Canon Rebel XTI "busy"

[Fivescoots]

I've had a Rebel XTI for over 7 years and have used it extensively. Lately, I'm getting a "busy" indicator and the camera won't take the picture - causing me to lose precious shots. At first I though the battery was low, but the "busy" light comes on more frequently now. Is it possible that my battery needs replaced with a new one? I have a backup battery and get the same message with that, but it is the same age as the original and is used as often.

[ebiggs1]

Always the first thing to try is a brand new, Canon, battery and a brand new, high quality, CF card.

Never use off brand batteries or cheapo CF cards. Especially when something is a fowl.

Next reset the camera to factory defaults.

[Fivescoots]

Thanks. I'll try anything - I love my camera!

[hsbn]

It's a sign to upgrade hehe.

[hdygma]

I too have had an XTi for many years and am having "Busy" messages pop up all too frequently. I've been down the road of new batteries, new memory cards and reformatting. I would be gratefull to hear from anyone who has had this problem and resolved it.

[ebiggs1]

First off when any problem arises with your camera, you must do these things first.

A known good battery, usually means a brand new one, that is fully charged.

A known good high quality CF card. No cheapo here.

And set the camera back to factory defaults.

If you sent the camera to Canon or any repair shop, this is what they would do first off. So should you! 

You don't know anything until these are done. Camera electronics do not wear out. They will work as fast today as they did when the camera was new. Barring any mechanical or breakage of course. And this is exactly what you want to determine.

Is it you? Is it the camera or is it something else?

[TCampbell]

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@ebiggs1 wrote:

First off when any problem arises with your camera, you must do these things first.

A known good battery, usually means a brand new one, that is fully charged.

A known good high quality CF card. No cheapo here.

And set the camera back to factory defaults.

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I underscored that third sentence for emphasis.  More often than not, it seems that when people have this problem, their memory card is inadequate.

Memory cards don't last forever... like a set of tires, they wear out slowly, but they DO wear out.  Each time you "write" to a memory card you very slightly damage it (this is normal... it's the way flash memory works).  Eventually it will become unreliable.

But the key emphases in that sentence is "known good high quality" ... NOT that you were able find a fantastic deal on a "good" card.  Cards are VERY easy to forge.  Frankly the only thing that distguishes a good card from a cheap knock off is the label... and it's pretty easy to print a fake label.  

To avoid being sucked in by a forgery, buy a known good card (e.g. SanDisk brand or Lexar brand) from a REPUTABLE vendor.  This is a not an area where you want to try to save a buck.

[Fivescoots]

Took my camera to BERNIE'S PHOTO & DIGITAL CENTER on E. Ohio Street, Pittsburgh. He asked if I formatted the memory card in my camera.  No I have never done that. It's not enough to download the pictures and delete them from the camera. I've taken thousands of pictures with that card!  He went under the menu and fixed it. Boom. No charge. Carmera works great!