is not possible.  Turn the power switch to <OFF> and
   <ON> again or re-install the battery.

Doh!  OK, I’m going to have to take this camera in for repair. 

I called Canon back, just in case someone different had another idea of what could prolong the interval between Errors.  The next guy suggested I upgrade the firmware, and reset the camera’s factory settings.  I did both, and that night I was unable to reproduce the Error.  Sweet!  I’m off to see King Sunny Ade at Bluesfest.

And there it happened again.  Long story short, I took the camera back to Henry’s this week, who packaged it up free of charge and sent it off to Canon.  I’ve been quoted anywhere from 4-6 weeks by Henry’s, and 2-3 days by Canon, although Henry’s has to ship it there first.  The Henry’s rep who took my camera, patiently recorded all the things I had observed, all the troubleshooting I’d tried, and the request for a thorough inspection. 

The last thing I need is for the camera to be sent back with a note saying “could not reproduce”.

The intermittent problem: a tester’s nightmare!