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

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!